*War Against Money Laundering In The UK.*

David Cameron, British Prime Minister is speaking out against money laundering through property in Britain, amid concerns that rising property prices in the country are fuelled by corrupt cash.

According to released excerpts of a speech he is to give in Singapore on Tuesday:

“The UK must not become a safe haven for corrupt money from around the world.”

“I want Britain to be the most open country in the world for investment. But I want to ensure that all this money is clean money.”

British properties, London in particular, "are being bought by people overseas through anonymous shell companies, some with plundered or laundered cash",

Counter measures against corrupt money:

Beginning this autumn, the Britain’s Land Registry will start publishing information on property owned by foreign companies. The government will also begin consultation on measures to increase transparency in property ownership by foreign businesses.

More than 36,000 London properties are owned by offshore companies.

Over 100,000 property titles in Britain are registered to overseas firms.

Source: AFP

Good Class Bungalow In Demand - S$282m Deals Done In Q2

An old bungalow in Queen Astrid Park has changed hands six times in the past nine years, if the latest count is taken into consideration.

According to market talk, an option for the Queen Astrid Park bungalow is said to be granted over the weekend for S$32 million or close to S$1,170 psf on land size of 27,370 sq ft.

At least 11 deals totalling S$282.3 million is said to be transacted in Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Areas in 2nd Qrt of this year, up from 4 deals of S$95.3 million in Q1.

The current Q2 performance was lifted by the sale of 35 Ridout Road in May at S$91.7 million, the largest sale ever, price wise, in a GCB Area.

A luxurious, three-year-old 2-storey Bishopsgate bungalow with a basement fetching S$33 million in May also lifted the land price in a GCB Area to a record level of S$2,190 psf.

Transactions in June:

1.       A 31,129 sq ft (land area) Belmont Road house sold for S$44.19 million or S$1,419 psf

2.       An over 30 yr old bungalow at Bin Tong Park was transacted at S$30 million or S$1,400 psf.

Buyers looking for a GCB to live in - new citizens and those who aspire to upgrade from a small landed house to a GCB - are exhibiting healthy interests.

According to caveats, the value of transactions in Good Class Bungalow Areas has reached S$378 million in the first half of this year. Transaction figures for the whole of last year was S$626 million.

Are we finally, we've been seeing light at the end of the tunnel?

Sentosa Cove Sales Bring Hopes of Rebound

Sentosa by Beshef

Prices at the Sentosa Cove luxury enclave are showing tentative signs of a rebound.

In April, two condo units at The Oceanfront were sold around the $2,000 psf range. 

Those two units done in April 2015 were transacted at $2,055 psf and $1,954 psf respectively: 
1.    A 2,788 sq ft four-bedder with a partial sea view was sold for $5.73 million. 
2.    The adjacent 1,765 sq ft, three-bedroom unit without much of a view, was sold at $3.45 million. 

One other Sentosa Cove unit sold above the $2,000 psf mark, was done last October at $2,079 psf. 

For the past two years, prices have stayed depressed in Sentosa Cove, having fallen way below the $2,000 psf mark.

In January 2015, prices sank to a low of $1,190 psf when a 2,626 sq ft unit at “The Coast” in Sentosa Cove was sold for $3.125 million. The four-bedroom, second-floor unit was purchased at $4.34 million - or $1,653 psf  on March 8, 2007. The seller lost $1.215 million in the transaction.

Although two sales transactions doesn’t constitute a trend, nonetheless it is a good start.

Ms Jackie Yeh, who owns 11 condo units in Sentosa Cove, eight of them at The Oceanfront, remains optimistic. "Sentosa is very exclusive. I bought my units there at very affordable prices when the projects were first launched. If I am to sell any of my units now, I would still make a profit. But I am confident prices will pick up in the long term and I am holding out," she said.

Sentosa has always been trending at $2,000 psf or higher. Falling under the $2,000 psf mark would put it in direct competition with the Marina Bay, Districts 1 ad 9 segment.

To put it in perspective, at $2,000 psf, you can buy a freehold property in Orchard Road, but you won’t get the ambience and sea view that you get in Sentosa.

Source: Straits Times

Retail Sector Rents May Ease In 2nd half 2015

The closure of more department stores in malls and consolidation may well lead to higher vacancy rates and softer average retail rents for the 2nd half of 2015, property consultancy firm Knight Frank (KF) reported.

