Summary of Major Property Related Events

(January 2006)
3 Queenstown blocks to be redeveloped. THREE blocks of flats in Queenstown will be demolished under the Housing Board's Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers). The affected blocks are 27A and 39A in Commonwealth Avenue and Block 6C in Margaret Drive. The blocks are between 33 and 35 years old and comprise of 537 three- and five-room flats, 36 rental shops and kiosks, and two eating houses.

(01/01/2006)
Hotel room rates set to rise by up to 25%. The days of Singapore's bargain hotel rooms may be numbered, as hoteliers gain the courage to push rates up by as much as 25 per cent. The push is being led by five-star hotels. Hotels of all grades have seen high occupancy rates this year, generating increased revenue. Robust growth is expected to continue or even increase as Singapore prepares to host a whole string of hotel-filling international conferences and large-scale meetings.

(01/01/2006)
VivoCity: 65% booked 10 months ahead of opening. Singapore's biggest mall yet, the 1.1 million sq ft VivoCity, is already 65 per cent let, with 10 more months to its planned opening. New tenants who have signed up include listed CK Tang, which will take up 86,000 sq ft for a department store, and RSH, which is leasing about 50,000 sq ft to house 14 brands, including Zara, Zara Home, Mango and Ted Baker and sporting goods concepts Stadium and Golf House.

(01/01/2006)
Hoi Hup launches 88-unit The Foliage. Located off Pasir Panjang Road, the 88-unit freehold condominium is being priced at an average of $608 psf. This is slightly lower than the $638 psf for The Maylea, also in Pasir Panjang, which Hoi Hup launched in October. Set in a landscaped site measuring 63,000 sq ft, The Foliage comprises two low-rise five-storey blocks. Unit sizes range from one-bedroom apartments at 506 sq ft to 2,497 sq ft penthouses.

(01/01/2006)
Good sales for walk-in scheme. THE launch of 531 Walk-in Selection (WIS) Housing and Development Board flats at Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang and Choa Chu Kang will close on Dec 31 - and the HDB says 276 units, or 52 per cent, have so far been snapped up. The flats were launched in July at prices between $122,000 and $304,000. All 62 units in Bukit Batok have been booked. For Bukit Panjang the figure is 101 and for Choa Chu Kang Town it is 113.

(01/01/2006)
Bank loans to HDB home buyers hit $11.5b. Data from HDB show that as at Oct 31, some 65,000 occupants of HDB flats have taken on bank loans worth $11.5 billion. The figure represents 12 per cent of people with mortgages on HDB property. After a modest start, HDB home borrowers have turned strongly to bank loans, which could be a concern given the rapid rise in mortgage interest rates.

(01/01/2006)
5 sites to go on Confirmed List. FIVE industrial land sites with a total area of 12.9 hectares are to go on the Confirmed List of Government Industrial Land Sales Programme for the first half of 2006. In addition, there will be five sites, totalling 8.9 ha, on the Reserve List.

(01/01/2006)
Carlton Terrace sold en bloc for $49m. The Carlton Terrace estate, which has 24 units, fetched a sale price of $541 per sq ft per plot ratio. That includes a development charge of about $6 million.

(01/01/2006)
HK developers make big S'pore comeback. More than a decade after they launched Suntec City, Hong Kong parties are again making waves in the Singapore property scene. Property heavyweights from Hong Kong - jointly or with local partners - accounted for about 90 per cent of the estimated $2.7 billion generated from land sales by the Urban Redevelopment Authority so far this year,

(01/01/2006)
Rents surge at prime residential projects. SINGAPORE'S rental market for prime housing is back in prime time and the proof is in Draycott Drive, where a large unit has just been leased for $17,500 a month. The rent for the apartment in the 136-unit Draycott 8 far exceeded levels achieved at the older 330-unit Ardmore Park, which is acknowledged as having some of the most expensive rental condos.

(01/01/2006)
THE former manager of a woman property agent, who was the first to be convicted in a 'cashback' deal, was fined $8,000 yesterday.

(01/01/2006)
Shenton House to give way to a new building project? PLANS to rejuvenate the old Central Business District (CBD) continue to gather momentum. A new 35-storey hotel, or a commercial or residential project could come up on the site where Shenton House now stands, according to planning advice issued a few months ago by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

(01/01/2006)
Industrial property sector faces shake-up. THE industrial property sector will see a major shake-up when more details of JTC Corporation's divestment of industrial properties are made known in 2006.

