Daily Briefing: Sabana REIT's Changi South property purchase draws scrutiny; RHB Institutional Equity Asia head quits

And here are some condos under $1m.

Sabana Shari’ah Compliant Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust is proposing to acquire a four-storey light industrial building at 47 Changi South Ave 2 from its sponsor, Vibrant Group, at a per-square-foot price that is well above recent transactions in the area. That raises questions about the independent valuations provided by the three big-name property consultancies in support of the transaction. Read more here.

RHB Bank Bhd.’s Asian head of institutional equities at its securities unit Lena Yong left last week as the Malaysian lender restructured the business. “Yes, there was a restructuring and I was restructured out with the regional roles brought back to Malaysia,” said Singapore-based Yong in a telephone interview. “This is the sad state of the financial industry which is going through a transition.” Click here for the full story.

It may be 50% more expensive to buy a condo in Singapore than it was 10 years ago, but the more recent economic downturn has had one helpful impact for the first time buyer. Condos that were clearly going to cost way more than the average salary would allow can actually be within reach – which means plenty of sub-one million dollar apartments available outside of the HDB system. Click here to see these condos under $1m.