News At A Glance

SINGAPORE Rents of landed and non-landed residential properties recorded quarterly increases of 10.9% and 8.3% in 3Q2022. According to Savills Singapore, the rental index of these property types hit record levels in 24 years since the start of the URA time series in 4Q1998. Notably, Savills highlights that two newly-completed projects in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) Stirling Residences and Park Colonial, fetched an average rent of $7.10 psf per month and $6.50 psf per month respectively. These rents are comparable to those at prominent developments in the Core Central Region suc...

DEVELOPERS will need to provide for larger homes in non-landed projects in the Central Area from January 2023, when new guidelines from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for dwelling units kick in. From Jan 18, 2023, a minimum of 20 per cent of dwelling units (DUs) with a nett internal area of 70 square metres (sq m) will be required for all new flats, condominiums and residential components of commercial and mixed-use developments in the Central Area. This size is considered reasonable by URA for small families, taking into account the tighter space constraints of the Central Area....

PRIVATE residential property prices rose 3.4 per cent in the third quarter, largely driven by strong sales at new launches in the suburbs which notched new benchmark prices, though price growth is expected to slow for the rest of the year. For the first nine months of 2022, private residential home prices have increased 7.8 per cent, higher than the 5.3 per cent growth over the corresponding period last year. This follows the full-year increase of 10.6 per cent in 2021. Private home prices have risen 23 per cent since bottoming in Q1 2020, at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Flash esti...

Orchard Bel Air en bloc closes without sale The public tender sale of Orchard Bel Air closed on Sep 6, 2022 without a bid.  Its owners have entered into discussions with potential buyers under the 10-week private treaty phase. Located at the doorstep of the soon-to-open Orchard Boulevard MRT Station, the prime District 10 condominium was put up for sale at S$587.5 million on Jul 27. The 71-unit development’s 99-year leasehold tenure started in Aug 1980, and it has a land area of about 93,126 square feet (sq ft). Under the Master Plan 2019, it has a gross plot ratio (GPR) of 2...

The TE Capital Partners and LaSalle Investment Management tie-up that owns the PIL Building along Cecil Street is considering a forward sale of the new 20-storey freehold office project to be built on the site. The idea is to sell the entire asset rather than individual strata-titled units. The Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) written permission for the proposed project granted in July indicates that the development may be strata subdivided. When completed in 2026, Solitaire On Cecil will rise to 127 metres, up from the existing PIL Building’s height of 73 metres, and comprise p...

Developers’ interest is expected to be healthy for two 99-year leasehold government sites in Bukit Timah and Hillview areas, Singapore. The two sites where new private home supply is limited amid strong demand from owner occupiers and Housing Board upgraders, have been released for sale via public tender. The two parcels, which can yield a total of 495 homes, are on the confirmed list of the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme for the second half of this year, the Urban Redevelopment Authority announced. Located next to Beauty World MRT station, the Bukit Timah Link site span...

At the National Day Rally 2022 held on August 21, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced plans for a “new business and lifestyle destination” to be built next to Changi Airport Terminal 5 and gave updates on the latest airport terminal, Tuas Port and the relocation of Paya Lebar Air Base, which could see 150,000 new homes built on the site. Mr Lee spoke of the importance of continuing to upgrade the nation’s airport and seaport given that they are critical to putting Singapore on the world stage. He said that the government’s decisions to press on with C...

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) handed over 11 stations in the third stage of the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) to SMRT on Aug 17 for the rail operator to carry out further testing on the signalling system over the next few months in preparation for the opening. TEL stage 3 has 13 stations, but Mount Pleasant and Marina South stations will remain closed until housing developments around them are ready. The remaining 11 stations will run from Stevens through Orchard and Outram Park to Gardens by the Bay. The last two stages of the TEL, stage 4 and stage 5, comprise a total of...

On July 14, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced it would re-centre the mid-point of the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate policy band to help slow the momentum of inflation and ensure medium-term price stability. MAS expected core inflation to come in between 3.0% and 4.0%, up from the earlier forecast range of 2.5% to 3.5%. However, data released on July 25 showed that Singapore’s annual inflation rate rose the highest since September 2008 to 6.7% in June 2022, leaping from 5.6% in May, as prices of food, transport, housing and clothing surg...

Income At Raffles has been bought over by Singapore-based Bright Ruby Resources. Located at 16 Collyer Quay, the 37-storey, 999-year leasehold office asset was sold by Mercatus, the real estate arm of NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative, in late-June. According to sources, the purchase price of around S$1 billion translates to S$3,617 psf of the net lettable area (NLA). Income At Raffles’ NLA comprises 253,664 sq ft of offices and 22,787 sq ft of retail space (on Levels 1 and 2). The building also has 148 car parking lots in the basement levels. Its existing gross floor area (GFA) of 415,4...