ST – 01 Mar 12 Summary: Cogent Land Capital has taken over the former Bukit Timah Turf Club site from Singapore Agro Agricultural (SAA). Tenants like Giant hypermarket, Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant and Art Boot Camp are still operating there. Renovation work will start next week. Revamped Turf City mall will have a range of […]
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Development charges dip for non-landed residential use
Straits Times – 01 Mar 12 Summary: Charges that developers pay to enhance the use of a plot of land have finally been reduced or left flat for some sectors, as the slowing property market takes its toll (I think it’s more for the luxury prime areas, rather than the rest of Singapore.) The new […]
State property at Changi on offer
Business Times – 12 Aug 2008 The parcel has a land area of 104,044 sq ft and GFA of 54,864 sq ft HOTEL operators can look forward to another state property to develop – this time at Changi. The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) yesterday launched the plot – part of a former military camp – […]
Challenges for property sector
New engines drive Singapore’s property market but pitfalls remain THE Singapore property market has weathered the storm from the US sub-prime crisis, soaring oil prices and overall inflation, pretty well. Runaway increases in property values in the high-end residential and prime office sectors seen in the past couple of years, for instance, have started to […]
Growth in office occupancy costs tapers off in Q2
Prime Raffles Place space up only 1.1% quarter on quarter: DTZ report GROWTH in office occupancy costs in Singapore has started to taper off after the meteoric rise last year, reflecting the increased resistance to higher occupancy costs, according to a new report. ‘Apart from Raffles Place, Shenton Way/ Robinson Road/Cecil Street and decentralised areas, […]
Home, retail, office rental growth to ease
Business Times – 25 Mar 2008 Housing rentals to rise 5-15% year-on-year in 2008: Knight Frank PRIVATE housing rents are expected to grow at a slower pace this year than last year, Knight Frank said in a report yesterday. The property consultancy firm expects a year-on-year rise of 5-15 per cent in 2008 – after […]
Realising the Marina Bay vision
Business Times – 22 Mar 2008 CHING TUAN YEE and BENJAMIN NG reflect on the planning of Singapore’s most ambitious urban project and highlight the exciting developments in store for Singaporeans and visitors alike THE vision for Marina Bay is that of a high-quality, 24/7 live-work-play environment, one that encapsulates the essence of the global […]
Space crunch in Orchard pushes docs to Novena
March 12, 2008 The area could turn into medical hub as more private doctors set up clinics there PRIVATE doctors are flocking to the Novena area as the squeeze on clinic space in the Orchard Road belt tightens. The migration could turn the area into Singapore’s newest centre for private health services, some believe. In […]
Ophir-Rochor corridor site to be marketed in France
Business Times – 11 Mar 2008 THE Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will market the first site in the new Ophir-Rochor corridor at the ‘Marche International des Professionals de L’Immobilier’ (MIPIM), a premier international property event in Cannes, France. The site will be launched for sale under the Confirmed List of the Government Land Sales Programme […]
PROPERTY: Demand for single office units still going strong in quiet market
Investors turn more cautious, but small firms still interested in strata-titled officesALL has turned quiet on the housing front, but some other segments of the property market appear to have escaped that fate. Still going strong in particular are sales of single office units in larger commercial buildings. Known as strata-titled offices, these properties recorded […]
PROPERTY: Demand for single office units still going strong in quiet market
Investors turn more cautious, but small firms still interested in strata-titled offices ALL has turned quiet on the housing front, but some other segments of the property market appear to have escaped that fate. Still going strong in particular are sales of single office units in larger commercial buildings. Known as strata-titled offices, these properties […]
For sale: 18th floor of Peninsula Plaza at $17.5m
NOVELTY Department Store Pte Ltd, part of the Novelty Group, has put the entire 18th floor of Peninsula Plaza up for sale, with a price tag of about $17.5 million or about $2,050 per square foot (psf) of strata area. Peninsula Plaza is a 999-year leasehold building near Raffles City. DTZ is marketing the property. […]
DC rate hike lower than expected
