Daily Archives: 28 Aug 2009

Tax proposals on property: MOF replies

TUESDAY’S editorial, ‘About the ‘right’ property behaviour tax’, was wrong on the facts of the recent public consultation on income tax treatment for individuals who sold their properties.

There was no proposal that had the effect of ‘making more property deals taxable’. The proposed change was not aimed at doing so, and would not have resulted in more individuals having to pay income tax on gains from selling their properties.

The proposed change, following feedback received over the years, had sought to provide certainty of non-taxation for one group of individual owners (those who had not sold any other property in the preceding four years) without any implications for taxation of other individuals.

For all these other cases, whether the gains from a property sale are subject to income tax would have continued to depend on the facts and circumstances of the case – as has been the longstanding practice of the tax authorities in Singapore as well as many other jurisdictions. Continue reading

Opportunities for investors in Asian REITs amid rebound

Asian real estate investment trusts (REITs) have bounced back strongly in the first half of 2009, according to a recent analyst report by property consultancy CBRE. Their total market capitalisation rose 14.3 per cent for the period.

Analysts said on Thursday this performance was driven by improving credit conditions, government support for re-financing – especially for Japan REITs (J-REITs) – and successful rights issues as recently seen for Singapore REITs (S-REITs).

Other positive signs include the fact that many large-cap Asian REITs have managed to grow their rental income recently. In Singapore, the latest financial results of several REITs have performed up to or beyond analysts’ expectations.

Frankie Lee, head of property equities, Asia, Henderson Global Investors, said: “REITs have definitely rebounded very strongly, coming out of the issues of refinancing and also the cyclical downturn in the fiscal market. I think going into the second half, there’s still potential upside because some of the REITs are actually quite financially strong now, given some of the recapitalisation that they have done. Continue reading