(01/01/2006)
HL Group top private residential property seller this year. AGAINST the backdrop of an improving residential property market, the Hong Leong Group (HL Group) stable of companies sold an estimated 2,300 private residential property units in 2005, taking the top spot with about 30 per cent market share in Singapore.

(01/01/2006)
Ho Bee puts in top bid for Sentosa condo site. A TENDER for a 99-year leasehold condominium site at Sentosa Cove yesterday drew seven bids and market talk is that Ho Bee group put in the top bid of about $325 million. This works out to nearly $640 per square foot of potential gross floor area - a new benchmark in the upscale housing district. But Ho Bee was not alone in its bullish take on the 276,467 sq ft plot, dubbed The Baywater Collection and which actually comprises three land parcels.

(01/01/2006)
Orchard Turn's top pricing may rub off on nearby condo. the bullish price tag of $1.38 billion for the Orchard Turn site above Orchard MRT station is positive for its upcoming St Regis Residences, at nearby Tomlinson Road.

(01/01/2006)
Unlike shopping malls, where mall owners get to decide what kind of products or services are offered, heartland shop space tends to go to the highest bidder. This 'free-for-all' environment makes it hard to improve the shopping experience. Some merchant associations are working with consultants to resolve the issue, but consultants say it will not be easy.

(01/01/2006)
Office space in delicate equilibrium. THE supply of office space in Singapore hangs in such perfect balance that the introduction of a new source can have immediate impact on occupancy rates.

(01/01/2006)
Mortgagee auctions down for first time in 7 years. The number of mortgagee sale properties put up for auction has fallen for the first time in seven years, since the Asian financial crisis, in tandem with the property market recovery and improving jobs situation. Banks and other lenders put up for auction a total of 2,316 properties this year, down 6 per cent from 2,462 properties last year.

(01/01/2006)
CapitaLand, partner to sink $2b into Orchard Turn project. CapitaLand and Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) will, in all, invest about $2 billion developing a mall and luxury condo on the Orchard Turn site. The outlay will include land and construction costs.

(01/01/2006)
Local property market on the mend in 2005. HOME owners have been reassured that the market is well and truly on the mend - according to most analysts in the property sector. Some analysts say developers sold 60% more units in 2005 than 2004

(01/01/2006)
Investment sales hit all-time high of $12.8b. Investment sales of property - seen by developers and big investors as a barometer of confidence in the real estate market in the medium to long term - have hit an all-time high of $12.85 billion with just 10 days to the end of the year.

(01/01/2006)
CityDev clinches Shelford site with $19m bid. CITY Developments has bagged the Bougainville apartment block in Shelford Road through a $19 million collective sale, and plans to amalgamate the plot with a site it owns next door. The combined site will have a freehold land area of about 74,901 sq ft. The site is zoned for five-storey residential development with a 1.4 maximum plot ratio - the ratio of potential gross floor area to land area. The price City-Dev paid for the 30,368 sq ft Bougainville site works out to about $505 per square foot of potential gross floor area inclusive of development charge (DC). This is less than the $643 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr) including DC that the adjoining 44,533 sq ft site cost CityDev in mid-1997.

(01/01/2006)
Minton Rise gets in-principle approval to top up 99-year lease. In-principle approval has also been given by the Urban Redevelopment Authority to increase the plot ratio from 1.53 to 2.8. The condominium will be sold by tender, which closes on Jan 26. The expected selling price for the 472,378.5 sq ft site is $250 million - almost 25 per cent more than the June market estimate of $209 million.

(01/01/2006)
Kim Yam Mansion first en bloc sale under new law. OWNERS of the 877-year leasehold Kim Yam Mansion off River Valley Road yesterday put up their estate for collective sale at a reported price of $63-67 million, or $460-490 per square foot of potential gross floor area including a small development charge of about $300,000.

(01/01/2006)
En bloc sales hit 5-year high of $1.9b. With just two weeks to go before year's end, the value of collective property sales done so far has hit $1.9 billion. This is more than double the $722 million chalked up for the whole of last year and is the highest level in at least five years.

