Singapore home sales jumped 37 percent in January compared to the same month last year, but it didn’t take long for the city-state to react to the sudden real estate surge as regulators roll out a new tax on luxury homes. Also in the news, the mainland’s outbound party may not be completely over, and Keppel Land has a group of unhappy neighbours on Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Road. Read on for all these stories and more.
Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran says the stamp duty hike is not a cooling measure
SG Boosts Stamp Duty on Million Dollar Homes
Singapore’s move on Monday to raise stamp duty on expensive home purchases is likely to dampen the recent wave of redevelopment sales in the city-state’s recovering property market, analysts said.
From Tuesday, the wealthy city-state will apply a new top marginal rate of 4 percent stamp duty on the portion of residential property value in excess of S$1 million ($761,615), Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said in his budget speech. The current rate ranges between 1 and 3 percent. Read more>>
Aoyuan Property Announces Plans for Toronto Mixed-Use Project
Aoyuan Property Group has announced plans for a major redevelopment of the 8.6-acre Newtonbrook Plaza site at Yonge Street and Finch Avenue in Toronto.
Plans include five residential towers, 180,000 square feet of office and retail, a daycare and a community centre, said a Feb. 14 media statement. The new community will be 100 metres from the Finch subway station and Finch GO Station. Read more>>
Don Jr Praises India’s Smiling Poor on Condo Sales Tour
One key element distinguishes the world’s largest democracy from other emerging markets, according to Donald Trump Jr., the American president’s eldest son.
“Honestly for me, there’s something about the spirit of the Indian people that’s unique here to other parts of the emerging world,” he told CNBC’s Indian partner TV18 on Tuesday during a business trip to the country. “You go through a town, and I don’t mean to be glib about it, but you can see the poorest of the poor and there’s still a smile on a face.” Read more>>
Neighbours Picket Singapore Embassy to Protest Keppel Bangkok Project
Residents in a Bangkok neighbourhood have opened up a new front in their battle against a Singapore-based property developer with a plea for the Singapore government to urge Keppel Land to make the modifications they are seeking to a proposed 30-storey condominium.
The residents sent a letter to the Singapore embassy requesting assistance in the dispute. They want Keppel Land to make design changes to the K5 Condominium project in Sukhumvit Soi 28 so that the structure conforms with Thailand’s Construction and Building Act. Read more>>
Parkway Life REIT Prices 3.5B Yen Bond Sale
The manager of Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), Parkway Trust Management, has priced 3.5 billion yen (around S$42.1 million) of six year, senior unsecured notes at a coupon of 0.65 per cent under an existing S$500 million multicurrency debt issuance programme, it announced on Wednesday (Feb 21).
The notes issue is expected to be completed on Feb 26. Proceeds from the bonds, which will be sold at par and mature on Feb 26, 2024, will be used to refinance existing borrowings of Parkway Life Reit. Read more>>
Korea’s Incheon Takes in $81.5M Mainland Casino Bet
Chinese property developer LongRunn International Group is reportedly developing a large-scale casino resort complex in South Korea’s Yeongjong Island, part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone. The project, called “Diamond City”, is adjacent to a casino scheme being co-developed by U.S. casino group Caesars Entertainment Corp and mainland Chinese developer Guangzhou R&F Properties Co Ltd.
On February 11, LongRunn International inked a deal with the Incheon authorities to purchase a 76,000 square-metre (818,000 sq-foot) land parcel in Yeongjong for KRW87.1 billion (US$81.5 million), several South Korean media reported, citing the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority. Read more>>
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