 The problem is further compounded by an increment in the supply of retail space in major malls over the next four years.

 As major retailers continue to consolidate their operations in the challenging, current retail landscape, mall owners will turn to short-term leases to generate revenue while searching for long-term tenants.

 An influx of new retail space is expected under the current retail climate. Be it from new major projects or a rise in larger vacant units subsequent to the closure of several department stores island-wide, the promise of a surge in the supply of new retail space in 2015 has put pressure on prime retail rents island-wide by roughly 1 to 2% this year, and average rents across Singapore may also fall by 3 to 5 per cent in 2015, KF said.

 According to the report:

‘Approximately 3.7 million sq ft of net lettable retail space is expected to come onboard from 2015 to 2019, averaging about 0.7 million sq ft of new major retail space per year;

1.1 million sq ft of net lettable retail space will be completed in 2018, of which roughly 75%, or 0.8 million sq ft, is located in Outside Central Region of Singapore.’

 2015 witnessed a wave of department store closures inducing larger vacant units in many malls:

Wisma Atria closed its Isetan store in 2015's second quarter after 30 years;

John Little closed its Marina Square branch with further plans to close its Tiong Bahru store this year;

Marks & Spencer also plans to close its Centrepoint store.

Metro will close its Compass Point outlet by 2nd quarter of 2016, after running for 12 years.

 Anchor retailers such as department stores play an important role in a mall by not only serving as "magnets" to various sections of the mall but also acting as "a good test bed for brands looking to enter the market".

 Department stores continue to remain relevant in the retail market. These serve as one of the key forms of anchor tenants, which help a mall provide a comprehensive trade mix, and serve as magnets to draw crowds to different parts of a mall.

 Retail rents for prime areas across Singapore also rose in the 2nd Qrt to S$32.20 per sq ft - a 0.8% cent increase from the first quarter of the year. The report attributed the growth to continued firm demand from retailers for the best spaces of popular malls due to limited supply, with an added impact from retail trade re-positioning and renewals, and spaces developing through Asset Enhancement Initiatives (AEIs).

 After undergoing AEIs, Marina Centre, City Hall and Bugis precinct saw prime retail rents rise 1.1% to S$33.00 per sq ft from Qrt. 1, while prime retail rents in the city fringe and suburban areas increased by 2.2% to S$23.50 per sq ft and 2.8% to S$33.10 per sq ft respectively from previous quarter.

 Orchard Road (central) prime retail rents fell 1 per cent from the first quarter to S$47.40 per sq ft while Orchard Road (fringe) showed no change in rents in the 2nd quarter.

 Singapore's retail scene also introduced a number of "new-to-market brands" in the first half of 2015 as landlords scurry to refresh their tenant mixes, the report added. Capitol Piazza featured a range of new luxury retailers and dining options, while Scotts Square, VivoCity, and Suntec City Mall also made changes to their tenant mix this year.

Source:  Business Times

Hongkong 2015 Property Outlook: Panic In The Housing Market

The Hong Kong property market is reaching a record high and flat sales have reached a 10-year peak.

Whoever speculated that the current policies could cause housing prices to crash every year, missed out on a 50% increase in their net worth.

Investors know all too well that a very fine line just separate the boundary between a gold mine and the pits.  

For property owners happily counting the money that is rolling in, it is the best of times. It is however also the worst of times for the left-with-no-choice folks who needed to rent or buy.

Whatever the media said about the property frenzy in Hongkong, well that is seemingly true.

Many owners who had chosen to cash out earlier are now regretting and perhaps even struggling. It is painful for those who read the market wrong.  Sometimes the market can be unforgiving.

Rent for a small Sha Tin flat is HK$11,000.

Rent for a 500 sq ft unit housing estate in Metro City Plaza is close to HK$15,000.

With over 6,700 units, mainly small flats, Metro City Plaza is one of Hong Kong’s biggest housing estates,

Supply is tight and not many units are available.

But it was not so long ago that the former Godsend chief executive Tung Chee-hwa single-handedly ruptured the property balloon and caused prices to halve.

Household debt as a proportion of GDP has surged to an uncomfortable 64%, so is it any wonder that a typical family cannot afford a flat costing over HK$20,000 per sq ft?