(01/01/2006)
Wee Cho Yaw firms top en bloc deals. They account for $485m or 25% of $1.9b in collective sales this year. The en bloc sites clinched by companies in Mr Wee's stable include Maryland Park in Katong, Eng Cheong Tower in the Beach Road area, Bo Bo Tan Gardens/Mansion off Kim Tian Rd, Parry Gardens, Oasis Garden in Paya Lebar and a collective sale at Minbu Rd in the Balestier area.

(01/01/2006)
Eng Lok Mansion up for sale. The property could fetch about $100 million or even more - depending on just what use its new owner puts it to. The 70,810 sq ft freehold site along Napier Road is zoned for 10-storey residential use with a 1.6 plot ratio (ratio of potential maximum gross floor area to land area) under Master Plan 2003.

(01/01/2006)
GuocoLand ups price of Paterson Residence. GUOCOLAND has gradually raised the price of its Paterson Residence condo, which now averages about $1,450 psf compared with $1,400 psf when it began previewing the development six weeks ago. The developer sold another 20 apartments in the freehold project between Friday and Sunday, taking total sales to 60 of the 80 apartments GuocoLand has released so far in the development, which has a total of 104 apartments housed in a 24-storey tower and six strata townhouses.

(01/01/2006)
Renewal of older estates even more crucial now. Recent riots in France a lesson for S'pore as Sers marks 10th year.

(01/01/2006)
GuocoLand sells 40 preview condo units. GUOCOLAND has sold 40 out of 65 apartments it has been previewing at its Paterson Residence condominium over the past six weeks or so. These include all three penthouses in the freehold condo. Up for sale: Artist's impression of GuocoLand townhouses. Each unit comes with two parking lots, an entertainment room and a roof garden.

(01/01/2006)
CapitaLand tops Orchard Rd site tender with $1.38b bid. DEVELOPER CapitaLand and Hong Kong's Sun Hung Kai Properties have trumped their rivals for the plum Orchard Road site with an astonishing bid of $1.38 billion - well above market expectations. Their bid was more than double the minimum price for the site atop Orchard MRT station, and more than $100 million above its nearest competitor

(01/01/2006)
Bold new home loan package from DBS. It is offering customers fixed-rate loans of up to 10 years and allowing customers to mix-and-match across different loan packages.

(01/01/2006)
Private and HDB home prices move up. HOME owners can ring in the new year with some good news after prices of private housing in the last quarter registered their biggest jump in almost six years.It was the seventh consecutive quarter to record an upswing and there is more to come with experts predicting that the increases will continue for this year. Owners of public housing also shared in the good news with prices in the sector finally rebounding after declining in the last two quarters.

(04/01/2006)
DBS Tampines Centre up for sale. DBS Tampines Centre and Pavilion is up for collective sale at an asking price of $200 million. The buildings, close to Tampines MRT station, are part of Tampines Regional Centre. DBS Tampines Centre is an eight-storey commercial building with shops in the basement, and on the first and second floors. The Pavilion is a four-storey cineplex that has been leased for food and beverage as well as entertainment use. The two buildings have a net lettable area of 24,379.58 sq m. Outline planning permission has already been obtained for the redevelopment of the site into a five-storey shopping complex with three basements, at a plot ratio of 4.2. This would yield a total gross floor area (GFA) of 35,386.26 sq m - an increase of 45 per cent. The new owners will need to pay an additional $10.8 million in development charges to bring the existing GFA up to a plot ratio of 4.2.

(04/01/2006)
Developers' mass-market hopes get a lift. Property industry players are hopeful that the recovery led so far by the luxury segment will filter down to the mass market in 2006. Official flash estimates released yesterday showed that the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) price index for private homes rose 1.3 per cent in Q4 over the preceding quarter and 3.8 per cent for the whole of last year. In the public housing market, the Housing and Development Board's (HDB) resale flat price index rose 0.2 per cent in Q4. This reverses two quarters of declines which began in Q2 last year following the introduction of measures to counter cash-back deals.

(04/01/2006)
Ho Bee plans to launch 450 homes this year. Developer raises prices of its Coral Island bungalows by 3-5 per cent. HO BEE Investment, which sold 180 private homes in 2005, expects to launch about 450 units this year in projects on Sentosa Cove, Katong, Holland Road and the Orange Grove area. The property developer has also raised the prices of its bungalows on Coral Island at Sentosa Cove by about 3-5 per cent since previews began in November. The bungalows are now going for $5.3 million-$13.9 million.

