News At A Glance

Effective from May 9, 2022, Additional Buyers Stamp Duties (ABSD) of 35% will be imposed on any transfer of a home into a living trust and is payable upfront. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance said, “ABSD (Trust) addresses and closes the earlier gap in the ABSD regime, by applying ABSD on transfers of residential property into living trusts, even when there is no identifiable beneficial owner.” In summary, this will prevent buyers from using trusts to acquire properties while delaying the payment of ABSD for a long time. Parents using trusts to buy private homes for their ch...

As at April 5, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has received 12 outline applications under the CBD Incentive Scheme (CBDI). Eight of these have been given in-principle approval. Meanwhile, URA has given in-principle approval for four outline applications under the Strategic Development Incentive (SDI) Scheme. The names of the buildings have not been disclosed due to confidentiality reasons. Industry players whom  The Business Times  spoke to revealed that the buildings that have received in-principle approval under the CBDI include80 Anson Road (formerly Fuji Xerox Towers...

Property investment activity is expected to pick up further this year as Singapore re-opens and the economy gets back on its feet. Singapore remains an appealing destination in the Asia-Pacific for investors given its safe haven status and pro-business environment. While interest rates are heading north as central banks seek to subdue inflation, industry players are of the view that the office sector will shine as the growth in rents could outstrip higher funding costs. Moreover, the latest cooling measures – which were introduced to rein in the exuberance in the residential market...

On April 12, 2022, the Government announced that a new housing development comprising 9,000 residential units – about 6,000 public housing flats and about 3,000 private residential units – will be developed on the 48-hectare site of Keppel Club on Singapore’s southern waterfront. The first build-to-order (BTO) HDB flats on the site are slated to launch within 3 years; the remaining units are scheduled for launch in the next 3 to 5 years, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). According to the Housing Development Board (HDB), whether these flats will come under the...

In view of the wide-ranging recovery in most segments of Singapore’s property market in the past 6 months, the government has raised development charge (DC) rates for the landed and non-landed residential, commercial and industrial use groups in its latest biannual revision exercise.  The Ministry of National Development has raised DC rates for the landed residential use group by an average of 4.8% and those for non-landed residential use by an average of 0.3% for the March 1-August 31 period this year. The biggest hike of 10% for landed residential use applies to Sector 67 (which in...

On 15 March 2022, URA announced that commercial developments as well as the commercial components of mixed-use developments located in prominent areas and routes in Singapore’s Central Area are no longer allowed to be subdivided into individual units. In the case of existing developments that are strata subdivided, the restriction will apply to future redevelopment. For all other developments, the new rule takes effect immediately. The guidelines apply to locations such as Orchard Road, Tanglin Road, Scotts Road (Orchard Road corridor), Shenton Way, Robinson Road, Anson Road, Raffle...

Measures to curb wealth inequality can range from levying taxes on business, capital gains, inheritance and property, as well as schemes to help the less well-off own their homes and invest to build retirement nest eggs. Private-home owners here pay recurrent property taxes as well as stamp duties on transactions that include buyer’s stamp duty (BSD) and additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD). The property cooling measures do not stop rich locals or foreigners from buying multiple homes here so long as they are willing to pay the high transaction costs. No cap applies to th...

At a conference held by the Institute of Policy Studies on 24 Jan 2022, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said that Singapore faces foreseeable challenges such as climate change and the possible fragmentation of society, as well as unpredictable challenges like future pandemics in the years ahead. Therefore, there is a need to plan for greater flexibility in the city. This may mean safeguarding more land for future use instead of maximising all the available resources now, and would require balancing competing interests across time and space. He said that city planning is not...

Co-working space by IWG opened at Plus Building in Raffles Place Co-working space provider IWG has opened a new centre in CapitaLand’s Plus Building at 20 Cecil Street in Raffles Place.  Operating under the Regus brand, the 22,000 sq ft co-working space spreads over two floors in the 28-storey building. This is the 16th centre under the brand in Singapore. The Great Room opened its 5 th centre at Afro-Asia Building The Great Room opened a 37,000 sq ft space in the newly completed Afro-Asia Building located at the junction of Robinson Road and McCallum Street. With 600 workspaces occup...

Sixth Avenue Centre seeks S$85mil in en bloc tender Located at 805 Bukit Timah Road, Sixth Avenue Centre, was launched for collective sale via tender with a reserve price of S$85 mil. The mixed-use development sits on a trapezoidal land plot of 15,009 sq ft, which is zoned for commercial and residential use. Based on a plot ratio of 3.0, it has a maximum allowable gross floor area (GFA) of 45,028 sq ft. Up to 40% of the total GFA is allowed for commercial use with the remaining 60% for residential purposes. The reserve price translates to a land rate of S$1,861 per square foot per plot rati...