CapitaLand appoints Peter Seah as deputy chairman
Property developer CapitaLand has appointed Peter Seah as its new deputy chairman from January 2009. Mr Seah has been a non-executive director with CapitaLand since 2001. He is also appointed to chair the company board’s finance and budget committee. Mr Seah takes over from the incumbent Hsuan Owyang, who has been with the company since … Read more
Yongnam eyes over $300m in new deals
Singapore-based construction firm Yongnam Holdings said on Tuesday it is eyeing new projects in the Middle East and is in talks with the Abu Dhabi government for infrastructure deals. The firm is looking at around $1 billion (US$693 million) worth of potential new deals in Singapore, Dubai, India and the Middle East which it hopes … Read more
US commercial property industry seeks bailout aid
A group of trade associations representing the US commercial real estate industry is lobbying to be included in the US Federal Reserve’s US$200 billion asset-backed bailout plan in order to head off a wave of foreclosures over the next few years. Commercial banks and the commercial mortgage-backed securities market comprise about 75 per cent of … Read more
US housing crisis worsens as economy weakens
The desperate straits of many US homeowners showed in new data released on Monday, suggesting efforts to help them are having limited success. As the recession throws more people out of work, the rate of re-default on modified mortgages is rising and may worsen as the economy deteriorates, banking regulators said. After much browbeating from … Read more
10% fall seen in UK home prices next year
UK house prices will decline 10 per cent next year as a shortage of mortgage finance limits new sales, according to Hometrack Ltd. Values will drop a further 3 per cent in 2010 after dropping 9 per cent this year, the London- based property researcher said in a report yesterday. Home lending will increase by … Read more
China fleshes out details of real estate stimulus
China fleshes out details of real estate stimulus China’s General Office of the State Council, or Cabinet, on Sunday unveiled more details of a real estate stimulus package adopted at an executive meeting of the Council last Wednesday. The document, called A Number of Opinions Concerning Boosting Healthy Development of the Property Market, was posted … Read more
Tapping market indices to signal office rental swings
In Singapore as well as Hong Kong, stock market indices lead official office rental indices between two and five quarters before correction or recovery sets in, property consultancy DTZ observes in a report issued yesterday. Office vacancy rates in these two Asian cities also led office rent correction and recovery by a few quarters. Guided … Read more
Tuan Sing associate sells Canberra hotel
TUAN Sing Holdings’ 50 per cent-owned Australian associate, Grand Hotel Group (GHG), is selling its hotel in Canberra for A$80 million (S$79.5 million) – a near 14 per cent premium to its book value. In an announcement yesterday, Tuan Sing said that GHG has, through two GHG subsidiaries, secured a put-and-call option deed to sell … Read more
Rents to hold steady despite en bloc influx
MORE units at developments sold enbloc are expected to be released onto the rental market, as developers look to ride out the market downcycle by renting them out, instead of leaving them empty. But the additional supply of apartments from these developments should not weigh heavily on an already falling rental market, property consultants said. … Read more
How to deal with pesky en blocs
WE REFER to the letters “Just leave me alone!” (Dec 16) by Lee Siew Hua and “A loophole, a headache” (Dec 19) by Yeo Han Tiong. We would like to clarify that the legislation already allows the subsidiary proprietors of a strata-titled development to decide on the tenure of an en bloc sale committee. A … Read more
