Las Vegas Sands plans phased opening for resort
Las Vegas Sands Corporation is expecting to launch its $5.5 billon casino resort with 2,700 rooms in phases starting in Q1 2010, a company spokesman said.He refused to provide the exact schedule for the opening, which will include 800 to 1000 hotel rooms. However, one source said it would...
Continue Reading • 7 Dec 2009
Is it goodbye for Dubai?
Dubai's property market has crashed. Among the five artificial offshore islands that were being built to accommodate homes for millionaires, four remain in the planning stage. Dubai is wallowing in debt. The crisis started last year, during the peak of the property bubble and when the cranes...
Continue Reading • 4 Dec 2009
Property tax woes in Malaysia
Property sellers rushing to sell-off their real estate in Malaysia, to avoid paying real property gains tax (RPGT) could find their efforts wasted as property disposal requires government consent.Obtaining the government’s official approval could push the sale up until after December 31, a...
Continue Reading • 4 Dec 2009
UK residential rents increasing as demand rises and supply decreases
Residential rents are expected to increase next year as the UK property market improves, according to a new survey.The survey from Rightmove, a property website in the UK, showed that over one-third of people who plan to rent a property for the next 12 months expects the rental rates to increase,...
Continue Reading • 4 Dec 2009
Singapore and Hong Kong investors expect portfolio value to rise
Based on a survey done by Barclays Wealth on high net worth individuals, Singapore and Hong Kong investors are very much interested in properties. In fact, HK investors have apportioned 25 percent of their portfolios to property.Both groups are expecting to allocate a larger portion of their...
Continue Reading • 4 Dec 2009
AMP focuses on regaining the trust of MI-REIT holders
AMP, the new co-sponsor of MacarthurCook Industrial REIT (MI-REIT) has expressed its plan to regain the trust of unitholders before it embarks on new acquisitions, possibly industrial properties in Japan and Singapore.According to Simon Vinson, head of Asian property and new business initiatives...
Continue Reading • 3 Dec 2009
5th Ascott serviced residence opens in Beijing
Ascott Group, the wholly-owned serviced residence business unit of Capitaland, has launched its fifth serviced residence in Beijing.This project is the first joint venture between Ascott serviced residence and Raffles City. They intend to offer an integrated lifestyle development featuring an...
Continue Reading • 3 Dec 2009
Singapore is the 9th most expensive Asian city
Singapore now belongs to the list of top 10 most expensive Asian cities for expats, due to the strengthening Singapore dollar.A survey by ECA International, a human resource consultancy firm, showed that Singapore is now the ninth most expensive city in the region.Last year, the city-state...
Continue Reading • 3 Dec 2009
Six whole floors purchased at Marina Bay Suites preview
About half a dozen floors at Marina Bay Suites were sold during last week’s preview. Its buyers are believed to be Singaporeans, Indonesians and other Asians.The biggest transaction recorded in the preview was about $45 million, including at least two whole floors that were purchased...
Continue Reading • 3 Dec 2009
Singapore plunges to 32nd spot in the global office rental price list
In Singapore, office rental prices declined significantly, causing the country to fall to the 32nd spot in a list of the most expensive office rental markets around the world. Previously, Singapore was in 9th place on the list a year ago and took the 15th spot in June 2009. Singapore saw a 53.4...
Continue Reading • 2 Dec 2009
Shimao Group begins work on Eco-City's largest property project
Shimao Property Holdings, a Chinese investment holding company, has just started work on a new property project at the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City. It is considered to be the largest property development in the area to date.Scheduled to be completed by 2014, the expected investment for the...
Continue Reading • 2 Dec 2009
Rich people prefer investing in property
Rich people are more likely to invest in properties, which are now considered as better opportunities for long-term returns than bonds and stocks, according to a recent survey done by Barclays. The global survey shows that several people are now planning to increase their investments in...
Continue Reading • 2 Dec 2009
Dragon Mansion sold for $101 million
A unit of Roxy-Pacific Holdings bought the Dragon Mansion located at 18 Spottiswoode Park Road for $100.8 million, including the development charge (DC). This works out to around $863 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).The property has become the first successful collective sale in Singapore for...
Continue Reading • 2 Dec 2009
CapitaLand collects payment of RiverGate’s sold units
CapitaLand, a property developer, has collected payment for 98 percent of RiverGate apartments’ 542 units, which had been sold since March 2009, when it received its Temporary Occupation Permit.The deferred payment and progress payment receivables for the sold units were securitized through...
Continue Reading • 2 Dec 2009
Property sales in Asian real estate markets fall massively
The property investment market in Asia suffered a massive fall in Q1 2009, with Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong suffering the most.The region went through an 83 percent quarterly decline in sales, according to property consultants CB Richard Ellis’ latest research.The industrial property...
Continue Reading • 2 Dec 2009
Singapore prime rents rank as 18th most expensive in the world
Singapore jumped a notch in the latest survey of the most expensive retail markets conducted by the property firm CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). Prime retail rents in Singapore ranked as the 18th most expensive around the world in Q3 2009, up from the 19th spot in the previous quarter.Sydney surpassed...
Continue Reading • 1 Dec 2009
CDL open to increase shares in South Beach
City Developments Ltd (CDL) said it is open to explore possibilities in raising its stakes in the South Beach project, wherein Dubai World also has a share.“South Beach is an iconic development and one which has excellent potential,” said a CDL spokesperson.She noted that the joint...
Continue Reading • 1 Dec 2009
Affordability remains a key factor in purchasing property
The rising housing prices and upturn in the economy makes 34-year-old communications manager Lisa Low worried. She fears that when she finally finds her dream home, she may not have enough money for the cash-over-valuation (COV) that resale unit buyers must pay."Is there such...
Continue Reading • 1 Dec 2009
MAS closely monitoring Dubai World and UAE Developments
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Monday that it has been closely monitoring the developments in the United Arab Emirates and Dubai World, and their impact on Singapore's financial sector. The total gross exposure of Singapore's banking sector to the UAE is way under one percent...
Continue Reading • 1 Dec 2009
Two Singapore casinos will have Las Vegas flavour
The world’s newest casino will be opening in Singapore but a Las Vegas gaming company will be the centre of the competition.Experts said that Marina Bay Sands will likely be the more visible and enduring property of the two that will open by Q1 2010.Singapore has reversed a 40-year ban on...
Continue Reading • 30 Nov 2009