Month: September 2017

According to the Global Retirement Index, it seems that Singapore is now on the 27th place, which is one place better than the last year. There are multiple factors to take into consideration when creating this type of index. The quality of life, material wellbeing, health and finances in retirement have a lot to say in this regard.

Norway is known for being one of the best countries in this regard. Then you have Iceland and Switzerland which are known for offering great retirement security. But these are European countries. When you go towards Asia, you will see that things tend to shift a bit.

Singapore’s government and the focus on retirement benefits are some of the things that did bring in front some really good results. It’s safe to say that the results are getting better and better, which is a crucial thing to take into consideration in this regard. The overall set of benefits provided here is pretty good, but there are some other places to improve. For example, the environmental factors indicators are very good.

Read more

According to the Morgan Stanley bank in the US, the private property pricing in Singapore will be higher, up to 10% higher. They state that these prices are going to increase each month, although this is not exactly related to the housing board flats. There was a cooldown for the market, but the outcome is pretty much better at this point thanks to the numerous improvements. There’s still a need for some very important changes in the sector, but it’s safe to say that this year was great when it comes to the transaction volume.

The real estate prices are reaching a high point right now and the developer sales volumes are sustaining a growth rate which is around 50% per year. It’s an unprecedented thing to have, so that will obviously translate into higher property prices.

Read more

The Pine Grove owners want to make a collective sale that is going to be around $1.65 billion in value. If this will be successful, it will surely have the ability to become the most successful sale, eclipsing the Farrer Court sale that had around $1.38 billion 10 years ago.

This really goes to show that such a collective sale can be successful. In order for that sum to actually be received, it seems that each owner will need to get at least $2 million on his property. The location of Pine Grove is very good, near the Ulu Pandan Road, and it really is among some of the best features out there.

Read more

The demographic makeup of Singapore has literally turned on its head in the space of a generation. In 1970, there was one over 65 year old on the island for every thirty people under that age. In 2015 the 65 and older age group made up one in every eight members of society. It is expected, that in 2030, they will make up a quarter of the population.

A lot has been written and spoken about both the causes (predominately the fact Singapore is a developed nation with good healthcare, living and working conditions), and the potential problems that lay in store (an increasingly smaller proportion of the population paying for the rest), but there is a topic related to this that is steadily gaining traction.

Read more

The collective sale process is in full effect, and yet another great condo is up for sale. The Changi Garden has a set of 60 apartments, but it also includes 12 shops and 12 penthouses too. The asking price is $196 million here, so the overall sq ft per plot ratio is around $700. Not a bad price at all, and it goes to show that there’s plenty of value to be had in here as a whole.

Apparently, in case the owners will receive that asking price, the gross sales that you can get here can go up to $.179 million, the penthouse can be $3.18 million and so on. The Changi Garden establishment is right at the Upper Changi Road North and the Jalam Mariam junction.

Read more

One thing to keep in mind is that real estate valuers need to use a dedicated set of practices so they can create proper valuations fast and easy. Doing that will help safeguard the investor interest, and the entire set of results can be second to none in the end. Recently, the SISV and the SGX brought in a rather inquisitive situation. Is the current regulatory framework an adequate one, or are there any bad influences that make this thing not as good as it should be, to begin with?

The work of valuers is more pervasive than what a lot of people believe at this time. Valuations need to be precise, and a Singapore property has to be valued correctly. After all, valuations can be used in the case of public listings, financial reports, insurance, property acquisition or disposal and so on. The regulatory framework that governs over valuers is not as studied as it once was. The IRAS is a licensing body for the valuers and it issues licenses to them. On the other hand, the valuation profession is thoroughly represented by the SISV.

Read more

Two banks present on the market of Singapore decided that it was time to be a bit more competitive. We are talking about UOB, or United Overseas Bank, and HSBC, who decided to offer mortgage packages with fixed rates over the span of 3 years. Until recently, this was a service provided only by the DBS bank, which is the most significant provider of house loans in the country. Thus, these two banks just started a mortgage war, luring home buyers with very low rates that can be enjoyed for a larger period. Everybody that wishes to buy a home anytime soon is thrilled by the news and it is expected that the market for residential units to grow and flourish in the near future.

The fuss in the home loan market started just recently, when UOB and HSBC officially announced the launch of their mortgage packages, countering this way the offer of DSB with a package of the same caliber. Homebuyers can find a mortgage package for 3 years and with a fixed rate at Bank of China as well, but the difference is that in this case, the interest rates will vary from one year to another. On the other hand, the fixed interest rate in the case of all the other three banks mentioned earlier, is exactly the same, of 1.68% per year, for all three years. The interest rates did drop recently, the appearance of these mortgage packages showing that they are not going to rise anytime soon.