The Monetary Authority chief has vowed to act, should the prices of small and medium-sized flats continue its surge to dangerous levels. Perhaps a hint of mortgage tightening may be in the works. 

TOP 5 | Bottom 5 Average PSF

All Districts - Average psf transactions in the last 6 months.

TOP 5 Best Selling Project For May 2015

TOP 5 - May 2015

Westwood Residences | 118 units sold| Median PSF $803 | 24.5% sold

Botanique at Bartley | 94 units sold| Median PSF $1,292 | 13.2% sold

Northpark Residences | 59 units sold| Median PSF $1,397 | 0.6% sold

The Panorama | 44 units sold| Median PSF $1,232 | 0.6% sold

Lakeville | 39 units sold| Median PSF $1,279 | 0.5% sold

Temasek Joint Venture With Partners To Buy London Proprties

Syon Park Gardens by Simon

London is still the hot spot for global investors, especially from Asia. This is not lost on investors, as Temasek Holdings and 4 other partners teamed up to buy two prime central London properties for £308 million ($458 million) for a residential and office tower development, from the Carlyle Group

According to Amcorp, the 5.3 acre property plot is located in Southbank, adjacent to the Thames River and equidistant from London Bridge and Waterloo station. Permissions for the plot to develop five residential buildings comprising 489 units, four office towers, and retail and leisure facilities, were granted last year. The sales value of the project after redevelopment is estimated to exceed 1 billion pounds.

Amcorp, Temasek and Hotel Properties, each with 30% ownership in the property venture, with Montrose Land and Tarras jointly controlling the rest, created Bankside Quarter Ltd for the deal.

Temasek Holdings is a Singapore state investment firm.
Amcorp Properties Bhd. is a Malaysian property developer.
Hotel Properties Ltd. owns the Four Seasons hotels in Singapore and Bali.

Hotel Properties and Amcorp have separately made statements on March 28 and 30th respectively on the purchase.

Home prices and office space in the U.K. capital have been strong. In the last 12 months through February, UK home prices were up 13% in the capital, according to Hometrack.

Since 2000, office rents in Central London will climb the most this year, according to BNP Paribas, predicting a jump of 17% from last year, as tenants compete for a dwindling amount of space.

Source: Bloomberg

Chinese Banks Extend Lifeline to Ailing Developers

The latest sign of tumult in China’s sprawling housing sector is emerging, as a $16 billion rescue package is extended to shore up one of China's largest developers, Evergrande Real Estate Group by Chinese Banks.

Bogged down by a growing supply of unsold homes, developers are dashing to secure financial support even as sales volumes and housing prices plunge.
Once a favorite with foreign investors, The Kaisa Group was near default over its offshore debt this year, prior to being rescued by another developer.

Evergrande racked up a debt of about $24 billion by the end of June, with another $7 billion in equity bonds. Though Evergrande’s sales last year hit more than $20 billion, it borrowed heavily in US dollars in the offshore market, from foreign investors, debts that will it more expensive to repay as the renminbi weakens.

Credit line for the $16.2 billion will come from mainly state-run banks - Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Postal Savings Bank of China and privately controlled China Minsheng Bank. Analysts deem the billion dollar lifeline a short-term relief which would fail to address the company’s deeper problems.
The company has been under financial distress for a long time. Mounting debts and slumping sales “are fundamental challenges that can’t be resolved short term by government’s bailing them out on ‘too big to fail’ pretense,” said Junheng Li, head of research at JL Warren Capital in New York.

The Chinese leadership is concerned about the state of its property market as this sector is strongly intertwined to other sectors like steel consumption, loan growth and jobs for construction workers. A drop in home prices hurts ordinary Chinese because they tend to invest a disproportionate amount of their savings in real estate.

China’s property market figures show that prices fell in February in 66 of the 70 cities surveyed when compared with a year earlier. Data released last week showed that new housing starts, measured by floor space, fell 20% in the first two months of the year compared with a year earlier, while new land purchases by developers fell 32%.

The market is still undergoing a pretty rough time and for developers is that the operating environment will remain tough,” according to Moody’s Investors Service in Hong Kong.
Evergrande, founded in 1996 by Mr. Hui Ka Yan, started as a builder of middle-class homes with projects in Guangzhou, in southern China, before expanding nationally to more than 100 cities.

