Private home sales to fall further: Barclays
Sales of private homes in Singapore could fall to as low as 12,000 units – down from the 14,980 seen in 2013 – according to research from Barclays.In its investment statement the research arm of the financial institution said: “"Barring any rollback in policies, we now...
Continue Reading • 1 Feb 2014
A very challenging Year of the Horse
Master Lynn Yap, Singapore’s Feng Shui Queen, believes the forthcoming Year of the Horse will be “very challenging” for the local property market. She discusses why in PropertyGuru’s Market Outlook 2014 eBook.In the Market Outlook 2014 eBook, which is free to download,...
Continue Reading • 1 Feb 2014
Property curbs likely to stay
Despite witnessing a decline in sales volumes and property prices for six months, cooling measures, particularly loan curbs, are expected to stay for a while, said experts.They noted that there is not much hope the measures will be relaxed in next month's Budget considering prices in some...
Continue Reading • 30 Jan 2014
Singles snap up 2-room flats, as families shun them
More singles have been allowed to buy two-room flats, despite exceeding their 30 percent quota, as families have not fully taken up their assigned shares, according to media reports.In the Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise held in July 2013, singles purchased 79 units out of the 231 two-room flats...
Continue Reading • 30 Jan 2014
Complaints at record high but timeshares drop 19%
Consumer complaints in Singapore reached record levels last year with a total of 29,254 complaints received by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), an increase of 13.7 percent from 2012.The only property-related industry to feature in the top ten in both years was the timeshare...
Continue Reading • 30 Jan 2014
Singapore top for Asian investors
Singapore, along with Mumbai, Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong are in he top five cities that Asian property investors have highlighted as their main focus in 2014, and the majority of are also prepared to take on more risk.Most respondents believe Asia’s property markets will improve,...
Continue Reading • 30 Jan 2014
Expert predicts 10% price decline
One industry expert is predicting a 10 percent across-the-board decline for residential property prices in Singapore this year.Carmen Lee, Head of Research at OCBC Investment Research, said the mass market segment will likely be hardest hit, with prices dropping by up to 15 percent.She said:...
Continue Reading • 30 Jan 2014
Boost for property crowd funding site
EXCLUSIVE: Southeast Asia’s first real estate crowd funding and group buying platform has secured investment from Singapore’s Media Development Authority that will enable it to further its regional aspirations. CoAssets.com was launched in Singapore during July and has seen growth...
Continue Reading • 30 Jan 2014
December resale prices down 0.7%
Following a decline of 0.5 percent in November 2013, overall prices of resale non-landed private houses dropped further to 0.7 percent in December, according to the NUS Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI).In particular, resale homes in OCR (outside central region) saw the largest dip of 0.9...
Continue Reading • 29 Jan 2014
OCBC admits EcoHouse error
EXCLUSIVE: Singapore bank OCBC has admitted that is was at fault for cheques issued to EcoHouse investors, some of which were not honoured by what it described as ‘new signing conditions’.PropertyGuru was swamped with emails from angry and confused investors when news emerged...
Continue Reading • 29 Jan 2014
Market Outlook: Year of the decline
Just how much will Singapore’s private property sector decline during 2014? That’s the question that everyone wants answered, and in PropertyGuru’s 2014 Market Outlook eBook we give ours.We look at the factors that will see downward pressure on the market, including a continued...
Continue Reading • 29 Jan 2014
Luxury homes under pressure
Consultants believe that the luxury home market will likely bear the brunt of the overall decline in private property prices.Most analysts expect overall private home prices to fall between 5 and 10 percent this year.Notably, overall prices climbed 1.1 percent last year, down from 2012's 2.8...
Continue Reading • 28 Jan 2014
Portugal preview exceeded expectations
EXCLUSIVE: Singapore’s first Portugal property preview, which took place in the city-state“ last weekend, “exceeded expectations” according to the local agency responsible for the event.Both sales and enquiries for the Lisbon 8 project was described as being brisk, and...
Continue Reading • 28 Jan 2014
Speculators spooked by stamp duty
It appears that speculators are fleeing Singapore's real estate market in droves due to the Government's property cooling measures, particularly the seller's stamp duty (SSD).Figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) revealed that sub-sale transactions slumped in Q4 2013 to 147 units;...
Continue Reading • 28 Jan 2014
A record year for real estate
Last year proved to be a record year for real estate transactions, with volumes hitting their highest levels since 2005 to reach US$90.4 billion.The 24.2 percent year-on-year increase was led by strong investment activity in Australia, China and Japan, with these three markets each likewise...
Continue Reading • 28 Jan 2014
Variety of property at auction
A total of 12 properties will come under the hammer at this afternoon’s Knight Frank monthly Singapore property auction, including residential property, shop houses, land, retail, warehouses and industrial units.Last year’s auction sector in Singapore was lacklustre at best. Buyers...
Continue Reading • 28 Jan 2014
Investors go overseas to beat TDSR
EXCLUSIVE: Some Singaporean property investors are circumventing the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) rules about how much they can spend to service their property loans by using offshore and developer financing.A small number of local real estate agencies who specialise in overseas projects...
Continue Reading • 27 Jan 2014
S'pore drops in prime rental survey
Prime property rents around the world rose by 6.4 percent in the year to September, the index’s strongest annual performance since Q2 2008 in Knight Frank’s survey of the top 5 percent of the residential property market is 17 global cities.Prime property rents in Singapore were ranked...
Continue Reading • 27 Jan 2014
Flying the flag at MIPIM 2014
Singapore property developments feature prominently in the list of 28 short-listed projects at the prestigious MIPIM 2014 Awards, with three of the finalists coming from the city-state.Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay is one of the four projects to make the final list in the ‘Best...
Continue Reading • 26 Jan 2014
More tourists headed to SE Asia
Southeast Asia led the world in growth of international tourism in 2013, with the region recording at 10 percent increase – the strongest gains globally according to the latest United National World Trade Organization’s (UNWTO) World Travel Barometer.Despite global economic...
Continue Reading • 25 Jan 2014