Singapore, like almost every other country in the world, is starting to see its booming real estate industry slowing. Although, the most recent price reports are not down year over year, the rate of increase can almost be described as being flat. And based on the recent trends, they could even be down in the upcoming quarters. The Singapore casinos could Continue Reading »
The normally staid property market in Singapore, led by high-end condos, was the top performer in Asia for 2007, beating Beijing into second place, reports the International Hearald Tribune.
Luxury property values there were up 56.4 percent year over year in the third quarter, according to data from Jones Lang LaSalle real estate, more than double the pace of increase in Beijing, the second-strongest city, where luxury values rose 25.7 percent.
“Singapore’s luxury residential performance was driven by strong underlying investor demand attributed to foreign purchasers, local high net worth individuals and, during the first half of the year, en bloc sellers,” Glyn Nelson, the Singapore-based head of operations for Asia real estate intelligence services at Jones Lang LaSalle, explained in an e-mail.
Investors took a new look at the city, where two casino projects were under way, and local buyers were heartened by the city’s strong financials.
Nelson expects that momentum to continue into 2008, citing Singapore as the top pick for the year in terms of capital value gains, followed by Shanghai and Hong Kong.
full report at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/26/properties/reasia.php
Private residential prices in Singapore rose 31 percent in 2007, reflecting strong demand for high-end residential condominiums in the central region, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said, citing preliminary estimates.
But quarter-on-quarter price appreciation slowed to 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter from 8.3 percent in the third quarter, the URA said.
The deceleration affected prices in the property sector, although it did not surprise analysts.
‘The fourth quarter was when bad news started to come out,’ said Kim Eng Securities analyst Wilson Liew.
Major US banks announced massive write-offs from their exposure to the subprime mortgage market during the quarter, raising fresh concerns about the health of the US economy.
‘A slowdown in the US might cause weak sentiment in the Singapore property market,’ Liew said.
Notwithstanding the uncertain external environment, Liew said he believes there are enough positive domestic factors that will provide a buffer for Singapore against the negative external environment.
Among these underlying domestic factors are increased investments particularly in the two integrated casino resorts, new shopping malls, new office buildings and industrial facilities.
These factors should still help Singapore achieve decent GDP growth of 4.5-6.5 percent in 2008, Liew said.
While demand for residential properties remain firm, Liew said he does not expect prices to rise significantly in 2008, with prices of middle-income housing projects rising by just 10-15 percent and high-end housing by less than 10 percent.
There is an ample supply of properties in the pipeline to meet demand, the URA said.
As of the third quarter, there were 65,400 private residential units under construction, 41,600 of which are expected to be completed between 2008 and 2010, URA said.
Of the current supply, 58 percent or 38,000 units have not been sold by developers, it said.
The estimated supply pipeline does not include potential supply that could be generated from government land sold to private developers, the URA said.
Full article at Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/01/02/afx4485078.html
This article from Property-Report.com discusses the successful sale of real estate in Singapore’s Marina Bay.
This is a snippet from the article:
Question: The location of the casino beside Marina Bay Sands must have been a major attraction.
Answer: Asians like gambling, so by announcing Sands, it gave us a lot of mileage. It does help us push the marketing to the next level.
There is actually a lot of non-casino topics discussed relating to Marina Bay, so I recommend taking a look at it.
Just wait til the Singapore casinos actually open and the tourism dollars start flooding in…
“Prices of private residential properties in Singapore rose 8.0 percent in the three months to September and more land may be released for development if demand stays strong, the government said Monday.
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