Singaporeans to pay lower property taxes from 2025, and other APAC headlines

For PropertyGuru’s roundup of real estate news today, we lead with the news that some Singaporean home owners will be paying lower property taxes by 2025 due to the rise of annual value bands by Jan. 01, 2025. In more news: Malaysia is the third most popular country for Singaporean property buyers, and the struggles of small cinemas in Australia to survive in a post-pandemic world.

Budget 2024: Some homeowners to pay lower property tax with raising of annual value bands from 2025

Some Singaporean home owners will pay lower property taxes, after the annual value bands for owner-occupied residential properties are raised from Jan 1, 2025.

The raising of the bands for calculating property tax rates comes after a significant increase in market rents from 2022 led to more owner-occupied properties being affected by a recent tax hike than anticipated.

The lowest threshold will be raised from $8,000 to $12,000, and the highest band raised from over $100,000 to over $140,000 from 2025, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said on Feb 16. Corresponding adjustments will be made to the bands in between.

According to the article by Grace Leung of The Straight Times

Malaysia is third most popular country for Singaporean property buyers

Malaysia is the third most popular destination for Singaporean buyers, accounting for 13.2 percent of their purchase enquiries this year.

According to Juwai IQI co-founder and group chief executive officer Kashif Ansari, Malaysia is a sensible option for real estate investors due to its close proximity and economic connections with Singapore.

He said that the new Singapore Rapid Transit (RTS) project, which will move 10,000 people per hour between the two nations, is more than halfway completed and will likely lead to a rise in the number of Singaporeans who work in the city-state and have first or second homes in Johor Bahru.

Based on the report by Kathy B. of Business Times

Hanging on: Can small cinemas survive in a post-pandemic world?

It’s been a difficult time for cinema businesses, which have endured dwindling audiences since Covid, fierce competition with streaming services and recently, the Hollywood strikes.

Last month, regional group Majestic Cinemas entered voluntary administration, blaming Covid, falling ticket sales, cost of living pressures, higher operating costs and changing consumer preferences.

Two of its nine theatres have since closed, while administrators are working hard to keep the remaining NSW and Queensland cinemas trading.

From a report by Melissa Iaria of REA Group

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].