Singapore Economy

De Souza calls for ABSD to be removed for S'poreans

Member of Parliament Christopher de Souza reiterated his call for the government to take a gradual approach in easing property cooling measures. Speaking in Parliament on the second day of the Budget debate on Tuesday, he said that a review of the measures is needed, as the property market is now lacklustre.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-budget-2016/de-souza-calls-for-absd-to-be-removed-for-sporeans

Singapore Real Estate

Asia Square could sharpen CCT's edge

Capitaland Group, including its office real estate investment trust CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT), was one of the earliest to eye Asia Square, a completed Grade A office development owned by a BlackRock-managed fund. Following the close of an expression of interest (EOI) exercise for the development's 43-storey Tower 1 last August, a consortium that included CapitaLand Group and the manager of Norway's sovereign wealth fund was shortlisted as the preferred bidder. In early November, however, CapitaLand announced that it had ceased negotiations with BlackRock "for now".

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/asia-square-could-sharpen-ccts-edge

EC with 'smart homes' to be ready in 2019

A residential project to be built at Canberra Link in Sembawang will be Singapore's first executive condominium with what are called smart homes. The 99-year-leasehold The Visionaire, which will be completed in 2019, will have smart lock systems complete with cameras that will allow residents to monitor visitors and control who gains access to their homes through their smart devices.

http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/ec-with-smart-homes-to-be-ready-in-2019

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/china-developer-brings-homes-of-the-future-to-spore

Difficult retail conditions show in Q1 rental dip: DTZ

Retail rentals fell islandwide in the first quarter on weak demand, data from DTZ South-east Asia released on Tuesday showed, coalescing with news of retailers consolidating and vacancies on the climb. According to the consultancy, average monthly first-storey rents fell 1.2 per cent quarter on quarter to about S$30.15 per square foot (psf) in the first three months of the year.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/difficult-retail-conditions-show-in-q1-rental-dip-dtz

SRX Property expands into valuation service

SRX Property has launched a full valuation system called "SRX V-8", which it believes will fill a few gaps in the real estate market. Firstly, it will make valuations less costly and therefore accessible to retail users. Traditionally, valuations have mostly been done by institutions. SRX says its service costs less as it is able to do more valuations than conventional valuers due to its use of big data and technology. This results in economies of scale.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/srx-property-expands-into-valuation-service

Frasers Property Australia sells office building to BlackRock for A$45.5m

Frasers Property Australia has sold a fully occupied office building in Church Street, Richmond for A$45.5 million (S$47 million) to BlackRock Asset Management. The 8,000-square-metre property, known as Building 10 at 658 Church Street in Richmond, is fully leased with a weighted average lease expiry of 3.1 years.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/frasers-property-australia-sells-office-building-to-blackrock-for-a455m

LinkedIn to open US$80m data centre in Singapore

About a third of LinkedIn's global traffic will soon be managed by a new US$80 million data centre in Singapore, The Business Times has learnt. The world's largest social professional network, which counts more than 400 million professionals as members, will unveil the data centre - its seventh globally but its first outside of the US - on Wednesday.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/technology/linkedin-to-open-us80m-data-centre-in-singapore

http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/linkedin-builds-80m-data-centre-in-jurong

Alpha fund buys rest of 78 Shenton Way

A property fund managed by Alpha Investment Partners has taken full ownership of 78 Shenton Way after buying out partner Commerz Real's half stake in the asset. Alpha Investment Partners is part of Keppel Corporation. The transaction, said to have been done three weeks ago, was effected through the sale of shares in the special purpose vehicle that holds 78 Shenton Way.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/alpha-fund-buys-rest-of-78-shenton-way

Frasers Centrepoint

The Australian unit of mainboard-listed Frasers Centrepoint has sold an office building in suburban Melbourne for A$45.5 million (S$47 million). The 8,000 sq m property, known as Building 10 at 658 Church Street, Richmond, was sold to Blackrock Asset Management. It is fully occupied with a weighted average lease expiry of 3.1 years. The strong price achieved is the result of a competitive expression-of-interest campaign, said Frasers Property Australia yesterday.

http://www.straitstimes.com/business/company-briefs-frasers-centrepoint

Companies' Brief

Singapore Real Estate Investment Trusts

S-Reits kick off the reporting season this week. Despite being one of the best performing Reit markets globally, the upcoming results are likely to remind everyone of the challenging fundamentals in Singapore. Occupancy and rental reversion have been two key issues troubling the sector. While we expect occupancy to have stabilised, rental reversions are likely to trend down in the upcoming results.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/brokers-take-253

SingHaiyi's controlling shareholder strikes share deal with OKH Global

Haiyi Holdings Pte Ltd (HHPL), the controlling shareholder of Catalist-listed property developer SingHaiyi Group, has struck a conditional agreement to subscribe for 500 million new shares in mainboard-listed property developer OKH Global Ltd at S$0.10 apiece. Under a loan agreement, HHPL will also extend a loan of S$10 million to OKH Global.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/singhaiyis-controlling-shareholder-strikes-share-deal-with-okh-global

Tee Land

Property developer Tee Land's Australian hotels and office rental business boosted third-quarter earnings.

Revenue for the three months to Feb 29 rose 10.1 per cent to $9.2 million compared with the same period a year earlier. Net profit climbed 66 per cent to $1.35 million.

http://www.straitstimes.com/business/company-briefs-frasers-centrepoint

Views, Reviews & Forum

Day 2 of Budget debate turns focus to people

After an opening day focused on numbers and measures for companies amid a challenging economy, yesterday's Parliament debate resounded with stories of people who were helped but also hurt by policy. On the second day of debate on the Government's Budget for the new financial year, many of the 25 MPs who spoke filled their speeches with anecdotes and focused on the human aspect when discussing hard policy questions.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/day-2-of-budget-debate-turns-focus-to-people

Budget 2016: Is focus too long term?

In the weeks leading up to Budget 2016, the Business Desk of The Straits Times did a series of in-depth reports on the state of the economy. The conclusion? Singapore's economy was not in a good place. Some sectors such as healthcare and biomedical are doing well but others such as finance and business services are facing uncertain times. Transport engineering is in far more barren territory, experiencing a full-on recession.

http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/budget-2016-is-focus-too-long-term

Bidadari the next Bishan?

One is a 30-year-old town with a bustling shopping centre and transport hub, while the other is an up-and-coming estate which, when built, will have an underground bus interchange, and a park with a lake and cycling paths. Housing estates Bishan and Bidadari are often compared with each other, with many property agents and investors touting the latter as the "new Bishan".

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/bidadari-the-next-bishan

Global Economy & Global Real Estate