DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 18th November 2016

Top Story

Sustainability of primary sales take-up, prices unclear: president
The jury is still out on whether the recent recovery in the take-up for developers’ projects is sustainable, Singapore’s developers body flagged on Thursday. Clouding the outlook now are the substantial new supply coming onstream and the prospect of a prolonged period of slow economic growth. “It is too early to conclude that recovery in primary sales take-up and current prices will be sustainable,” Augustine Tan, president of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas), told industry players at the association’s 57th anniversary dinner at Ritz Carlton Millenia.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/sustainability-of-primary-sales-take-up-prices-unclear-president

Lawrence Wong urges stronger public-private tie-up in developments
Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong called for a strengthening of partnership between the government and the private sector through new partnership models for Singapore’s development plans to realise its plans of optimising space options and preparing for the digital economy. Speaking at the 57th anniversary dinner of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas), he tossed up two partnership models that could be further deliberated on. One is the “master developer” approach in the development of new districts. This is similar to the approach taken for developments at Marina Bay where the government sliced out large land parcels and allowed developers to optimise the different land uses and build in a more integrated manner, while the risk for such large-scale projects was also mitigated by giving developers options to phase out the projects.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/lawrence-wong-urges-stronger-public-private-tie-up-in-developments
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/strong-public-private-tie-ups-vital-minister?login=true
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/step-up-government-and-private-sector-partnership-to-drive-singapores-development
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/govt-to-employ-new-models-for-private-sector-involvement-in/3297442.html
http://www.todayonline.com/business/private-sector-may-get-bigger-role-development-plans

Singapore Economy

Technical recession possible as non-oil exports slide 12%
Singapore’s exporters suffered yet another bleak month in October as a hoped-for lift towards the end of the year failed to materialise. Economists warned the outlook for trade remains cloudy, and the latest numbers raise the spectre of a technical recession for Singapore’s small, open economy this year.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/technical-recession-possible-as-non-oil-exports-slide-12

More funds for fintech trials as financial industry evolves
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will set aside more funds to support experiments in financial technology (fintech), Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced on Thursday. The latest funding support, which boosts the number of grants available to drive innovative ideas in the financial industry, takes the form of a grant of up to S$200,000 per fintech project, and capped at 50 per cent of the costs for trials. The grant aims to support ideas that benefit – not just an individual financial institution or start-up – but the financial system at large, in Singapore or abroad.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/more-funds-for-fintech-trials-as-financial-industry-evolves

Singapore Real Estate

Singapore family offices outperform Asia-Pac counterparts
Singapore family offices may have outperformed their peers in the Asia-Pacific but they still face the same succession challenges as the rest of the region, according to the UBS Campden Global Family Office Report 2016. Family offices here had an estimated portfolio performance of 1.2 per cent return in 2015, compared to flat returns in the Asia-Pacific region.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/investing-wealth/singapore-family-offices-outperform-asia-pac-counterparts

Two JTC tender sites awarded
JTC has awarded the tenders for two industrial sites, in Tampines and Tuas, to the highest bidders – Kok Tong Transport & Engineering Works and Wellbuilt respectively. Kok Tong, part of the infrastructure company KTC Group, beat two other bidders to clinch the Tampines site (Plot 3) for about S$3.1 million. Wellbuilt, a construction firm that specialises in structural steel work, beat five others to clinch the Tuas South Link 2 (Plot 6) site for about S$2.8 million. When contacted, a spokesman said that the company plans to build an office-cum-factory on the site.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/two-jtc-tender-sites-awarded

The paperless pleasure of financing a home
This week Singapore hosted a global forum on FinTech — shorthand for financial technology — that makes it easier and cheaper for consumers to bank, invest, and borrow. At the same time, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it is partnering with a consortium of financial institutions to explore digital currency technology. FinTech is about many things, including the collection of Big Data to improve our understanding of trends and pricing of financial assets. But, at its core, FinTech is as much about paperwork reduction as it is about fancy analytics.
http://www.todayonline.com/business/paperless-pleasure-financing-home

Companies’ Brief

MapletreeLog gives open listing to agents for 14 properties
Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) recently gave an open listing to agents for a string of 14 properties in Singapore in what is seen as a portfolio rejuvenation exercise by the trust to divest older properties. As at March 31, 2016, the 14 properties, all on leasehold sites, had a combined annual valuation of about S$291 million, based on information in the trust’s latest annual report. This is about 5.5 per cent of the S$5.3 billion worth of investment properties the trust had as at Sept 30, 2016.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/mapletreelog-gives-open-listing-to-agents-for-14-properties

CapitaLand to notch biggest one-year increase in Asian retail space in 2017
CapitaLand will open shopping malls next year in three Asian countries. With a combined retail gross floor area (GFA) of close to one million square metres, it will be CapitaLand’s largest ever retail space offering in a single year, the company said on Thursday. Of the eight malls, six are retail components of integrated developments in China, and the others are in Malaysia and India.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/capitaland-to-notch-biggest-one-year-increase-in-asian-retail-space-in-2017
http://www.todayonline.com/business/capitaland-open-eight-malls-3-asian-nations-next-year

Sabana Reit signs three master leases with sponsor-linked companies
Sabana Reit said on Thursday it has signed three master leases for a one-year term with each of its master lessees at 51 Penjuru Road, 33 & 35 Penjuru Lane and 18 Gul Drive. The master lessees which exercised the option to renew are Freight Links Express Logisticentre, Freight Links Express Logisticpark and Crystal Freight Services Distripark, all of which are units of the Reit’s sponsor, Vibrant Group (formerly known as Freight Links Express). The aggregate transaction value of the master leases is about S$10.1 million.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sabana-reit-signs-three-master-leases-with-sponsor-linked-companies