Read more

Some info recently surfaced that clearly shows that the resident unemployment rate is declining at this point. It still is a bit higher than it was last year, but the unemployment rate is around 3.3% at this time. Last year, it was a bit over 3%, so yes the differences are not that high and definitely not very noticeable!

According to the latest pieces of information, it seems that around 70800 citizens were unemployed in June. This is a great thing to note here, because the unemployment rate is unchanged at 2.2%, although it will most likely get lower in time.

Read more

This piece of news is certainly nothing short of impressive. It seems that the government is exhuming around 80000 graves in the Choa Chu Cemetery, all in an effort to expand the Tengah Air Base. But that’s not all the space they need, because it seems that they will also get some land from the Murai Farmway and the local nursery too.

This adds up to around 206 ha, and it is indeed necessary in order to integrate some of the facilities as well as assets that come from the Paya Lebar Air Base. This was initially set to be relocated in 2030 at its earliest.

Read more

The Tengah Air Base expansion is in full effect, and it seems that a noise study is designed to guide the planning of some new flats in the region. This happens because architects want to know whether this type of project is feasible in the region or not. The problem here is that finding the right location in the city can be tough, so the Tengah Air Base and other specific regions like this can come in handy most of the time.

The benefit here is that even if there are studies performed here, no construction will be created and sold until 2030, so we are still a long way away from all of that. It really goes to show that there is a lot of focus on creating unique, powerful apartments that will also allow people to enjoy all these benefits as fast as possible.

Read more

Like most things in Singapore the way land is first released for use, and then used is all part of a larger plan, driving forward the governments vision for the island, its society and welfare of its people and the economy. Most people talk about, and know of the Master Plan, but fewer people have heard of or understand the guiding hand behind that – the Concept Plan. So what exactly are they, and how do they differ?

The Concept Plan

This is the overriding strategic plan for all of Singapore’s land use and transportation. It covers a very broad spectrum and deals with the next forty to fifty years. It has three overarching aims, namely to ensure that there is sufficient land available to cope with the forecasted population changes, and the challenges that that poses; to meet all the requirements to ensure a robust economic performance over that period, while at the same time providing a high quality living, working and recreational environment for the nation’s population. To this end, the concept plan is reviewed every ten years, to ensure it is kept on track in an uncertain and often unpredictable world.

Read more

According to the latest news, it seems that most of the new HDB flats that will be created in Singapore will be prefabricated as a whole. There are some reasons why the construction professionals are opting for this system. First, it’s designed to shorten the construction time. Not only that, but the overall costs are lowered too, and that is extremely important. Rooms will be created in factories and they will be assembled on site. They will even come with their own finishes.

Bathrooms will also be prefabricated in order to streamline the project. The construction time for such a project is around 3 years. The idea here is that contractors need to be familiar with the PPVC construction system.

Read more

Adding solar panels is a crucial aspect at this time, because the solar craze is here and it’s as powerful as you can imagine. According to the latest industry sources, it seems that adding solar-ready roof is a very good idea and more and more housing blocks are using them. Which is actually a very good thing, because the HDB rooftops offer a lot of space for them. These blocks are built with the features needed to install these solar panels.

The primary focus here is to harness the solar energy as this can help deliver a lot more value to the HDB establishments. This can also help boost the overall costs, which is a crucial thing to take into consideration.

Read more

Living in a large city does have its ups and downs, but the primary benefit that comes from living in Singapore is that the economy thrives and the city on its looks amazing, and it does manage to run itself well. In fact, according to a recent study, living in Singapore is even better than living in Hong Kong, something that does show the uniqueness and dedication offered by Singapore as a whole!

Hong Kong is now ranked 45^th, whereas Singapore is now 35^th in the list with the best livable cities in the world. That being said, it’s pretty impressive to see this ranking, specifically when Singapore shows its true power to people from all over the world. The jump in rankings comes from numerous improvements in the educational sector.

Read more

According to numerous industry details, it seems that the Singapore manufacturers are not joking. They are working very hard at this time since the factory output has managed to go up with around 21% in July alone. This is a huge increase, and it mostly comes from the electronics sector. This is the brightest spot for the industry at this point.

The expectations were around 12.9%, so seeing this type of increase is always a nice thing to have in the industry. It’s the highest growth that the industry has seen in quite a while, and we may be able to expect something like that shortly for sure.

Read more