DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 1st February 2019

Singapore Real Estate

Mortgage growth in Dec hits record low
Mortgage growth in December likely slowed to a record low, as property cooling measures continue to bite. Against this backdrop, overall bank lending is also expected to stay soft in 2019, reflecting caution in business sentiment. Home loans grew at just 2 per cent in December from a year ago to S$204 billion, preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore showed on Thursday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/mortgage-growth-in-dec-hits-record-low

Anson House to be put on market soon
Anson House, sited near Tanjong Pagar MRT station, is expected to go on the market soon. Agents appointed to market the 13-storey office block are said to be expecting offers in the region of S$218 million. This would work out to about S$2,500 per square foot on the building’s recently-expanded net lettable area (NLA).
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/anson-house-to-be-put-on-market-soon

Singapore Economy

Manufacturing, services firms gloomier about next six months
Manufacturing and services firms have become more downbeat about business prospects in the next six months, with both sectors expressing overall pessimism, according to two surveys released on Thursday. The surveys, covering firms’ expectations for January till June 2019, were released by the Economic Development Board (EDB) for the manufacturing sector and the Department of Statistics (Singstat) for services.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/manufacturing-services-firms-gloomier-about-next-six-months
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/manufacturing-and-services-downbeat-about-first-half

More working in Singapore; median income up 3.3%: MOM
More people were working in Singapore last year, but Singaporean workers saw their incomes rising at a slower pace than in the previous year. The labour market improved overall, with fewer retrenchments and a lower annual average unemployment rate compared with the year before, according to the latest estimates released by the Manpower Ministry (MOM) on Thursday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/more-working-in-singapore-median-income-up-33-mom
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/manpower/more-people-in-jobs-in-2018-with-layoffs-at-6-year-low-mom-data
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/manpower/workers-clock-fewer-hours-over-eight-years-report

Companies’ Brief

GuocoLand Q2 profit plunges 83.6% to S$10.9m
Developer GuocoLand’s net profit for the second-quarter ended Dec 31, 2018, sharply decreased 83.6 per cent to S$10.9 million, due to both the completion of a residential project in the previous corresponding quarter and lower sales of completed residential units.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/guocoland-q2-profit-plunges-836-to-s109m

Construction service provider Reclaims Global seeks Catalist listing
Reclaims Global, an eco-friendly integrated service provider in the construction industry, has lodged a preliminary prospectus for a planned initial public offering (IPO) on the Singapore Exchange’s Catalist board. Details of the pricing, amount to be raised and timing of the offering were not announced.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/construction-service-provider-reclaims-global-seeks-catalist-listing

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

The seeds for a new Orchard Road are already taking root
Many of the ideas for the revitalisation of Orchard Road are still working concepts, with the government looking to gather feedback from private stakeholders and members of the public alike. But the aim seems to be to turn the shopping and entertainment belt into a more comprehensive offering for visitors and to pay homage to its history, all while remaining a place of innovation and evolution.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/the-seeds-for-a-new-orchard-road-are-already-taking-root

Helping shops sell better with smart tech
The use of artificial intelligence in Singapore has been growing by leaps and bounds. According to a recent report on artificial intelligence in South-east Asia, more than 24,000 AI-related papers have been published in the South-east Asia region, with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand accounting for 86 per cent of output.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/helping-shops-sell-better-with-smart-tech