Tag Archives: rentals

Private home prices in Singapore continue to fall in Q2: URA

Posted on 25 Jul 2014 | Comments Off on Private home prices in Singapore continue to fall in Q2: URA

URBAN Redevelopment Authority’s official private home price index fell one per cent in the second quarter of this year compared with the first quarter.

This is a smaller drop than the 1.3 per cent decline in the previous quarter. It is also the third straight quarter of price decline.

Giving a geographical split of non-landed private home prices, URA said prices in Core Central Region (CCR) fell 1.5 per cent in Q2, a bigger drop than the 1.1 per cent decline in Q1.

CCR covers the Downtown Core planning area, Sentosa and the traditional districts 9, 10 and 11.

In the city-fringe, or Rest of Central Region, prices eased 0.4 per cent, a smaller decline compared with the 3.3 per cent drop in Q1.

In suburban locations, or the Outside Central Region, prices decreased 0.9 per cent in Q2. In the first quarter, they had dipped 0.1 per cent.

Prices of landed properties fell 1.7 per cent in Q2, higher than the 0.7 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

Rentals of private residential properties fell by 0.6 per cent in Q2 – compared with the 0.7 per cent decline in Q1.

Developers launched 2,843 uncompleted private residential units (excluding executive condominiums or ECs) for sale in Q2 compared to 1,964 units in Q1. They sold 2,665 private homes in Q2 excluding ECs – an increase from the 1,744 units they sold in the first three months of this year.

No new EC units were launched for sale in Q2, but developers sold 154 EC units in Q2, compared to the 149 units sold in Q1.

There were 1,314 resale transactions in the April-June quarter of this year, up from 941 transactions in the first three months.

There were 139 subsale transactions in Q2 compared to 128 transactions in Q1.

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Posted in Property Market / Real Estate

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Higher rentals push up prices at some coffee joints

Posted on 7 Aug 2013 | Comments Off on Higher rentals push up prices at some coffee joints

At least three coffee joints here have recently raised prices, citing rising operational costs, especially rentals.

The move comes as the chain operator of S11 coffeeshops increased its drink prices by 10 cents across all 15 outlets at the start of June.

Ya Kun raised prices by 10 to 20 cents starting July 27, citing escalating operating costs leading to a “juncture whereby a price revision is inevitable”, said a notice posted at storefronts dated June 26.

A cup of coffee at Ya Kun now costs S$1.60 instead of S$1.50.

The coffee chain’s rising operational costs came from “a bit of everything”, said Mr Adrin Loi, Executive Chairman of Ya Kun. Rental accounts for the bulk of costs at the chain’s 44 Ya Kun outlets, followed by raw material and manpower.

Mr Loi said labour costs have gone up as workers working more than 44 hours a week are paid an overtime rate of 1.5 times their hourly rate, and the Foreign Worker Levy has also increased.

The chain also had to pay its staff higher salaries to remain competitive in a tight labour market. It had previously said it plans to hire more retirees and housewives to fuel its expansion to 100 outlets by 2015.

“Sometimes, we bear the costs … we control the price. But at the end of the day, the worker will be affected. We cannot give them better rewards, and we want to reward our staff who perform well,” Mr Loi said.

Old Town White Coffee, which has eight outlets here, is in the middle of a revamp involving renovations and menu changes. TODAY understands that this will translate to an increase in prices, of not more than 50 cents, at four outlets — City Square Mall, JCube, Orchard Cineleisure and Square 2 — that have been upgraded in recent months.

The upgrading for a “fresher and more contemporary ambience” is part of the company’s strategy to retain customers and, hence, manage rising costs, said Ms Dawn Liew, General Manager of Kopitiam Asia Pacific, which manages the Old Town outlets in Singapore.

“Rising costs are part and parcel of doing business and this spreads across an array of items. In saying that, rentals are becoming a lot steeper,” she said.

The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf also raised its prices,by 10 or 20 cents, two months ago, but only for food items.

Prices at Starbucks, Wang Cafe, Spinelli Coffee Company and Toast Box remain the same.

Source – Today – 6 Aug 2013

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Posted in General, Office / Retail / Industrial

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