Average industrial rates up 16.8%, muted increases for most other uses THE government yesterday announced modest, lower-than-expected increases in development charge (DC) rates for most use groups, except industrial. ‘Limited transactions in the past six months, amidst cautionary sentiment set about the US sub-prime debacle, were probably an important factor for the moderate gains this […]
DC rate hike lower than expected
Average industrial rates up 16.8%, muted increases for most other uses THE government yesterday announced modest, lower-than-expected increases in development charge (DC) rates for most use groups, except industrial. ‘Limited transactions in the past six months, amidst cautionary sentiment set about the US sub-prime debacle, were probably an important factor for the moderate gains this […]
Property development charges barely budge
Small revision of fees points to dwindling deals, slow price growth IT’S official: the property market has gone deathly quiet. The Government barely tweaked development charges in its semi-annual revision of fees yesterday, reflecting the property sector’s subdued state over the last six months. Development charges, which can run in the millions of dollars, are […]
Marina Bay to provide 1.1m sq m of office space
It will become a seamless extension of Raffles Place, says Mah THE upcoming financial district at Marina Bay will be twice the size of London’s Canary Wharf and will provide as much Grade A office space as Hong Kong’s Central. Revealing more plans for Singapore’s new financial hub, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan told […]
Newton area growing as a hub for hybrid offices
NEWTON is shaping up as a centre for hybrid offices, with another company, The Ascott Group, moving to the neighbourhood. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) also said yesterday that it would release not one, but two, transitional office sites between Scotts Road and Anthony Road for sale. Ascott, which is officed at the former Temasek […]
URA launches 2 more temp office sites in Newton
Analysts see good demand just like for a nearby plot launched earlier TWO more transitional office sites have been launched by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in a move to help ease some of the pressure on space. The adjacent sites – parcel A is 8,682.8 sq m in size and parcel B is 9,037.9 […]
Two more hotel sites put up for tender
TWO more hotel sites have been put on the market – a 99-year leasehold plot in Race Course Road, offered by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and a freehold plot in Bencoolen Street now occupied by Peony Mansion. Peony Mansion’s owners want $50 million, which works out to about $850 per square foot of potential gross […]
Parkway justifies record land bid with vision for a ‘hospital of the future’
Focus will be on cardiology, oncology and orthopaedics (SINGAPORE) Parkway Holdings will be building on its newly-acquired Novena site what it calls a ‘hospital of the future’, that will incorporate a hub of top medical professionals, with the latest technology, organised along a high level of thoughtfulness for the patient. Speaking to the press and […]
Office rents in Singapore on upward climb: property firms
THE occupancy cost for office space in Singapore is now higher than in Hong Kong, according to a new report. Data from property firm CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) show that total occupancy cost here hit US$10.42 per square foot per month (psf pm) at the end of 2007. By comparison, total occupancy cost for Hong […]
Tanjong Pagar hotel site may fetch $750 psf ppr
CONTINUING its rollout of hotel sites amid the current shortage of hotel rooms, the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday made available for application a reserve-list site in the Tanjong Pagar area. The 99-year leasehold site, at the corner of Gopeng Street and Peck Seah Street, can be developed into a 30-storey hotel with about 330 hotel […]
Development fees may jump for non-residential sites
For residential areas where strong land sales have lifted values, charges could surge DEVELOPERS may soon have to pay more to redevelop non-residential sites such as land for hotels or hospitals. A key government fee for redeveloping sites will be revised again next month, and property consultants expect it to be raised for land used […]
STRONG FULL-YEAR GAINS: UOL still bullish on office rentals
OFFICE rents have been skyrocketing over the past 12 months but property group UOL Group reckons there will still be further rises to come. The firm reported stellar full-year results yesterday. It said rents for retail space should benefit from high levels of employment, as well as strong tourist arrivals, although the pace of increase […]
Parkway dives 8.3% on record bid for site
