Category Archives: Property Market / Real Estate

First residential project in Asia made of green concrete launched

Posted on 21 May 2012 | Comments Off on First residential project in Asia made of green concrete launched

Gaia is a freehold condominium project in Singapore that is constructed from green concrete.

Amerald Land has unveiled its eco-friendly condominium project called Gaia which is constructed entirely from green concrete and complies with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark Platinum standards.

Launched last Friday, Amerald Land said it consulted extensively with the BCA on the various aspects of the project, from Green Mark assessment to methods of enhancing construction productivity and sustainable construction methods or materials

In addition, Dr T Tamilselvan, Senior Research Fellow from the Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore, lent his expertise and experienced insights on ‘green concrete’ throughout this project.

Green concrete is increasingly recognised for its strong environmental benefits of reducing wastage and over-reliance on raw materials.

“Through raising awareness on sustainable living among the mainstream community, Amerald Land aims to influence other boutique developers and even the Housing Development Board (HDB) to follow in our footsteps of building sustainable, ecological residential projects,” said Ron Tan, head of business development at Amerald Land.

Gaia is projected to result in energy savings of S$1, 222 (US$960.61) per household per year (or 3, 995 kWh of electricity saved) and water savings of S$246 (US$193.38) per household per year (or 83, 000 liters of water saved).

Gaia comprises 28 exclusive freehold units located at 33 Jalan Dusun.

Source: PropertyReport – 21 May 2012

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Hot opportunities in an even hotter market

Posted on 21 May 2012 | Comments Off on Hot opportunities in an even hotter market

While many analysts see Singapore’s property market as being too hot to handle, some have highlighted its potential, especially for long-term equity investors.

Over the last three years, the government has introduced measures to cool the market. The most recent of which is the ABSD (additional buyer’s stamp duty) on foreign buyers to curb investment demand.

Meanwhile, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed that private home prices moderated by 0.1 percent in Q1. Sub-sale transactions, an indication of speculative activity, also dropped significantly.

In general, it appears that efforts to stabilise the property market are working, despite the on-going demand for housing. Low interest rates and high liquidity pushed sales to a near three-year high in April, which could result in more policy intervention.

Daniel Martin, an economist at Capital Economics Asia, noted that the government faces a crucial test in bringing down prices over the coming year.

“If prices don’t start to cool in the next year, then we’re going to be in a fairly dangerous situation where there’s risk of a sharp fall,” he said.

“My sense is they’ll go a little further and (require) more down payments on mortgages and standard capital requirements on banks — other macro-prudential measures that make it a little more difficult to buy a house.”

Kristy Fong, portfolio manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, said that while share prices have re-rated this year, the firm is “still happy, and positive on our stocks long-term, because property tends to be a reflection of the economy, and we’re generally quite optimistic about the Asian region”.

Source : PropertyGury -21 May 2012

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