(05/01/2006)
TEN of the 21 luxury waterfront bungalows at Sentosa Cove's Coral Island development have already been snapped up for between $5.3 million and $7 million. But for anyone with a spare $13.9 million, the most posh of the bungalows on this small reclaimed island, just off Sentosa, is still available. Developer Ho Bee Group says the 10 two-storey bungalows were sold during a private invitation-only preview which started in late November. The 21 bungalows, on an island the size of four football fields, come with price tags of $5.3 million for a 6,309 sq ft unit, up to $13.9 million for the biggest 15,067 sq ft unit. They range from $700 to $850 per sq ft (psf).

(05/01/2006)
Property players eye land near HarbourFront. URA working on plans for the area, will release sites at appropriate time.With Mapletree Investments' properties in the HarbourFront Precinct filling up nicely, the new VivoCity set to open this year and the buzz surrounding the integrated resort on Sentosa, some property players are eyeing the land opposite the HarbourFront area in the foothills of Mt Faber. Their hope is that the Urban Redevelopment Authority will release some state land in this stretch sooner rather than later to ride on the current momentum.

(05/01/2006)
Office demand lifts business costs. THE costs of operating a business in Singapore may have increased, but the upside is that this reflects an increase in demand for office space. The latest findings from Global Occupancy Costs Survey show that occupancy costs in Singapore were 20 per cent higher than they were a year ago.

(06/01/2006)
Three freehold condo projects for sale. Kicking off an expected slew of coming residential projects this year are three freehold residential properties that will soon be on the market - two in Katong and one in the Pasir Panjang-Clementi area. The two properties in Katong - The Esta and One Amber - are especially expected to see good demand.

(06/01/2006)
EN BLOC activity continues to heat up in prime District 9, with the $45.2 million sale of Emerald Lodge in Emerald Hill Road and The Esquire at Mt Elizabeth again on the market, for almost $32 million. The $45.2 million purchase price works out to $803 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr) inclusive of development charge (DC). With the purchase of the state site, Emerald Lodge's buyer can potentially reduce its land price to $750 psf ppr. A new apartment project on the site could break even at about $1,120 psf.

(06/01/2006)
Giant Sentosa Cove site up for grabs soon. Sentosa Cove Pte Ltd (SCPL) is about to offer a 583,000 sq ft site dubbed The Quayside Collection, which will essentially comprise five sites designated for condos, retail development and a hotel. The 99-year leasehold site, which will face the marina, could be sold through an expression-of-interest exercise, and the award is likely to be based on concept/design and price. The hotel will have up to 320 rooms and be built up to seven storeys on a plot of 183,160 sq ft. There will be two commercial sites - separated by a small park - that can be developed for three-storey retail use with a total gross floor area of 61,700 sq ft. The Quayside Collection will also include two sites for condominium development - a 103,400 sq ft plot that can be built into a project with a maximum of 97 units, and a 147,020 sq ft parcel for 139 units. These sites, each with a 1.6 plot ratio - the ratio of potential gross floor area to land area - and a six-storey maximum height, are next to each other, but also separated by a small park. The maximum gross floor area of the hotel, condos and commercial developments will be almost 720,000 sq ft.

(06/01/2006)
Sales of good class bungalows hit record $700 million in 2005. The number and value of Good Class Bungalows (GCBs) transacted hit a record in 2005, with 90 properties worth a total of $700 million changing hands. The sharpest increase in prices was in Bishopsgate, Jervois Hill and Cluny Hill, where land prices exceeded $500 psf. The increase in these areas was 10-20 per cent from 2004.

(06/01/2006)
HDB to get agents to market 400 unsold flats. THE Housing Board will soon be appointing agents to market about 400 unsold flats on the resale market this year. And buyers could be offered sweeteners like renovation packages and warranties covering internal defects, depending on the agents. Real estate agents have come up with various ideas in a keen competition to market the units. An HDB spokesman said it received 15 bids in a tender it called to market the flats, which closed on Dec 28.

(06/01/2006)
Demand for luxury bungalows hits 10-year high. SALES of the most prestigious type of bungalows here hit a 10-year high last year with more than $700 million worth of deals transacted. At least 90 of these good class bungalows (GCBs) were bought and sold. These landed homes in some of Singapore's most exclusive areas typically cost between about $7 million and $15 million.

(06/01/2006)
Reluctance to sell at a loss holding back property revival. A REVIVAL in the mass market is being held back because property owners are refusing to sell their homes at a loss and upgrade to newer ones. Some of these owners are down as much as 30 per cent on their purchase price, and that is just too much red ink for many to swallow.