This month, Evergrande had a run-in with the Australian government for illegally acquiring the Villa del Mare mansion in Sydney through a host of shell companies. Foreign investors can build new homes but are barred from buying existing ones.

Evergrande has 90 days to find a buyer for the $30 million mansion property.

Source: New York Times

More Affordable Housing As Heated Market Cools

Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan said in parliament yesterday that:
"Public flats have become more affordable in recent years, with many Singaporeans able to buy a home within their budget."

"The Government is committed to keep quality housing within most Singaporeans reach - Every generation will be able to afford their own HDB homes. This is our promise."

"Measured against the median household income increase of 38%, we can see that public housing affordability has substantially improved since 2011."

‘His ministry has achieved results in taming the red hot housing market with its cooling measures.’

Mr Khaw also outlined plans to help different segments, from singles to public rental tenants.

Measures announced by MND
•    Half of all new two-room flats in non-mature estates to be set aside for singles, starting from the Build-to-Order exercise in May.

•    Instead of having two-room flats on a 99-year lease and studio apartments with a 30-year lease, two-room flats could be offered with varying lease lengths.

•    $10,000 income ceiling for public flats could be raised as incomes rise.

•    Government will look for ways to help resale buyers get flats near their parents.

•    Possible new scheme to help rental tenants of public flats to buy their own homes.

•    $450 million to boost construction productivity.

•    New committee to help heartland shops.

•    Toa Payoh, Woodlands and Pasir Ris towns to be rejuvenated.

Since their low in 2009, resale housing prices have risen by about 37%, while new flat prices rose by just 15% without grants and 6% with grants.

1,491 families with household incomes below $1,000 had booked two-room or larger BTO flats for the period March 2012 to July 2014.

source: Straits Times

New Fees / Penalty Proposal For Foreigners Buying Australian Property

Foreigner investors buying properties in Australia will have to pay new fees, under a proposal which includes a crackdown on illegal purchases, announced Tony Abbott, Prime Minister of Australia.

Cash rich foreigners, particularly the Chinese, have been blamed for driving up property prices, especially in Melbourne and Sydney, making home ownership unattainable for many Australians.

Abbott said in a Sydney press conference:
"Part of the Australian dream is owning your own home and we certainly want the dream to continue."
‘Under current rules - unenforced in recent times - foreigners are only allowed to buy new dwellings and are barred from purchasing existing residential property.’
"Under the former (Labor) government, for six years there was not a single legal case against a foreigner buying a home. So what we're on about is ensuring that the long-standing rules are enforced.”
"Yes, foreign investment has been very, very good for Australia but it's got to be the right foreign investment... and it can't disadvantage Australian home buyers".
‘Similar to a scheme already operating in New Zealand, the Australian government proposes to charge a modest application fee on all foreign investments.’

Under the plan, any foreign investor who wants to buy a residential property worth less than Aus$1.0 million will have to pay a Aus$5,000 application fee.
For every additional million dollars in the purchase price, the fee would rise by Aus$10,000.

According to the Treasurer, Joe Hockey:
‘If an investor broke the law by purchasing existing property, a fine up to 25% of the value of the property will be imposed. The purchaser will also be forced to sell it.’
"These integrity measures are absolutely essential for reassuring Australians that when they go to an auction they are on a level playing field, that they are not being taken advantage of."

The government intended to establish a small, specialized unit to ensure compliance and identify breaches and would also set-up a register of foreign ownership of residential and agricultural property.

The government announced earlier this month that it would tighten scrutiny on overseas investment in farmland, following concerns about valuable agricultural and mineral assets passing into foreign hands and a new Aus$55 million screening threshold for foreign investment in Australian agribusiness.

The fees were expected to raise more than US$200 million a year.

Source: AFP

China Home Prices Slide Further

image credit: Dennis Jarvis

China’s property market recovery stays fragile as home prices record their biggest year-on-year decline ever. Among the 70 biggest cities tracked by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 64 cities saw month-on-month drops in new home prices in January, 66 in December and 67 in November.

Meanwhile new home prices average a 5.1% fall from a year ago, in 69 of 70 cities, according to NBS.

