AsianPrime Properties | Your Finest Property Experience

An executive condominium (EC) site at the junction of Woodlands Avenue 5 and 6 received a total of seven bids when HDB closed its tender yesterday. The 99-year leasehold plot attracted a top offer of S$216 million or S$341.21 psf ppr from Qingjian Realty (South Pacific) Group. This was followed by Bellevue Properties with a bid of S$198 million or S$312.77 psf ppr. “The bid price of S$216 million or S$341 psf ppr is higher than the previous bids of nearby plots - S$318 psf ppr and S$302 psf ppr, last year. The relatively higher bid reflects developers’ renewed confidence in the area following the government’s announcement on Woodlands as Singapore’s new commercial hub in the land-use plan in January 2013,” said Desmond Sim, Associate Director at CBRE Research. “We expect interest in the next few EC plots this year to remain strong as there is a genuine need and demand for ECs. Developers are still positive about the EC market,” he added. Martin Koh

The Twin Fountains executive condominium (EC) in Woodlands has seen strong interest from buyers, with the only two available penthouses sold for S$1.64 million each. Aside from both units which are vast – measuring 2,207 sq ft, 104 dual-key units were also snapped up, The Straits Times reported. Jointly developed by Frasers Centrepoint and Lum Chang, the development comprises 418 units of which 289 were sold as of Saturday. Buyers showed keen interest for the four-bedroom, dual-key units priced at around S$1.13 million to S$1.25 million. According to the report, the dual-key units at Twin Fountains were exempt from January’s new regulations which limits the sale of such homes to multi-generational families, hence the strong response. Location may have also been another key selling point, with the upcoming Woodlands South MRT station and Woodlands Regional Centre expected to boost the value of homes in the project. Meanwhile, first-time buyers accounted for 39 percent

The Straits Times  | M AY 11, 2013 Only 572 resales were recorded in April, down 54 per cent from the 1,240 in the same month last year. THE recent cooling measures continue to inflict pain on the resale private home market with prices down and transaction volumes hammered last month. Analysts say the tough steps imposed in January are prompting buyers to turn their backs on resale units and look to new properties where discounts are being dangled. The effect has been a slow-motion price slump. They dipped 0.4 per cent last month from levels in March, which in turn were down 2 per cent from February's values. The plunge in transaction volumes has been far more dramatic. Only 572 resales were recorded in April, down 54 per cent from the 1,240 in the same month last year. It was also fewer than the 614 units resold in March this year. Around half of April's resales were in suburban regions, the Singapore Real Estate Exchange said yesterday. Transacti

The Business Times  |  April 22 , 2013 Mix of residential, retail units a draw due to freehold tenure and location Buyers snapped up 44 residential and retail units at Novena Regency within a week of its launch last week. The mixed development by Fragrance Realty - a subsidiary of the Fragrance Group - released 72 units on April 13. Its freehold tenure and city fringe location along Thomson Road are the most attractive features of the property, as it will sit on the current Novena Ville site. The 45 shop units are priced from $7,000 per square foot (psf), while the 55 residential units start at $2,300 psf. Among the residential units, there are 43 apartments (one-, two- and three-bedroom units) and 12 penthouses (two-, three- and four-bedroom units). Fragrance Group executive chairman and chief executive Koh Wee Meng said: "We are fairly confident that buyers will be attracted to its location - an exclusive private estate enclave within the No

The Straits Times  |  April 21, 2013 Talks fail to kick off as invited residents of privatised estate fail to turn up The saga over a 20m walkway separating two estates looks set to drag on for at least several more months, as talks between the two failed to even kick off yesterday. Elderly Thomson Garden residents used the path as a short cut to a bus stop, Shunfu market, kindergarten and Marymount MRT station. But that all stopped last Thursday, when the newly privatised Shunfu Ville fenced up its area. This outraged some Thomson Garden residents who had been using the pathway for years and now have to take a 500m detour. Yesterday some 110 met their new MP, Minister of State for Finance and Transport Josephine Teo, for a closed-door dialogue on the matter. Its neighbourhood committee chairman Eugene Lee said invitations were sent to some Shunfu Ville residents as well - but none turned up. Mr Lee said he also sent out three proposals to some Shunfu Ville resi

The Business Times  |  April 20, 2013 Dip is the sharpest in three years; drop of 1.41 per cent in the week ended April 14 is fourth straight weekly decline [HONG KONG] HOME prices in Hong Kong fell the most in almost three years after the government imposed its harshest measures yet to curb prices and as the city's lenders raised mortgage rates for the first time since 2011. Prices fell 1.41 per cent in the week ended April 14, the fourth straight weekly decline, according to an index compiled by Centaline Property Agency Ltd, Hong Kong's biggest closely held realtor. It was the biggest drop since May 2010, the company said in a statement. Before February's measures, a housing shortage, low mortgage costs and buying by mainland Chinese helped prices more than double since the start of 2009 even as policymakers attempted to rein in gains amid an outcry over affordability. The government on Feb 22 doubled the stamp duty on all property tr

The Straits Times  |  April 20, 2013 Renovations and upgrading works at three malls boosted rental returns and helped push up earnings at CapitaMall Trust (CMT) in the first quarter. Gross revenue grew 14.8 per cent from $155.2 million last year to $178.2 million, while net property income was up 15.5 per cent at $125.1 million for the three months to March 31. Its distributable income came in at $85.3 million, up 11.3 per cent on the $76.6 million recorded in the same period last year. First-quarter distribution per unit (DPU) rose 7 per cent to 2.46 cents from the same period last year. CMT reported that its annualised distribution yield was 4.42 per cent based on its closing price of $2.26 per unit yesterday. Unit-holders can expect to receive their DPU on May 30, said the real estate investment trust. CapitaMall Trust Management chairman Danny Teoh said the refurbishments at JCube, Bugis+ and The Atrium@Orchard boosted the first-quarte