Allow a property manager to run your properties. It will take a cut of your profits, but frees you up and you don’t have to worry about day to day issues. Better management practices often result in higher occupancy. Think entrepreneurial, not managerial.

THE Housing Board yesterday alerted couples looking to buy completed new flats that its supply had now dipped to an all-time low of 1,300. With the 'progressive clearance' of its unsold stock, there will be fewer completed units offered for sale in future, it said. The HDB is now urging buyers to consider its build-to-order (BTO) flats where there will be 'ample supply and regular project launches'. BTO flats will be the main source of new flats in future, the board has said. These flats ar... (more)

MANY of his colleagues may consider Minoru Mori's 101-storey Shanghai World Financial Centre the crowning achievement of a long career. But Japan's most prolific developer has lots of plans for a 73-year-old. As president of the Mori Building Company of Tokyo, he has remade the city's skyline with half a dozen high-rises, including Roppongi Hills, a £2bn megacomplex over 27 acres. Now, he is fielding offers to build skyscrapers like the Shanghai centre in Bangkok and Singapore and is plan... (more)

A good offering in terms of lesser volatility and better returns than fixed income instruments. The first question which one asks today, when they see a global realty fund is… what about the subprime crisis? Well, the ING Global Real Estate fund does not invest in the US housing sector. Now that the basic fear has been put to rest, let’s look at the other qualities of this fund. Launched in December 2007, ING Global Real Estate fund is an open-ended fund of funds that propos... (more)

The vast majority (more than 80%) of Singaporeans live in public housing. These homes are located in housing estates, where most are developed neighbourhoods with schools, supermarkets, clinics, food centres and recreational facilities. Popular neighborhood estates include names like Ang Mo Kio Town, Toa Payoh, Clementi, Yishun, Bishan, Hougang, Simei, Woodlands, Punggol, Bukit Batok,Tampines and others to the name. In short, they are called HDB. Owning a home, a property in these places is a... (more)

WHILE most people her age would be blissfully retired, Madam Marlena Chong, a 70-year-old grandmother, is still working, aggressively. And her work involves millions of dollars. She is an active player in Singapore's property market, as she has been since she was in her 20s. One of her friends even calls her 'Queen of Leedon Park' for owning four bungalows there. They occupy an area of around 100,000 sq ft. She also has investments in Australia and Malaysia, and is developing a condominiu... (more)

Local investors are slow to invest in Malaysian REITs, unlike some foreign institutional investors who are grabbing selective stocks that they deem are undervalued. SINCE the listing of the first real estate investment trust (REIT), Axis REIT, in August 2005, Malaysian REITs have grown steadily. An increasing number of REITs of different asset classes are being listed on Bursa Malaysia each year. Foreign institutional investors who have not seriously considered Malaysia as a preferred inve... (more)

THERE is little danger that Singapore’s high-end property prices will affect its cost competitiveness, said a panel promoting the country’s real estate prospects. Mr Daryl Ng, the executive director of Sino Group, one of Hong Kong’s largest developers, said it was healthy that prices of top-end homes in Singapore have finally caught up with those in other global cities such as New York and London. ‘There is good value in Singapore…where prices were a laggard comp... (more)

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - The Singapore property sector has attracted 8.8 billion Singapore dollars in foreign investments so far this year, said Grace Fu, Minister of State for National Development. 'This represents an increase of 66 percent over the 2006 full-year volume of about 5.3 billion dollars. This dramatic increase reflects the optimistic economic outlook and development potential in Singapore,' Fu said at the signing of the 1.7 billion Singapore dollar South Beach development p... (more)

Buying a home and getting a home inspection typically go hand in hand. But now, a new company is aiming to make sure you dig a little deeper to learn the true value of a property. "When you're buying a home you are buying the trees and shrubs," says Neil Sexton, sales director for Horticultural Asset Management, Inc. He's talking about the price of curb appeal and understanding exactly how to quantify it in dollars. "When some people make an investment of 50, 100,000, 200,000 or 300,000 do... (more)

SINGAPORE : Higher rents in the Central Business District (CBD) are forcing companies to re-configure their current space, or consider shifting part of their operations to other locations. To meet demand, the government is releasing transitional office sites into the market. But property watchers say demand remains strong and rents will continue to push upwards. Property firm Savills can now fit another 10 staff into its Shaw House office at Orchard RSINGAPORE : Higher rents in the C... (more)

SINGAPORE, Oct 12, 2007 (Thomson Financial via COMTEX) -- Media and property group Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) said its year-to-August net profit rose 18.1 percent to 506.20 million Singapore dollars, bolstered primarily by strong contributions from its property business. The net profit was above the 469 million dollar consensus estimate from a poll of 14 analysts by Thomson First Call. Revenue from property operations surged 80.2 percent to 177.80 million dollars as the group began recogn... (more)