Shenzhen and Ganzhou posted a price increase in January.
Shenzhen home prices were up by 0.3% and Ganzhou, in Jiangxi, by 0.2% from December. Home prices remained unchanged in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, and Nanchang in Jiangxi.

In a move to stimulate the market amidst cooling property prices, a supply glut and moderate economic growth, the reserve requirements of major banks were slashed last month by the People's Bank of China. This followed on the heels of the central bank's surprise interest rate cut in November.

The housing sector made up about 15% of China's economy, which slowed to 7.4% last year. This is the slowest growth rate in over two decades for the world’s second largest economy.

According to analysts in a media report, housing prices across the board in China has been seeing a steady drop since the beginning of last year due to a supply overhang. A strong rebound in property prices is unlikely at least for a while.

With over $2 billion of its assets frozen by courts to protect its creditors, property developers like Kaisa is feeling the pain. Kaisa, with its debts now exceeding $10 billion, underscore the role which the sector of shadow banking plays in the slumping property market. Following the Global Financial Crisis, these non-traditional Chinese lenders, or trusts, have lent massive amounts to the sector, leading to ballooning debt.

URA New Guidelines for Landed Housing - May 2015

In response to changing lifestyle needs, URA is introducing a new set of control guidelines for the redevelopment of landed houses.

URA had piloted the new guidelines on a landed housing area in Sembawang Greenvale completed last year with a mix of 55 terrace and 10 detached homes.

While existing URA guidelines imposes height control at each storey of a landed home, the new guidelines will provide developers and homeowners more flexibility in the design of landed housing while safeguarding the low-rise character of landed housing estates.

The new guidelines define only the outline of the building – specifically, a maximum height of 15.5 metres for three-storey homes and 12 metres for two-storey homes.

For example, homeowners can now creatively layer their homes, vary floor to ceiling height or design the attic without the sloping roof and the basement to have more protrusion above ground, which will let in more ventilation and light.

image: URA

Criteria for the new lodgment effective May 2015:
Insertion of mezzanine or floors that do not exceed the allowable storey height control within the designated landed housing estates;
Introduction of raised basement of not more than 1m from the existing ground level on all sides;
The new URA Envelope Control Guidelines will take effect from 11 May 2015, island-wide.

Source: URA

SINGAPORE 7TH HOTSPOT FOR WORLD’S ULTRA RICH PROPERTY INVESTORS

Singapore is ranked the 7th hottest spot for buying overseas properties by the world's ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs), according to “THE GLOBAL LUXURY RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE REPORT 2015” by Wealth-X and Sotheby's.

Driving factors for demand are low interest rates and an environment of political, social and economic stability.

Buyers profile of UHNWI in Singapore:

• Average age - 59 years old;
• Median net worth - US$105m;
• 16% of UHNW owners are not based locally;
• Over 25% of buyers are from finance, banking, and investment sectors;
• Top foreign owners of Singapore properties come from Indonesia, China, and India.

"Singapore is a very attractive luxury real estate market with a thriving economy and international marketplace," - Philip White, President and CEO of Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates.

"Luxury residential real estate" is property valued at more than US$1,000,000 and typically owned by UHNW individuals.

As at end 2014, global UHNWIs numbers 211,275, up 6%  from 2013 with US$30 million or above in assets with property investments worth over US$1 million.

Top Cities for UHNW residences:

1.    New York
2.    London
3.    Hong Kong
4.    Los Angeles
5.    San Francisco
6.    Washington D.C
7.    Singapore
8.    Dallas,
9.    Mumbai
10.   Paris

Noteworthy Findings:
•    Purchasing decisions are driven by:
•    Emotional value
•    Practical value
•    Business value

•    7% of the world’s UHNW fortunes are made through real estate.

•    The number of properties held by UHNW individuals outside their home countries are increasing. Top 3 favourite locations are the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

•    New York is the city with the highest number of UHNW-owned residences in the world.

•    Monaco has the highest density of foreign-owned UHNW residences - 83%.

•    UHNW Chinese and Russian multiple homeowners are young and typically self-made. They play increasingly important roles as buyers of luxury residential real estate around the world.