(07/01/2006)
A HANDFUL of estate agencies are offering to work for zero commission in the rush to win the right to sell about 400 surplus HDB flats. In some cases, agents are even offering to pay the HDB for selling its flats.

(07/01/2006)
Higher price tags may curtail collective sales. More potential sellers are entering market and raising prices to unattractive levels. Last year was a collective sale bonanza for lots of home owners but prospects of a repeat performance this year are not looking so hot. It is the old story of supply and demand. The 37 collective sale deals last year were more than double 2004's number, but quite a few developers have now replenished their land banks and do not need more until they sell their projects.

(09/01/2006)
Angullia Mansion owners upbeat about selling en bloc. The freehold 21-unit seven-storey property, just off Orchard Boulevard near the Four Seasons Park project, could match or surpass the $1,020 per sq ft per plot price that the Orchard Turn site notched up. This works out to $115 million.

(12/01/2006)
MCL's 400-unit Esta condo in Katong 50% sold. MCL Land has sold nearly half or about 200 of the 400 units in its Esta freehold condo in Katong last week during a preview. The average price is $690 psf.

(12/01/2006)
Angullia Mansion up for collective sale again. Owners said to be asking for $108m, slightly more than the top bid in 1999. A price tag of $960 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr) is about 10 per cent higher than the highest unit land price fetched for a collective sale last year - $876 psf ppr for Habitat II.

(12/01/2006)
43% of Walk-in- Selection flats sold in 6 weeks. Just six weeks into its latest Walk-in-Selection (WIS) exercise, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) has sold almost 43 per cent of the flats on offer. A total of 770 three, four and five-room flats were made available in mid-November, 2005, at Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Central, Kallang/Whampoa, Queenstown and Bukit Merah. Data obtained by BT suggests that about 330 have been taken up.

(12/01/2006)
Centrepoint's mass-market launch of Raintree tomorrow. Of the total of 315 units, 75 were previously released, with about 70 per cent, or 51 units, snapped up.

(12/01/2006)
Braddell Park, Telok Kurau sites go en bloc. RIDING on the current improvement in property sentiment, several investment-sales properties came on the market yesterday. They include two collective sales at Braddell Park and Lorong K Telok Kurau. Both are offered for sale in separate tender exercises.

(12/01/2006)
What would-be buyers of 'private' HDB flats want from developers. Condo features at HDB prices, please. Pilot Tampines site can accommodate about 500 flats. Expected to be ready in 2010

(12/01/2006)
CENTREPOINT Properties will launch the 315-unit The Raintree tomorrow in the first test of the mass market since the property recovery picked up speed. Launch of Raintree seen as test of mass market. The developer of the 99-year leasehold condominium at Hindhede Road, near Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, has sold 70 per cent of the 75 units released in November at $470 per sq ft (psf) on average.

(12/01/2006)
$300,000 price tag for private HDB flats. BUYERS of the HDB's first experimental, privately built flats in Tampines will likely have to fork out about $300,000 for their five-room homes. But for that price, they can expect extras like balconies and kitchen cabinets, usually available only in private condominiums.

(13/01/2006)
Sim Lian's $82.2m bid for Tampines site is highest. The maiden tender for a site on which Housing & Development Board flats will be built by private developers drew a higher-than-expected top bid of $82.22 million or $113.67 per square foot per plot ratio from Sim Lian Land yesterday. Its bid for the plot near Tampines MRT Station was 4.3 per cent higher than the second-highest bid, which came from a joint venture between Wee Cho Yaw's Kheng Leong Group and Low Keng Huat. In all, the tender for the plot at Tampines Avenue 6 drew six bids.

(13/01/2006)
Ministerial panel suggests more 3-room HDB flats. It also calls to build 2-room flats to help low-wage workers

(13/01/2006)
LOW-WAGE home owners who have paid in full for their HDB flats could be allowed to take a reverse mortgage on their property to get cash. But such a move hinges on whether financial institutions are willing to introduce it, said Minister of State (National Development) Heng Chee How yesterday.

(13/01/2006)
A-Reit signs $20m deal to buy building. The property is Plot 23 International Business Park, a seven-storey building with a gross floor area of 10,116 sq m, currently being built by LabOne Singapore.

