MND slashes development charge rates
THE government yesterday announced bigger cuts to development charge (DC) rates, which are payable for enhancing the use of some sites, compared with the previous revision six months earlier. It used lower condo/apartment prices and weaker office rentals as evidence, given the dearth of land transactions. The average DC rate was chopped 15 per cent … Read more
Standoff at the mall
IT is an old-fashioned stalemate in the retail industry. Retailers are saying that rent cuts of at least 20-30 per cent are an ‘absolute necessity’ for them to survive, while landlords – who have given no indications that they are looking at granting significant rent cuts – insist that they are doing all they can … Read more
Hotel rates up, occupancy down during F1 period
IT’S finally the moment of truth. Data reveals that local hotel room rates surged 150.4 per cent on average to $616 during the 2008 Formula One (F1) race period of Sept 24-28. But at 75 per cent for the five-day period, occupancy was six percentage points lower than the overall average occupancy rate (AOR) for … Read more
Hotel occupancy plunges to 60%
HOTELS bore the brunt of the impact from a steep slide in tourist arrivals last month, with average occupancy tumbling to the 60 per cent mark – the lowest level since the 2003 Sars outbreak. Average hotel room rates, which had been on the uptrend for the past two years, also took a beating, and … Read more
Tax cut will enhance value
THE Government has responded to the weakening property market by slashing the charges developers pay when they enhance the value of a site by such things as building a bigger project on the land.The move to cut development charges, or DC as the fees are called, will give developers some relief but the effect will … Read more
Renewing the urban landscape
MORE than half the world lives in cities. According to the United Nations, the urban population is growing by an average of 1.6million people every 10 days. By 2030, two in three people will be city-dwellers. Larger countries may still be able to afford the old model of urban sprawl, where the city boundary grows … Read more
Government lowers development charge for properties by 4%-15%
The government has lowered the redevelopment tax on non-landed residential property by 15 per cent on average – a more drastic cut than the 6 per cent it made half a year ago. The biggest reductions affect higher-end properties in prime locations, including Marina Bay, Robertson Quay, River Valley, Orchard Road, Grange/Tanglin, Newton and Holland … Read more
CapitaLand eyes more investment opportunities in China
Singapore’s property giant CapitaLand is busy looking at investment opportunities in key markets like China, as part of a strategy to weather the current economic downturn. The developer has been successful in developing projects in Shanghai and Beijing, and is now looking into second-tier cities on the Chinese mainland. Last year alone, CapitaLand China more … Read more
A plea for survival
Association calls for landlords to cut rents by 20-30 per cent, with 20,000 jobs on the line WITH sales plunging by 20 to 30 per cent and profit margins “almost negligible if not negative”, 20,000 jobs – that’s a fifth of retail employees – are at stake as stores face the real prospect of folding. … Read more
En bloc sales partly to blame for ‘vanishing’ Singapore
I REFER to Mr Vincent Paul Carthigasu’s lament on Tuesday, ‘Where did you go, my Singapore of old?’, about the eradication of ‘almost everything’ in Singapore in the name of ‘change and development’. He believes ‘Singapore has lost much of its soul’ in its ongoing policy of redevelopment. Allow me to go a little further … Read more