Contributing factors of a residential real estate hub
• Locations with a concentrated business environment – often related to the finance industry
• Proximity to the world’s largest markets
• Strong and consistent historical economic performance
• Stable real estate markets and infrastructures
• High living standards, taking into account such factors as weather, health, leisure-
activities and transport

The Average Renovation Budget Of Singaporeans

One of the most exciting activity and also the most demanding is home hunting. For some it is like one in a lifetime event, at least that's what they initially thought. But whatever it is, it represents the beginning of a new journey, an odyssey that takes you into a new world you are about to create for yourself.

So after you secure your dream home, what next? It is to do up the place, of course. Perhaps that's a big hustle but it should be a lot of fun as well. And that begs the question - how much.

photo credit: Qanvest

Infographics by Qanvast on the average spending of Singaporeans on renovation:

$56k for HDB
$80K for Condo
$245K for a Landed

Preferred decor themes:

Modern decor top the list at 35.4% where the theme projects an atmosphere of warmth and simplicity.

Contemporary decor came in at 2nd place at 16%.
Transitional decor was placed 3rd at 13%.

Areas where there is a higher number of new flats have a higher proportion of Scandinavian and Eclectic decor themes.

Qanvast is Singapore's first mobile app connecting homeowners with trusted home professionals.

Hong Kong home prices hit high note in Nov for 7th straight month

Hong Kong by Jonathan Leung

Home prices in Hong Kong soared to a record high, the 7th consecutive month it has been rising. The overall private home prices index inched up another 3.7% month-on-month to 274 points.

According to government data, home prices rose 12% for the first 11 months of 2014.

The report came just days after Sun Hung Kai Properties, the city's largest developer, sold 300 small and medium-sized units of between HK$4M to HK$7M, within 9 hours of launch.

Despite the 2009 property cooling measures and the doubling of stamp duty on residential purchases, pent-up demand for smaller units continued to drive up sales in one of the world's most expensive property markets. Analysts expect the trend to continue in 2015, as developers continue to draw buyers, not affected by the measures, with discounts.

Since 2008, Hong Kong home prices have surged about 120% owing to an environment of  low interest rates, supply shortfall and flushed liquidity. According to Centaline Property Agency, the total value of Hong Kong private new homes transactions in 2014 was at their highest since it first started keeping records on them in 1996.

How will the Hong Kong property market pan out in 2015?

Developers will keep giving discounts and incentives to capture end-user demand and that will see home prices edge up another 3 to 5 percent this year, forecast Joanne Lee, Colliers International (HK).

source: Reuters

Shoebox units gloomy outlook

The resale prices of shoebox flats rose 0.5 per cent last month after dipping 2 per cent in November but they were still well down over the course of the year, according to a new report yesterday.

Shoebox units - defined as up to 506 sq ft in size - fell in value by about 4 per cent last year but that was still the smallest decline in the four segments of completed non-landed private homes covered in an index complied by the National University of Singapore.

Flash estimates for the overall Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI), as the gauge is called, showed that prices of completed non- landed private homes in Singapore fell 1.2 per cent in December over November.

For the full year, prices fell about 5.1 per cent last year islandwide, with homes in the central region taking the biggest hit with a drop of around 5.7 per cent.

Resale prices in the non-central region slipped about 4.8 per cent for the year. Mr Nicholas Mak, SLP International executive director, said the big fall in resale prices in the prime districts was no surprise as they were most affected by cooling measures.

The outlook appears gloomy for small units given the high number of completions due in coming years, while leasing demand seems patchy.

When the concept of shoebox units kicked off in 2009, they were mainly in the central region but by 2011 they were being incorporated into projects islandwide.

The trend became so pronounced that the Urban Redevelopment Authority noted in September 2012 that as many as 50 per cent to 80 per cent of then- new projects outside the central area consisted of shoebox units.

Some of these projects will be completed this year and next year, said analysts.

Mr Mak said that about 6,200 shoebox units will get their Temporary Occupation Permit over these two years, including units at The Promenade@Pelikat and The Hillier, which were both launched in 2012.

Suburban shoebox homes have "untested leasing demand", said Mr Ong Kah Seng, R'ST Research director. "In the suburban areas, these homes will face competition from HDB flats, which offer more space for almost the same rent... Expatriates also do not seem to have moved to the suburban areas from the central region and city fringes."

