DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 29th January 2019

Singapore Real Estate

Completed condo prices up 0.1% in Dec, first increase since August: NUS index
Prices of completed private apartments and condominiums in Singapore edged up in December by 0.1 per cent from the previous month. This is the first month-on-month price rise for such properties since August 2018, following a revised 0.5 per cent drop in November. The figures are flash estimates released on Monday by the National University of Singapore (NUS) for its Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI), which tracks prices of completed non-landed private homes.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/completed-condo-prices-up-01-in-dec-first-increase-since-august-nus-index
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/completed-condo-prices-inch-up-01-in-december-first-increase-since-august

Too ugly to save? Singapore weighs fate of its Brutalist buildings
On a balmy Friday night, Zara Tan and two friends went drinking at an open-air pop-up bar in Golden Mile Tower, a 1970s-era building with a raw concrete exterior that overlooks Singapore’s financial district. Ms Tan, 24, said the atmosphere at the bar, the Great Escape,was more down-to-earth than what she normally encountered in Singapore’s slick downtown clubs. And that was the point.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/too-ugly-to-save-singapore-weighs-fate-of-its-brutalist-buildings

Companies’ Brief

JustCo to open six co-working spaces in Korea and Australia
Singapore-based JustCo is expanding to Korea and Australia, with the opening of six co-working spaces in Melbourne, Sydney and Seoul. Together with three other previously announced projects, the expansion will see JustCo’s current regional footprint double to over a million square feet by Q1 of 2019, with 29 co-working centres in its portfolio.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/justco-to-open-six-co-working-spaces-in-korea-and-australia

OUE puts US Bank Tower in LA up for sale
The US Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles, known for its cameos in Hollywood movies and a sky-high outdoor glass slide, has been put up for sale. Singapore property developer OUE, backed by the Riady family, has started marketing the building after enhancement work, the company said in a statement.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/oue-puts-us-bank-tower-in-la-up-for-sale

Keppel Corp selling 70% stake in Vietnam township project
Keppel Corp is selling a 70 per cent interest in a Vietnam township project to Nam Long Investment Corp for 2.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (S$136 million) in cash. Keppel Land, the conglomerate’s real estate arm, is currently in the process of taking over complete control of Dong Nai Waterfront City from its current joint venture partner in the project through a demerger. Keppel Land will retain a 30 per cent stake in Dong Nai Waterfront City after the sale of the 70 per cent stake to Nam Long.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/keppel-corp-selling-70-stake-in-vietnam-township-project
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/keppel-to-sell-70-stake-in-vietnam-township-project-for-about-136m

Oxley, partner to sell 268 residential units at Dublin Landings for 175.5m euros
Oxley Holdings’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Oxley Docklands Quay Three Limited, and National Asset North Quays DAC have agreed to sell 268 residential units in Ireland to Greystar Europe Holdings for 175.5 million euros (S$270.8 million). The units are part of Blocks B and E of Dublin Landings, a mixed-use development situated along Dublin’s North Wall Quay. The sale also includes external common areas and 210 carpark spaces.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/oxley-partner-to-sell-268-residential-units-at-dublin-landings-for-1755m-euros

VIEWS, REVIEWS, FORUM & Others

Smart Buildings: What ‘smart’ really means
Real estate, a mostly passive spectator of technological changes for years, is being disrupted at last under the unrelenting pressure of smart technologies applied to all aspects of the built environment (construction, valuation, transaction, operation, management). Disruption in real estate comes from two concomitant changes. Firstly, the property sector itself has moved at the epicentre of a technology revolution with the emergence of property technology (proptech), a broad term covering the wide range of applications of digital technology to the property sector. Secondly, digital innovations are revolutionising the way urban environments and buildings function and interact, enabling new lifestyles favoured by millennials (such as co-working) and giving rise to a new type of building called “smart buildings”.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/smart-buildings-what-smart-really-means

The rich didn’t always need US$238-million penthouses
Last week, as the world was made aware, Chicago hedge fund manager Ken Griffin bought the most expensive home ever sold in the United States, a US$238 million, 24,000-square-foot penthouse on Central Park South in New York City.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/the-rich-didnt-always-need-us238-million-penthouses

More than 18,500 HDB lifts to be upgraded over 10 years
More than 18,500 lifts within Housing Board (HDB) estates will be modernised with better safety features such as high-tech sensors and emergency communication equipment over the next 10 years. Of these, around 17,000 are lifts managed by the People’s Action Party (PAP) town councils, and 1,500 lifts will be upgraded in the next 15 months, the 15 PAP town councils said in a joint statement.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/more-than-18500-hdb-lifts-to-be-upgraded-over-10-years