One of its key value-unlocking divestments was the sale of its 50.1% stake in South Beach at a S$2.75b valuation (~3% premium to book value) which will lead to a meaningful gain. Backing this up was City Developments’ disclosure at its 1H25 results highlighting over S$1.5b of contracted divestments alongside a special interim dividend.
We were mildly surprised that in 2026, City Developments launched its Newport Residences, a rare mixed-use freehold CBDowngradereater Southern Waterfront gateway project. Its premium pricing reflects the asset’s scarcity premium nature. Importantly, this high-end property launch could be a precursor to a potential tweaking of the foreigners 60% Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD) – a fine tuning of this measure is overdue in our view.
One methodology may involve retaining the foreigners’ ABSD but only for properties below S$10m for example, thus excluding this group from competing with Singapore citizens.
A more pleasant Chinese New Year in 2026.
Read more at SGinvestors.io.
Above is an excerpt from a report by UOB Kay Hian Research. Clients of UOB Kay Hian may be the first to access the full PDF report @ https://www.utrade.com.sg/.
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