Home Affordability Issues
Houses will become more affordable when income of every household grows, according to a Saturday report.With that, a correct comparison should be done.It is useless to relate the recent property boom with the developments in 1996 and then assume that things are much better now than in the past....
Continue Reading • 28 Dec 2009
Serangoon Avenue 3 plot gets $83.7 million bid
Another suburban residential site that is included in the reserve list of the Singaporean Government has been put up for sale, indicating increasing developer confidence.Yesterday, an anonymous developer tendered the lowest acceptable bid amounting to $83.7 million (about $200 per square feet)...
Continue Reading • 28 Dec 2009
Net worth of S’pore households drops slightly
According to the analysis of a senior Citigroup economist, Singapore households’ net worth has slightly decreased from its peak in the past year, but is still higher as compared to that at the beginning of the decade.One probable reason for the volume in property sales and the strong...
Continue Reading • 28 Dec 2009
CPI sneaks up 1.1% in July on residential costs
Department of Statistics (DOS) said the consumer price index of Singapore increased 1.1 percent in July, but dropped 0.5 percent every year.The annual turndown was attributed to lower communications and transport, recreation and housing, and other related items.The cost of communication and...
Continue Reading • 28 Dec 2009
Another site on the reserve list activated for release
In Singapore, the reserve list of the government triggered a 99-year leasehold area for release. The developers plan to replenish the land banks with suburban condominium lands following the accumulation in residential sales.Other successful applications from the developers are expected by market...
Continue Reading • 28 Dec 2009
Is the market constantly correct?
It is always interesting to question any conventional wisdom in the stock market, either when the mood is overtly pessimistic or optimistic. A lot of market watchers would point to a time-honored maxim that the market is at all times right.As a general rule, this approach would be correct; one...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
Vacancy rate is a fundamental statistic
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) issues data every quarter on the demand and supply of the residential property market.There were 16 extensions or annexes filled with many ratios, charts and other statistics in the Q2 2009 release. Multiplying this with the past releases, the total number...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
Property sales tax structure remains
The government has settled not to alter the existing income tax structure with regard to persons who put their properties for sale. This is an action accepted by industry players, which include the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore.In a proposal provided for public discussion, the...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
Seven indications of property fad
Far East Organisation, Singapore’s biggest private property developer, launched Centro Residences in Ang Mo Kio. Prices work out at $1,100 per square foot (psf). Deals done in July were at $1,117 psf to $1,228 psf.Property experts say such prices are more normal among prime projects or...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
No over-exuberance in Singapore property market? Look again, Mr. Kwek
An article dated 14 August 2009 entitled “Property scene not too frothy: CDL” caught my attention and I thought the writer might have been just kidding.City Developments (CDL) Chairman Kwek Leng Beng said in that particular article there was no over-enthusiasm in the property market...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
More units scheduled for completion
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that property supply pose no threat. He believes the supply pipeline have plenty of homes available for Singaporeans, indicating that over 40,000 units are scheduled to come within the next three or four years onto the market.The recent market data...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
Homes become more affordable as income rates rise
Prices of private homes may be rising yet again but newly gathered data imply home buyers who are in to the current home-buying trend are not necessarily living beyond their means and overstretching their budgets.Homebuyers now consider condominium units more reasonably priced vis-à-vis...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
Foreign home buyers in Singapore increase
More and more foreign buyers are engaging in the property market of Singapore. Their number has dramatically shot up during the second quarter, but according to some property experts, they are not quite in the league of the high-spending ones seen during the boom of 2007.At that time,...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
7 kinds of purchases in the market
There are seven kinds of market buyers: speculators, specu-vestors, investors, investor-occupiers, owner-occupiers, foreign buyers and property agents. Speculators are the type of buyers who purchase property with a vision to flip it to immediately generate profit. They hold no plan on living in...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
New condo with MRT link
A new condominium with an all-weather walkway is planned to be built near the MRT station.In Beach Road, the newly built Concourse Skyline can be the Singapore’s first housing project that has a bridge connected to a mass transit system. Considered as a new trend, other projects will surely...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
IRs upbeat about outlook for 2010
Three years in the making, the two integrated resorts in Singapore will finally open soon and operators remain positive about the new attractions.Resorts World Sentosa, due to have its soft opening early in 2010, is expected to attract more than 13 million visitors in its first year.The resort...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
Sales of property fall dramatically following market cooling measures
The cooling measures aimed at avoiding the formation of a real estate bubble in Singapore have had a dramatic impact on the property market, with property sales dropping 26 percent in November to their lowest level since January.Figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority show that there were...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
GCB sales intensifying
High-net-worth individuals (HNWI), revving up the purchases of Good Class Bungalow (GCB) could have caused the GCB market to perk up. Around 20 GCB transactions with a worth value of over $300 million were seen in the action-filled month of July. Putting this in standpoint, Q1 2009 only had $27.5...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
Consultants observe slower pace in falling office rents
Property consultants believe the worst for falling office rents is over. Some even expect that space net take-up will be positive by this year’s last quarter if the country’s economy will continue to have a good performance.The analyses of Cushman & Wakefield for the mid third...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009
Mass market homes still sufficient
For sale mass market homes throughout the island is sufficient, say property experts, referring to the properties with $1,000 per square foot (psf) or a bit higher.CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) states that aside from the upcoming launches, unsold units remain in other existing launches, including the...
Continue Reading • 24 Dec 2009