News At A Glance

The Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) flash estimate for the first quarter of 2020 shows that the overall price index for private homes fell 1.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) from end-2019, a reversal of the uptrend in the previous three quarters.  By housing types, landed home prices were down 1.7% q-o-q, a bigger magnitude than the 1.0% decline for non-landed homes. Within the non-landed category, the fall of 1.5% q-o-q in the Core Central Region (CCR) price index was mainly attributed to the lower price point of The M which saw 389 units sold at S$2,439 psf, as well as th...

Singapore emerges as World’s freest economy, taking over Hong Kong. In a report released by the Heritage Foundation, the 2020 Index of Economic Freedom places Singapore in the top spot, having maintained the same scores as per previous year. Singapore is ranked 1st among the 42 countries in the Asia Pacific region, its overall score of 89.4 is well above the world average.  Singapore has one of the world’s highest per capita incomes and solid rates of GDP growth at 3.3 per cent five year compound annual growth. Consistently ranked as one of the world’s most business...

Tender for the Government Land Sales closed on 3 March 2020 and saw a total of 16 bids for the three residential sites , of which one is an executive condominium (EC) site. All three sites are located in the Outside of Central Region (OCR). The EC site is at Fernvale Lane while the two residential sites are at Canberra Drive. Response to the three sites shows that developers are still keen on landbanking despite the current uncertainties in the market. The bids seemed to reflect that developers’ outlook on prices would be stable for the next 12 months. Oasis Develop...

Wing Tai Asia announced that it has sold 75 per cent or 392 units of the 522-unit condominium project, The M on Middle Road just three weeks after its launch. The project saw more than 360 units sold over the weekend of 22 – 23 February, following a ballot exercise after a strong expression of interest. Comprising studio and one- to three-bedroom units from 409 sq ft to 904 sq ft, The M is a 99-year leasehold development with three 20-storey towers and one six-storey tower. All 48 studios, that were priced from under $1 million were the first to be sold out during the balloting phase....

The Residential Property Act (RPA) defines a Singapore company as a company that is incorporated in Singapore and all its directors and shareholders are Singapore Citizens or Singapore companies. Based on this definition, most of the publicly listed housing developers and their subsidiaries would not be considered a Singapore company and will therefore have to apply for and obtain a Qualifying Certificate (QC) for the acquisition of residential land from persons other than the Singapore Government for the purposes of the development of a housing development. The Ministry of Law announced&nb...

Budget 2020 was announced on Tuesday, 18 February 2020. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Mr Heng Swee Keat went into immediate concerns hovering over Singapore economy.  Budget 2020 sets aside SS$5.6 billion to help firms, workers and households amid the Covid-19 outbreak, with a focus on the future, from economic transformation to climate change. Taking into consideration that the Singapore economy faces considerable uncertainty in the coming year with recovery derailed by the uncertainty brought forth by the Covid-19 outbreak, a Stabilisation and Support Package of...

Data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) shows that 618 new private residential units, excluding executive condominiums (ECs) were sold last month, an increase of 14.9% m-o-m compared to 538 units sold in December last year and 41.4% higher than the 437 units developers sold a year during the same period. This is the best January private home sales figure in seven years.  Two of the three top-performing projects are located Outside of Central Region (OCR). They are the 1,206-unit Jadescape which sold 56 units at a median price of S$1,690 psf. an...

The Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme for the first half of 2020 was announced by the Ministry of National Development (MND) on 3 December 2019. There will be three sites on the Confirmed List and eight on the Reserve List, yielding a total of 6,490 private residential units (including 600 executive condominium or EC units), 114,000 square metres (sq m) gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space and 1,070 hotel rooms. Two of the confirmed sites are for residential use with one for executive condominium (EC), and one mixed-use site which can yield about 1,775 private residential units an...

Singapore has stepped up in its place and ranked top for real estate investment prospects in terms of price increases in 2020 according to an Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers report released on property trends in the region. Singapore has benefited from an uptick in interest among investors who are avoiding China and Hong Kong. There has also been a pick up in luxury home sales, gold storage and foreign currency deposits. Over the past few quarters, apartment prices have rebounded in Singapore, signalling resilience in the residential market, while...

The Singapore economy grew by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter year on year. Figures released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) showed a slight uptick in Singapore’s economic growth for the third quarter, with a slightly higher than 0.2 per cent expansion from the previous quarter, revised upwards from a 0.1 per cent growth. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) showed the economy expanded an annualised 2.1 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter and seasonally adjusted basis, reversing the 2.7 per cent contraction in the second quarter. The ministry added that the economy is exp...