Straits Times: US to bail out mortgage giants

Plans to place Fannie and Freddie under US govt control may be announced today
Washington – US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is preparing to announce plans to bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under government control, seeking to halt the crisis of confidence in the troubled companies that make up almost half of the US mortgage [...]

Business Times: Maybank launches two home-loan promotions

MAYBANK Singapore has launched two home-loan promotions, including a variable-rate loan that charges just 1.68 per cent interest in the first year. The interest payable on the three-year variable-rate mortgage rises to 2.48 per cent in the second year and 2.88 per cent in the third year, before adjusting to the bank’s full board rate [...]

Straits Times: Loan defaults: The worst is yet to be

NEWS ANALYSIS
Loan defaults: The worst is yet to be
NEW YORK: The weak go first, and people take comfort from the very weakness of the fallen. The fact that it is only the weak who are suffering is taken as proof that there is no general problem.
That is how it is with the mortgage mess, still [...]

Straits Times: Lehman may split into good and bad

Ailing bank’s survival plan is to move its troubled real estate assets to new firm
NEW YORK: Lehman Brothers, the ailing Wall Street bank, is working towards a radical solution in its fight for survival: Splitting itself into a ‘good’ bank and a ‘bad’ one.
Lehman, which has been searching for a financial lifeline from outside investors, [...]

Straits Times: Mortgage rates still at rock bottom

HOMEBUYERS and sellers, hit by the recent market malaise, have at least one comforting constant in a market plagued by uncertainty – low interest rates.
Despite various economic woes – inflation, volatile oil prices, slowing economic growth – Singapore’s banks are continuing to offer rock-bottom mortgages.
The latest to reaffirm Singapore’s low interest rate home loans environment [...]

Straits Times: Sentosa to review transport links in time for IR

New chief also plans to create fresh masterplan and ensure smooth opening for attractions
By Lim Wei Chean
THE new chief of Sentosa said the resort island is evaluating its transport network to make sure it can handle the hordes of visitors expected to accompany the opening of its integrated resort (IR) in 2010.
Mr Mike Barclay said [...]

Business Times: Top-tier London homes still hot; wider market cools

LONDON’S housing market may be cooling, but not when it comes to 10-bedroom mansions with designer interiors, indoor swimming pools and private gardens in the capital’s most sought-after neighbourhoods.
Demand for these homes – known as the ’super-prime’ or even ‘uber-prime’ slice of the market and typically priced upwards of £20 million (S$50.7 million) – is [...]

Business Times: Private banks want slice of NRI action

Non-resident Indians with cash to invest now being wooed out of Singapore
By LYNETTE KHOO
(SINGAPORE) Private bankers have set their eyes on the rising wealth of non-resident Indians (NRIs) whose businesses are usually closely tied to the booming Indian economy.
Despite difficult market conditions, some banks are looking to expand their team of relationship managers working on [...]

Business Times: CCT signs up leases for 77,900 sq ft in 2 office towers

CAPITACOMMERCIAL Trust (CCT) says 77,900 sq ft of office space at Capital Tower and One George Street has been renewed or newly committed for between two and three years.
Three companies account for the leases – JPMorgan Chase & Co, BHP Billiton and Shinhan Bank.
CCT did not reveal the rents.
But a spokesman said: ‘Given the Grade [...]

Straits Times: CapitaLand sells Beijing office property for S$498m

CAPITALAND has sold Capital Tower Beijing in China for US$352 million (S$497.6 million) and expects to recognise a gain of $163 million from the deal.
The group said in a statement yesterday that it sold its indirect wholly owned subsidiary Hua Lei Holdings, which indirectly owns all of the office building.
The price comprises the consolidated net [...]

Business Times: UK mortgage approvals fall to lowest since 1999

(LONDON) UK mortgage approvals fell for a 12th month to the lowest since at least 1999 in July as financial institutions curbed lending and the property slump deepened.
Banks granted 33,000 loans for house purchase, compared with 35,000 in June and the fewest since comparable data began nine years ago, the Bank of England (BOE) said [...]

Business Times: ING Real Estate has new chief of global investment

(LONDON) ING Real Estate, one of the world’s biggest property investors, said yesterday that it has appointed Robert Houston as chairman and chief executive of its global investment management business.
Mr Houston – the head of ING Real Estate’s UK operations – replaces David Blight, who resigned earlier this year to return to Australia for family [...]

Straits Times Forum: Self-regulation in estate agency industry

I REFER to the letters (Aug 22), ‘Test ensures housing agents are more qualified’ by Mr David Ong and ‘Two-tier test system raises standards of estate agency industry’ by the Singapore Association of Estate Agents (SAEA).
The Common Examination for House Agents (CEHA) was introduced in 1996 to raise professional standards. In 2005, an accreditation scheme [...]

Business Times: Spain’s Colonial posts H1 loss of 2.38b euros

(MADRID) Spanish property group Colonial, struggling under huge debts, announced losses of 2.38 billion euros (S$4.9 billion) for the first half of 2008 which it blamed on asset depreciation.
Colonial said in an announcement late Sunday that it had reached an agreement in principle to reschedule its debt of nearly nine billion euros this month.
The firm [...]

Business Times: UK house prices see their steepest fall since 2001

End to property slump still some way off: research firm Hometrack
(LONDON) UK house prices fell by the most since at least 2001 in August as economic growth stagnated, and an end to the property slump is ’still some way off’, according to Hometrack Ltd.
The average cost of a residential property in England and Wales slipped [...]