(17/01/2006)
CityDev pulls out of race for Marina IR. Singapore property heavyweight City Developments Limited (CDL) last night became the latest casualty in the contest to build an integrated resort (IR) with a casino at Marina Bay, when it announced its surprise withdrawal from the race. The reasons cited were cryptic: CDL would only say the decision is due to 'some requirements associated with the bid'. It said these requirements were only raised with it after it announced its decision to join forces with Las Vegas Sands to bid for the IR. Upon 'further clarification of these requirements', CDL decided to withdraw.

(17/01/2006)
All eyes on result of tender for Glutton's Square. THE property market is asking whether tomorrow's tender for the Glutton's Square next to Somerset MRT Station and Specialists' Shopping Centre will fetch a higher bid than the $1,020 per square foot per plot ratio top bid achieved last month for the plum Orchard Turn site. Developers planning either a hotel and retail development or an all-retail project would be able to afford to pay more for the Somerset site than those looking to build a residential and retail project, it is understood. The Urban Redevelopment Authority has specified that at least 60 per cent of the project's total gross floor area (GFA) of 387,985 sq ft must be set aside for retail, food and beverage or entertainment use.

(17/01/2006)
Ho Bee's Baywater Collection will be ready for launch in Q4. THE Baywater Collection site at Sentosa Cove has only just been awarded but its new owner, Ho Bee Investment, says it will be ready for launch in the fourth quarter of this year. Ho Bee general manager (marketing and business development) Chong Hock Chang says prices for the beachfront residential development will be between $1,200 and $1,300 per square foot.

(17/01/2006)
Ascendas's reward scheme pays off. BUSINESS space provider Ascendas is reaping the rewards of its programme - the Ascendas Partner Rewards - to provide incentives to real estate agents to close deals. It has reported a doubling of business space rented out through agents to 250,000 square feet. Through the programme, launched in January last year, agents and agencies are given cash rewards over and above the standard industry commissions of between one and two months of gross monthly rental. Ascendas doled out over $125,000 in bonus last year, while the total, including bonuses and commissions to agents, amounted to more than half a million dollars. With 347 agents currently on the programme, Ascendas is looking to expand it further. Besides the launch last year, its marketing team spoke to agencies individually to inform them of the programme. Ascendas is also sweetening the deal this year by handing out additional bonuses for deals concluded within three months from the date of first viewing.

(17/01/2006)
Pasir Panjang Hill site up for en bloc sale. A 32-UNIT four-storey apartment building at Pasir Panjang Hill is up for collective sale with an asking price of $28 million for the freehold 63,707 sq ft site. Based on a plot ratio of 1.4 and an additional development charge of about $5.8 million, the site should cost $370 per square foot per plot ratio, and the breakeven cost will be around $660 psf per plot ratio.

(17/01/2006)
Money woes? HDB flexible with its housing loans. HOME owners have been getting loans at lower interest rates from the Housing Board, even though they had not been eligible for its concessionary loans. The HDB has been 'very flexible' with these flat buyers, who have financial difficulties. Among them are third-time home owners and those downgrading to a smaller apartment, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday.

(17/01/2006)
Far East sends upbeat message with Glutton's Square, Amberville. Giving a strong signal that it believes the recovery in the property market is for real, Far East Organization yesterday scored a double victory. The property giant was the highest bidder for the former Glutton's Square site next to Somerset MRT Station and Specialists' Shopping Centre, with a $421.1 million bid. And it was awarded Amberville, a privatised HUDC estate in Katong that can be redeveloped into a sea-facing condo, for $183 million.

(19/01/2006)
The Vermont up for collective sale. The indicative price for the freehold Vermont is about $76 million, translating to $750 per square foot of potential gross floor area inclusive of an estimated development charge of $9 million. Based on this, a new condo on the 40,375 sq ft freehold site could break even at about $1,100 psf, say analysts.

(19/01/2006)
Far East buys Katong's Amberville for $183m. This works out to a higher-than-expected $396 per square foot per plot ratio inclusive of an estimated development charge of $35.2 million and $23.8 million to top up the site's lease from the remaining 71 years to the original 99 years.

(19/01/2006)
St Thomas Walk site up for en bloc sale. Chez Bright Apartments at 18 St Thomas Walk is the latest property to go on sale in that area. The asking price for the 34,402 sq ft Chez Bright site has been set at $61.3 million (including a development charge of $6.3 million) or $640 psf per plot ratio. The break-even price is around $960-$980 psf.

