HONG Kong developer Cheung Kong has set record selling prices for residential projects in the West Coast area. It managed to sell all 100 units released in the first phase of sale for the 99-year-leasehold The Vision yesterday. Of these, two penthouses went for $3.6 million each, which works out to around $1,332 per square [...]

ASIAN buyers of luxury real estate may be raising their profiles in New York and London by picking up luxury homes at eye-popping prices, but they haven’t been neglecting the property markets closer to home either. While property prices in more mature Asian markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand are still some way from [...]

SELL-OUT launches – that’s what local property agents representing UK and US developers are enjoying. The buying interest is thanks to depressed prices in the two markets and favourable currency rates; a confluence of factors that is giving Asians a buying opportunity like no other in recent years, leading some overseas developers to even bypass their [...]

BUYERS have snapped up units at a West Coast condominium despite the developer setting record prices for a mass market project. Cheung Kong (Holdings) has sold all 100 units of The Vision released for its Phase 1 sale at prices ‘from $1,000 to $1,200 per sq ft (psf)’ for the two- to four-bedroom units, according to [...]

FAIRLY strong interest from developers is expected in a 99-year leasehold residential site at the corner of Upper Changi Road North and Flora Drive, which will be launched for sale in two weeks’ time. It has been put to tender after an unnamed developer committed to bid at least $82 million, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority [...]

SINGAPORE is closing the gap on London and New York as a leading financial centre, according to a new ranking. The poll placed the two heavyweights in joint top spot but London has lost 15 points since the index was published last September while New York has gained one. Both scored 775 out of 1,000. But [...]

THE Housing & Development Board yesterday said it has stepped up enforcement action against home-owners who illegally sub-let their government-subsidised flats. The move comes weeks after HDB unveiled policy changes designed to hurt speculators, including increases to the minimum occupation period (MOP). HDB said that from January 2008 to December last year, it took enforcement [...]

IN A clear warning to those who sublet their flats illegally, the Housing Board (HDB) has moved to take back three apartments linked to a real estate agent who owns five private properties. One flat to be repossessed belongs to the real estate agent, Mr Poh Boon Kay, 61, and his wife, Madam Khoo Kim Cheng, [...]

IS there or is there not a property bubble in China? That is the billion-dollar question that everybody is asking now. Before we attempt to answer that, it is instructive to examine what caused prices to race ahead in the last one year. The obvious answer was the government’s four trillion yuan (S$816 billion) [...]

Imagine walking along a horseshoe-shaped bridge on a Sunday morning, catching the first glimpse of the sun as it rises from a waterway. Or in the evening, heading to another similarly shaped bridge, but this one with a shaded dome, where you can see the setting sun reflected in the water. And best of all, there is [...]

A FLASHY new wing that jazzed up Northpoint Shopping Centre has also helped attract an additional 800,000 visitors a month through the mall’s doors. The $38.6 million revamp has also enlarged the mall by over 50 per cent and brought the total space available for rent to 235,000 sq ft. The number of shops has [...]

CONSTRUCTION has been a flourishing industry right from the earliest days of modern Singapore. Pioneering building contractors in the 19th century included Lim Loh, who built the Victoria Memorial Hall and the old Parliament House, and Naraina Pillai, the man behind Sri Mariamman Temple, the first Hindu temple here. Immigrant labourers who assembled this city, brick by [...]

WORKS on a lift upgrading project in Eunos that had been delayed for about 10 months restarted yesterday. Progress was made at a meeting on Thursday when the Housing Board agreed to 10 out of 15 requests from unhappy residents. The home owners in Blocks 411, 415 and 417 in Eunos Road 5 had protested that new [...]

WITH the American real estate market still depressed due to the tight control on credit, and the economy in Asia on the up, real estate brokers are setting their sights on property investors in the Far East. Investors from China and India have apparently leapfrogged their way up the list of foreign buyers lately, [...]

Another Reserve List site has been triggered. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said it will launch for sale a residential site at the junction of Upper Changi Road North and Flora Drive in two weeks’ time. It said a developer has committed to bid no less than S$82 million for the three-hectare site. The minimum price is [...]

The luxury seafront condominium The Vision at the West Coast has received good response. All of the 100 units allocated for its first phase of sale on the opening day of its private preview have been sold. Prices for the two-bedroom to four-bedroom units range from around S$1,000 to S$1,2000 per square foot. All the penthouse units have [...]

Parliament has passed changes to the Stamp Duties Act. The amendments will give legislative effect to the seller’s stamp duty, which was re-introduced on February 20 as one of the measures to discourage property speculation. Those who sell their residential properties and residential lands within one year of purchase February 20 will have to pay a [...]

Frasers Centrepoint Trust is optimistic about the outlook for suburban malls in Singapore. It’s just completed a major revamp of the Northpoint shopping centre in Yishun. Costing almost S$40 million, the renovations are part of Frasers Centrepoint Trust’s plans to rejuvenate all its malls. More shops targeting youths and family attractions are part of the new tenant [...]

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has taken action against 56 flat owners for illegal sub-letting between January 2008 and December last year. Most were fined between S$1,000 and S$21,000. One owner had his flat repossessed for blatantly flouting HDB’s sub-letting rules. Giving details of the case, HDB said it first received feedback on the unauthorised sub-letting of [...]

Mainboard-listed books retailer Popular Holdings said on Friday that its third quarter profit rose by 47.5 per cent to S$7.85 million. The increase came on the back of a 6.6 per cent improvement in turnover to S$147.2 million and a 70 per cent fall in its other operating expenses. For the third quarter ended in January, Popular [...]