Winning bid of $1,600 psf ppr for Novena hospital site is over twice the second highest offer SHARES of Parkway Holdings took a beating yesterday as concerns emerged that the healthcare provider might have overpaid for a hospital site at Novena. Parkway’s stock slipped as much as 9.7 per cent yesterday following Friday’s news […]
Merchant Square and Waldorf Mansions up for sale
MERCHANT Square, a four-storey office building off Merchant Road, is up for sale with a guide price of $73 million. With a total net lettable area (NLA) of about 50,262 square feet, the unit price works out to $1,450 psf of NLA. The property, which was developed by carpet manufacturer Jackson Carpet and completed in […]
Amex signs up for Marina Bay Financial Centre
It is said to be taking 50,000 sq ft in Tower 2, in the project’s 1st phase AMERICAN Express International is the latest new tenant at Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC), which means that slightly more than half of the total 2.9 million square feet of offices in the entire development has been taken up. […]
Two more govt agencies to vacate downtown offices
IDA, SLA making room for private businesses to ease office shortage MORE help is on the way to ease Singapore’s office shortage, which has led to soaring rents. At least two government agencies will give up their downtown offices to make room for private businesses that need more space. The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) will […]
Merchant Square on sale for $73m
A MODEST office development with well-known cosmetics company Estee Lauder as its anchor tenant is up for sale at an indicative price of $73 million. The price for the 99-year leasehold Merchant Square – located in Merchant Road, opposite Riverside Point – works out to $1,450 per sq ft (psf) of net lettable area. The […]
BUDGET 2008: STRATEGY – Some govt units moving out to free up city space
20,000 sq m or more will be available to private sector THE government has decided to relocate several agencies out of the Central Area to free up space of 20,000 square metres or more by first quarter next year for use by the private sector. The space being released, which will help to address the […]
Parkway’s Novena bid poised to set govt land sales record
(SINGAPORE) Hospital operator Parkway Holdings looks set to shatter all records for government land sales (GLS) with its $1.25 billion bid for a hospital site at Novena. Parkway’s bid, which works out to be about $1,600 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), topped the previous record set by Australia’s Lend Lease, which paid […]
BUDGET 2008: More office sites in the offing to ease space crunch
AT LEAST 20,000 sq m of office space – equivalent to 20 floors or more of an Suntec City block – will be freed up to help the private sector deal with the space crunch. The initiative will kick in by early next year. Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the tight supply of office space, […]
S’pore world’s 7th most expensive office location
Prime office rents rose 78% last year to US$130.48 psf per annum: report SINGAPORE has jumped 10 places to become the world’s seventh-most expensive office location. According to Cushman & Wakefield’s (C&W) report on office occupancy costs, prime office rents rose 78 per cent in Singapore last year. Occupancy costs are now at US$130.48 psf […]
S’pore is world’s seventh most expensive office market
It jumps 10 spots in global ranking of occupancy costs by property consultancy SINGAPORE has moved into the global top 10 most expensive office markets for the first time due to a severe office shortage. A survey of office costs in 203 locations in 58 countries by global real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield saw […]
Stanchart joining quest for space in Changi
Bank seeks to build complex of up to 400,000 sq ft to house backroom operations: sources STANDARD Chartered looks set to be the next financial institution to head out east to Changi Business Park (CBP), which is fast becoming a hub for financial backroom operations. Already, Citibank, Credit Suisse, DBS and OCBC have either staked […]
Developer stocks may rise above flat property prices
Goldman says that physical market correction already priced in (SINGAPORE) Goldman Sachs predicts that private home prices will remain flat this year, but is sticking to its view that Singapore’s strong structural story is driving a sustainable multi-year residential upswing. The US bank does not expect a repeat of the mid-1996 (anti-speculation) regulatory measures that […]
Increases in cost of offices, shops starting to slow down
RESPITE may be in sight for those who have been griping about the surging cost of doing business in Singapore. Latest figures show that the increases in the cost of shops and offices eased in the fourth quarter of last year, in line with a general slowdown in the property market. Prices and rentals for […]
79 Anson Rd stake sold for 3rd time in 2 years
