Paya Lebar was one of Singapore’s earliest commercial hubs, but it now stands neglected and underdeveloped, with the Singapore Post Centre building its sole marker of modernisation.

Within the next 15 years, however, all that will change.

The neighbourhood around the Paya Lebar MRT station is slated for a major makeover as part of the Government’s recently unveiled draft masterplan.

It will be transformed into Paya Lebar Central, a suburban commercial node nestled between the city centre and the bustling Tampines commercial hub.

About 12ha of land around Sims Avenue and Geylang Road will be put up for development, yielding some 5.4 million sq ft of commercial space.

• Comments Off

A COUPLE who bought a home and refused to pay the seller’s agent the 1 per cent commission are being taken to court by a property company.

PropNex associate director Ricky Low Yong Sern is seeking about $4,000 in commission or a service fee in a case that is likely to turn the spotlight on the issue of whether home buyers should pay a fee to sellers’ agents.

He was the exclusive agent handling the sale of a terrace house in Whampoa built over 30 years ago and classified as a Housing Board flat.

• 0 Comments

THE broader economic backdrop for the Singapore property market generally looks weak in the next 18 months, says Mr Don Hanna, Citi’s global head of emerging markets economic and market analysis.

‘The level of economic activity that we foresee in general continues to weaken this year and next,’ he told reporters on the sidelines of Citi’s closed-door Asia Pacific property conference at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia hotel yesterday.

One of the implications of the United States subprime crisis is that central banks in Singapore and many other nations are more concerned about the way real estate is financed, he said.

• 0 Comments

THE residential property sector may be cooling but the office sector is still relatively hot.

United States investment bank Lehman Brothers and the regional arm of Japan-based Kajima have just sold

an office building development at 71 Robinson Road to a German buyer.

The price was a hefty $743.75 million, sources say, though the sum was not officially disclosed.

• 0 Comments

A NEW 550-bed hospital in Jurong will open by 2015, said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday, almost a decade later than originally planned.The long-promised hospital was put on hold in favour of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Yishun, which is slated to open in 2010 and provide much-needed beds for the north. Mr Khaw told the media yesterday the tender for the Jurong hospital could be delayed until 2010 because of sky-high construction costs. With several major projects going on right now, including the two integrated resorts, demand for labour and supplies is red-hot.

• 0 Comments