Daily Archives: 1 Nov 2009

Sorry, no lift for your floor

Posted on 1 Nov 2009 | Comments Off on Sorry, no lift for your floor

Families living in about 200 blocks of Housing Board flats may have to get used to using the stairs, as lift upgrading is still not an option for these blocks. Goh Chin Lian visits two such
(Clockwise from top, left) Mr Robert Thuraisingam Karasu, 68, Mr Tan Heng Teck, 69, Mr John Ong, 62, and Mr Vincent, 45, all live on the third level of Block 131, Lorong Ah Soo, which is not eligible for the Lift Upgrading Programme because installing one would severely bust the cost cap of $30,000 per unit. — ST PHOTOS: SAMUEL HE
Block 3 (left) and Block 4 (right) at Queens Road are another two HDB apartment blocks that are currently ineligible for lift upgrading. Only the second, seventh and 11th levels of the 12-storey Block 4 are served by lifts.

Hidden among the HDB blocks in Lorong Ah Soo is a four-storey one with maisonette units.  It has no lifts.

And that status could well stay when the nationwide $5.5 billion Lift Upgrading Programme is wrapped up in 2014.

A total of 200 out of around 5,300 blocks built before 1990 are currently not eligible for the scheme, Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu revealed last month. Continue reading →

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Posted in HDB

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Landlords can stop ranting about rents

Posted on 1 Nov 2009 | Comments Off on Landlords can stop ranting about rents

Rental decline easing and rates will stabilise or rise next year, say analysts

Property investors worried about collecting less and less rental income may soon have cause to cheer, as property consultants expect rents to remain steady or even start rising from next year, albeit slightly and slowly.

The worst seems to be over, though the new condo completions coming up will keep rents from rising quickly or significantly, they say.

In the first nine months of the year, the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s rental index fell by 15.2 per cent, reversing the 2 per cent positive growth last year. However, the pace of decline has slowed. The rental index saw a milder correction of 2.2 per cent in the third quarter, compared with declines of 8.5 per cent and 5.2 per cent in the first quarter and second quarter, respectively.

Property consultants say private home rents are stabilising, and that the high-end segment has stabilised.

Said Cushman & Wakefield managing director Donald Han: ‘High-end private home rents have bottomed and should be on the way up, while the mass and mid-tier rental markets are in the process of bottoming.’

Already, rents of some good class bungalows have risen by about 5 per cent in the past three to four months, he disclosed.

The positive sentiment would eventually seep into the market for high-end apartments, he said. ‘Some companies are starting to look at expansion again, so that’s good news.’

It will mean an influx of expatriates. Continue reading →

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Posted in Luxury Property, Property Market / Real Estate, Sentosa Property

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