CDL chief executive Sherman Kwek
At the top of today’s news, Singapore’s residential market just keeps getting hotter, with property giant CDL placing the highest bids on two private housing sites — totalling S$684.6 million ($524 million). Also in the news, cryptocurrency is cropping up in the real estate world, as a Japanese commercial building is said to be selling for a pile of bitcoins, and if you keep reading, you’ll even find out why a Chinese property agency is setting up shop in a strip mall outside Chicago.
CDL Lodges Top Bids for 2 of 3 SG Housing Sites
City Developments (CDL) was the top bidder for two of the three private housing sites at a state tender that closed yesterday. It lodged the top bid of $212.2 million, or $1,722 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), for a plot in Handy Road near Dhoby Ghaut MRT station.
The developer also bid $472.4 million, or $800 psf ppr, for a land parcel in West Coast Vale. The third site on offer – in Chong Kuo Road in the Sembawang/Mandai area – received a top bid of $43.95 million, or $681 psf ppr, from a partnership between Lian Soon Holdings and OKP Land. Read more>>
Tokyo Building on the Block for $6M in Bitcoin
A Tokyo-based real estate firm is selling a small commercial building for 547 bitcoin, or $6 million. The company hopes the asset will be the first building in Japan to be sold using bitcoin.
During an interview with South Korean mainstream media outlet MK, Japanese real estate startup Yitanzi stated that it is selling various properties including a small commercial building and apartment spaces for cryptocurrencies. An increasing number of investors in the local cryptocurrency space have started to eye the country’s real estate market. Read more>>
Singapore Mixed-Use Redevelopment Site on Sale for $206M
Singapore’s Chinatown Plaza has been put up for a collective sale with an asking price of S$270 million ($206 million), according to the property’s marketing agent, Edmund Tie & Company. The asking price equates to S$1,989 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) of potential gross floor area with no development charge payable. The tender exercise will close at 12pm on March 15.
The prime mixed-use redevelopment site, which is zoned for commercial and residential use, sits on a freehold site with a land area of about 3,154.3 square metres (33,953 square feet). The property sits at the junction of Craig Road and Neil Road and is in close proximity to the Central Business District and the popular Keong Saik Street area. Read more>>
Beijing Rolls Out 7,300 Joint-Ownership Homes in Affordability Drive
Beijing has put 7,300 joint-ownership properties up for sale since rolling out a new scheme to curb speculation, keep prices down and ramp up the local housing supply. The Chinese capital also provided 2.9 million square meters of land for more shared-rights homes to be built on, state-run China News Service reported.
Beijing brought in its joint-ownership housing policy in September, under which buyers and the government share a stake in the homes. These properties are priced lower than regular houses of a similar size in the same location, but the homeowners cannot sell their property rights at will. The city hopes to offer up 250,000 of these homes within five years. Read more>>
China’s 5i5j Opens First US Office in Chicago Suburb
Beijing-based real estate agency 5i5j, which is hoping to become a channel for Chinese investors buying property in America, opened its first US office in a strip mall in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove. The reason: Stevenson High School.
Top-ranked among Chicago’s suburban high schools, according to US News & World Report, Stevenson serves parts of Buffalo Grove and several other suburbs in a metro area where real estate is cheaper overall than in other major American metro areas. “If we’re giving our Chinese customers advice on where in America to invest in real estate, this is where we would say it’s a good place to invest,” said Vivien Zhao, who heads up the new American wing of 5i5j. Read more>>
Warming Ties Could Prompt More Chinese Investment in Philippines
Property consultancy firm Santos Knight Frank expects more investments in real estate from China amid warming ties between Manila and Beijing and the Philippines’ strong economic fundamentals.
“We’re very optimistic on mainland Chinese investors, whether in the gaming sector, condominiums, office spaces, or into the hotel and resorts sector,” Santos Knight Frank chairman and CEO Rick Santos told reporters on the sidelines of a press briefing in Makati City on Tuesday. Read more>>
Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.
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