DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 28th Aug 2019

Singapore Real Estate

Hong Kong investors shun Singapore for homes in Malaysia, Taiwan
[Singapore] Singapore’s housing market isn’t turning out to be the beneficiary many may have thought from Hong Kong’s increasingly fraught protests. Instead, investors are looking to cheaper property markets like Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan. “People here tend to think there are only two cities in the world – Hong Kong and Singapore,” said Alan Cheong, a Singapore-based executive director of research and consultancy…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/hong-kong-investors-shun-singapore-for-homes-in-malaysia-taiwan
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/hong-kong-investors-shun-singapore-homes-for-cheaper-property-in-malaysia-taiwan

Singapore is tops for HK real estate investors in H1
Lured by Singapore’s stable political environment and relatively strong office rentals, Hong Kong investors pumped a total of US$1.4 billion into the Republic’s real estate in the first half of 2019. This accounted for more than a quarter of the US$5.2 billion in total outbound real estate investment from Hong Kong during the period, making Singapore the top destination, Cushman & Wakefield Research said in its latest report…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-is-tops-for-hk-real-estate-investors-in-h1
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/hk-investments-in-spore-properties-hit-19b-in-first-half
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-top-spot-hong-kong-commercial-property-investors-first-half-2019-report

Bukit Sembawang Estates’ Luxus Hills opens for preview on Aug 30
Property developer Bukit Sembawang Estates has released 32 out of the 78 units of the current phase of Luxus Hills for sale. The public preview for the homes in this 999-year leasehold landed development begins on Friday. Seven units have been sold so far.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/bukit-sembawang-estates-luxus-hills-opens-for-preview-on-aug-30
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/bukit-sembawangs-luxus-hills-to-open-for-preview

Building spaces that enrich lives
Lendlease’s largest project to date in Singapore is Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ), an approximately S$3.7 billion urban regeneration development that is also home to the company’s new Asia headquarters. PLQ alone represents a sizable percentage of the group’s global urban regeneration pipeline of approximately A$81.2 billion (S$76.2 billion)¹. Sited 10 minutes away from the central business district, PLQ will be a…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/hub-projects/ceo-conversations-2019-bicentennial-edition/building-spaces-that-enrich-lives

Singapore Economy

Service sector’s revenue growth slows to 2.8% in Q2
Revenue growth in the service sector slowed again in the second quarter, with analysts warning of further weakening ahead. Overall receipts rose 2.8 per cent in the three months to June 30, compared with the same period a year earlier, but fell short of the 3.6 per cent expansion in the first quarter and the 4.1 per cent increase in the fourth quarter last year.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/service-sectors-revenue-growth-slows-to-28-in-q2
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/infographics/service-sector-takings-up-28-in-q2

Singapore mortgages may resist global rates downtrend – for now
Interest rates are falling across the world – with some markets already mired in negative rates – but the flow through to Singapore mortgage rates may be mitigated by local factors. “Most mortgage rates in Singapore are pegged to Sibor (Singapore Interbank Offered Rate) in one way or another; though sometimes they are called differently, like board rates, they all have to correspond to market interest rate…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/singapore-mortgages-may-resist-global-rates-downtrend-for-now

Singapore a bigger draw for investment amid global uncertainties: Analysts
Singapore will likely remain an attractive investment destination over the medium to long term, especially for firms making capital-intensive moves amid global uncertainties and an escalating trade war, analysts told The Straits Times. Among the reasons cited are the Republic’s stable political landscape and pro-business environment, as well as its infrastructure such as an extensive network of free trade agreements…
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/singapore-a-bigger-draw-for-investment-amid-global-uncertainties-analysts

Linde makes big bet on Singapore with US$1.4b Jurong plant
Global industrial gases and engineering group Linde broke ground on Tuesday for its upcoming US$1.4 billion integrated manufacturing complex in Singapore – the single largest investment in the company’s history. Slated for completion in early 2023, the complex will be located and integrated with Linde’s existing gasification facility on Jurong Island, and will quadruple Linde’s production capacity of hydrogen…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/energy-commodities/linde-makes-big-bet-on-singapore-with-us14b-jurong-plant

Companies’ Brief

Keppel bags environmental award; included in sustainability index
Keppel Corporation has been recognised for its sustainable business practices with an environmental award, along with an inclusion in a sustainability index. The mainboard-listed company won the SEC-STATS Asia Pacific Singapore Environmental Achievement Award under the services category, at the Singapore Environment Council’s Environmental Achievement Awards 2019.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/keppel-bags-environmental-award-included-in-sustainability-index
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/keppel-bags-environmental-award-inclusion-in-sustainability-index

Wing Tai’s profits for Q4, full year take big tumble
Regional property and lifestyle group Wing Tai Holdings turned in a substantially weaker profit in its fiscal fourth quarter and full year, mainly due to the absence of one-off gains recorded the year before. Net profit for the three months ended June 30 fell 86 per cent to S$18.1 million from S$131.3 million in the year-ago period.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/wing-tais-profits-for-q4-full-year-take-big-tumble
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/wing-tais-q4-profit-down-86-with-lack-of-one-off-gain

Oxley Q4 profit dives 81% on lower revenue
Oxley Holdings’ net profit dived 81 per cent to S$25.6 million for the fourth quarter from S$137.7 million a year ago, the property developer reported on Tuesday. Revenue for the three months ended June 30 fell 57 per cent to S$100.4 million, mainly on lower revenue contribution from a project in the United Kingdom. Gross profit margin was 11 percentage points higher year-on-year, which the group attributed to higher…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/oxley-q4-profit-dives-81-on-lower-revenue
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/oxley-q4-net-profit-dives-81-on-lower-revenue

Heeton Holdings CEO Eric Teng to step down in October
Heeton Holdings Limited on Tuesday announced that Eric Teng will be stepping down as its chief executive officer and executive director with effect from Oct 1. Mr Teng will remain on the board of directors as a non-executive, non-independent director.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/heeton-holdings-ceo-eric-teng-to-step-down-in-october

Tiong Seng wins S$130.5m contract to develop Club Street hotel
Mainboard-listed Tiong Seng Holdings has secured a S$130.5 million contract from Midtown Development to develop a 20-storey hotel building at Club Street, it announced on Tuesday. The development will include shops and restaurants on the ground level, 19 storeys of hotel accommodation and a basement carpark. Site possession is expected to take place within August 2019.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/tiong-seng-wins-s1305m-contract-to-develop-club-street-hotel

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Gearing up for recession amid Trump-driven trade war chaos
The notion that American presidents and their policies can determine the state of the US economy, and that they therefore are responsible for either an economic upswing or a recession are economic urban legends of sorts, although that perception can have an impact on a president’s political fortunes. In fact, presidents have far less influence over the economy than many think. The economic conditions under any…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/gearing-up-for-recession-amid-trump-driven-trade-war-chaos

Will golden age for construction firms return?
Singapore’s construction sector swung back into growth mode in 2019, after two-and-a-half years of contraction. But that doesn’t tell the full story. Despite this and other promising signposts of a sustainable sectoral turnaround, shares of general building and civil engineering firms have largely disappointed this year.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/will-golden-age-for-construction-firms-return