SEB Asian Property Fund pays $215m for 55% stake TRADING office buildings continues to be flavour of the month in the real estate market. A 55 per cent stake in the freehold 79 Anson Road has changed hands for the third time in about two years. The latest deal involves a fund managed by Ferrell […]
Govt rejects Aljunied site bid; offers flood Jalan Sultan plot
THE Government has decided not to sell a short-term office site in Aljunied because the sole bid that came in last week offered too low a price. This decision follows a recent string of lower-than-expected offers for state land and is the first time since 2001 that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has rejected bids […]
Genting confirms talks to build hotel in Sports Hub
Shatec signs pact to be master caterer of hub for 25 years (SINGAPORE) Genting International plc (GIL) yesterday confirmed a BT report that it is currently in preliminary talks with Singapore Sports Hub Consortium to build a hotel in the Sports Hub. In an announcement on the Singapore Exchange, GIL said ‘preliminary planning suggests the […]
Service apartments seek shorter stays to ease hotel room crunch
Industry association proposes rule on stay of 7 nights or more be lifted FOR 20 years, there has been a little-known rule governing service apartments: Guests have to stay seven nights or more. Now, with an eye on the current hotel room crunch, the Serviced Apartments Association proposes that this condition be lifted. There are […]
Hotel rooms during F1 race period going fast
RATES of $1,000 a night and higher have not deterred Formula 1 fans from snapping up trackside hotel rooms for the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix. Hotels ranging from the glitzy Ritz-Carlton Millennia Singapore to the Peninsula-Excelsior Hotel are already fully booked for the Sept 26 to 28 race. This is despite significantly higher than normal […]
Home prices stay firm even as property stocks retreat
Amid weak sentiment in a quiet market, many players are adopting a wait-and-see attitude SINGAPORE’S property stocks have been taking a hammering lately but the property market has so far remained unscathed. After riding the boom to dizzy heights, property counters have now dropped by up to 60 per cent or so from their high […]
Transitional office site fetches just one bid
Mezzo’s $7.8m offer for Aljunied site also below expectations INTRODUCED as a quick fix to address the shortage of office space, the new transitional office sites may just as quickly become redundant. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) closed the tender for the fourth transitional office site at Aljunied Road and Geylang East Avenue 1 yesterday […]
New Orchard MRT passageway set to dazzle
Opening today, the entrance-exit will link station to ION Orchard BE ready to be greeted by friendly ushers and, if you are early enough, the aroma of a free cup of coffee will make your day too as you exit from the ticket counter at Orchard MRT station today. Also, take time to admire the […]
Retail space turns competitive
Concerns over new supply, rising costs even though occupancy is high DTZ Debenham Tie Leung has raised some concerns about the market for retail space turning competitive as more developments are completed in the next few years. It said that while occupancy in the retail market remained high at 90 per cent, there were some […]
Converting hotels into condos just got harder
Rules to ensure that sites zoned as hotels are not switched to other uses (SINGAPORE) Redevelopment plans involving the likes of Four Seasons Hotel along Orchard Boulevard and Negara on Claymore may have to go back to the drawing board after the government tightened hotel conversion rules yesterday. If the owners of these properties had […]
Space surge may slow Orchard Rd rent rises
Almost 2m sq ft to be added between now and 2011 AN IMPENDING surge of new shop space in Orchard Road may put the brakes on the growth of retail rents along the shopping stretch. Almost two million sq ft of new retail gross floor area is set to open in the area between now […]
Govt to check hotel conversions islandwide
THE Government has made a key policy change regarding land set aside for hotels at a time of heightened concern over the supply of rooms during the tourism boom. It has discontinued the hotel safeguarding policy, so developers with land designated for hotels may find it harder to convert the site for other uses, such […]
Industry players feel pinch of rising hotel rates
They are a concern for leisure travel sector; the going may get tougher for Mice operators also (SINGAPORE) The average daily hotel room rate for 2007 is expected to have hit a record $200. And although 2,000 new rooms will be added this year, there will be no let-up in rising rates. For 2008, consultancy […]