(19/01/2006)
Sim Lian Land to build first private HDB flats. The HDB awarded the company a site to develop its pilot Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) flats. Sim Lian Land had submitted the highest tender bid of $82.2 million.

(19/01/2006)
Amberville sold en bloc for $183m. Its 168 owners have plenty to celebrate. The price exceeded their reserve of $171 million and each will get an average $1.089 million for their unit, at least 85 per cent above market value.

(19/01/2006)
Far East tops tender for Glutton's Square site. It makes $421m offer for 0.6ha area, higher than next best bid by 5%. Far East had submitted a bid, made through its unit Orchard City, that works out to $11,682.62 per sq m or $1,085 psf of gross floor area.

(19/01/2006)
Simon Cheong buys 6 bungalows for $35m. Price for Peirce Rd properties works out to an average of $365 psf. The price works out to an average of $365 per square foot based on the freehold site's total land area of 95,839 sq ft. The six bungalows, completed about five years ago, were designed by renowned architect Ettore Sottsass, a grandee of late 20th century Italian designer and the founder of the early 1980s Memphis Collective architectural movement.

(23/01/2006)
Far East unveils 5-storey mall at Central. Far East Organization yesterday unveiled details of another project - a 200,000 square foot mall at Central, above the Clarke Quay MRT Station. With 600 units spread over five levels, the concept for the mall is a contemporary, hip place that is targeted at young, globalised urbanites, especially 25-year-old women. Outsourcing its mall management for the first time, Far East roped in Japanese mall expert Parco to manage Central. Parco's roles also include the conceptualisation and implementation of retail concept, marketing and operations.

(23/01/2006)
85% premium for ex-HUDC in Marine Parade. High price sparks interest among owners in other estates but size and location are other determining factors. Besides, the premium that each Amberville owner would stand to get over market value is higher than usual at 85 per cent or more. Each owner should get an average of $1.089 million instead of about $588,000 on average on the open market.

(23/01/2006)
Far East to sell strata-titled office space at Central project. Far East Organization has 121 strata-titled office units or 160,000 sq ft of office space ready for sale at Central, its $500 million 99-year leasehold mixed project on the Singapore River, above Clarke Quay MRT station.

(23/01/2006)
Foreign buyers clinch 44% of top-end homes. They also account for 22.5% of all private-home purchases last year, the highest in at least 10 years. The percentage, which is for homes costing between $1 million and $5 million, is up on a 36 per cent foreign share in 2004 and 29 per cent in 2003. Overall, foreigners accounted for 22.5 per cent of all private-home purchases in both the primary and secondary markets in Singapore last year. This is up on an 18.4 per cent share in 2004 and is the highest figure in at least 10 years. Looking only at the prime districts of 9, 10 and 11, this figure was as high as 40 per cent.

(23/01/2006)
Broad-based recovery in property seen. Industry players say sellers are focusing on fair prices and buyers are looking for fair value. Seven of the remaining 10 believe that signs of a broad-based recovery will emerge this year. Their view also applies to the all-important residential mass market, which has traditionally been driven by Housing and Development Board upgraders.

(26/01/2006)
Hoi Hup bags Kim Yam Mansion in $63m collective sale. PROPERTY developer Hoi Hup, part of Straits Construction Group, is understood to have bagged the 877-year leasehold Kim Yam Mansion, off River Valley Road, for about $63 million through a collective sale. The price works out to about $460 per square foot of potential floor area inclusive of a development charge of about $300,000. Owners of Kim Yam Mansion's 40 apartments will receive more than $1.5 million each, or up to three times the $500,000-$600,000 the units would have fetched if they were sold individually.

(26/01/2006)
Q4 home prices up 1.4%. Home prices had their biggest gain in five-and-a-half years, climbing 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2005 from the previous three months, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Friday. Prices for private homes rose 3.9 per cent during 2005, against an increase of 0.9 per cent in 2004 when a four-year slump in the property market came to an end.

(27/01/2006)
S'pore's home prices rise 1.4% in Q4. Prices for private homes rose 3.9 per cent during 2005, against an increase of 0.9 per cent in 2004 when a four-year slump in the property market came to an end. Property prices got a boost last year when Singapore eased rules on foreign ownership and borrowing limits for real estate purchases.

(27/01/2006)