While these flats were meant for singles or young couples, some families invested in them as they were more affordable, noted Mr Ong. "Coming to completion, they may face some challenges as the units aren't sufficiently large for their living requirements, (while) at the same time, leasing demand is competitive," he said.

Demand among tenants for centrally located shoebox units seems more positive although rents can be comparable with those for a less conveniently located, possibly older two-bedroom apartments, added Mr Ong.

Overall, resale prices for private non-landed homes are expected to drop by about 4.5 per cent to 7 per cent this year, said Mr Mak.

source: Straits Times

Fitch: Singapore Banks Able to Withstand Rising Property Risk

The property market correction in Singapore may place modest pressure on banking system loan quality, Fitch Ratings says in its latest Asia-Pacific Chart of the Month report. Nonetheless, local banks DBS Bank Ltd, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and United Overseas Bank Limited should be able to weather a significant rise in credit costs given their healthy loss-absorption buffers.

Residential property prices in Singapore are down 5%-8% from their peak in mid-2013, in contrast to Hong Kong where steady demand and a supply shortage continue to drive up prices. Nonetheless, Fitch expects Singaporean banks' potential losses from mortgages to be minimal due to relatively healthy household balance sheets and adequate collateralisation.

The government's macro-prudential policies over the past few years included measures to strengthen mortgage underwriting practices at local banks. Mortgage delinquencies remain extremely low in both Singapore and Hong Kong (Singapore: 0.36%, Hong Kong 0.02% at end-September 2014).

While we anticipate Singapore banks' loan losses to rise as the property market continues to cool, Fitch expects the Monetary Authority of Singapore to remain vigilant for signs of stress. The agency remains watchful of potential second-order effects of the housing slowdown, such as weaker private consumption and rising construction company defaults.

Source: Reuters

Singapore - A Magnet For Tourists and Wealthy Jetsetters

Singapore has much to offer by way of luxury and doing the cool stuff. But for most travellers in Asean countries, Singapore remains the hot favourite, easily beating out choice European destinations like Paris and London. The truth is proximity do trump luxury in some cases.
But that is not all. Singapore do have a lot to offer.

Here is a list runoff:

• Tempting lady luck at the casino resorts
• View the 360-degree city from ‘Ku De Ta’
• Lose yourself in the shopping malls of Orchard Road
• Enjoying a ‘Singapore Sling’ at Tanjong Beach Club
• Exploring ‘Gardens at the Bay’
• Bistros hopping

But amongst the rich, Singapore is still the sought after vacation spot, particularly with the Americans, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers and recently Russians.

Singapore is one of Asia's best with its superior infrastructure, high living standards, cleanliness and low crime rates. It is also expensive of course. But for travellers on their first visit to Asia, Singapore offers "less of a culture shock."

What was once described as ‘a country like 'Disneyland with a death penalty' is now viewed as one of the coolest cities in the world, according to British Vogue.

A stay at iconic Raffles Hotel which opened its doors in 1887, a swim in the infinity pool at Marina Bay Sands and top notch gourmet dining just keep them coming.

When it comes down to fine dining, delicacies and eateries, Singapore has much to offer.
There is a heady array of local food and international cuisines. For instance, people even come over for the weekend just to dine at Restaurant Andre, a 30-seater eatery priced for its intricate French nouvelle cuisine and intimate dining experience.

Singapore's hawker food is also a hit even amongst the affluent. While folks may think twice about eating street food in Vietnam or Thailand, they will just head straight to Newton Hawker Centre and Chomp Chomp.

And landmark attractions like the Universal Studio and Night Safari do keep the tourists entertained.

View Singapore's New Property Launches at: http://projectshomes.com

Teck Chye Terrace Shophouses Autioned Off At S$14.63 million

Singapore Property News

A row of five adjoining freehold shophouses, with a land area of about 7,861 sq. ft. in Teck Chye Terrace, was sold for S$14.63 million, according to marketing agent Colliers International, without detailing more info about the buyer.

The five units have a total floor area of approximately 12,163 sq ft.

The first storey above these units have permanent approval for "shop" use. Each shophouse also come with a side staircase to access the upper storey.

The auction was conducted on Thursday 22 Jan. 2015. The final sales figure came in at $14.63 million which is $1.63 million above the indicative price of $13 million.