DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 7 & 8 Feb 2021 (Sun & Mon)

Singapore Real Estate

Shophouses on Amoy Street, Balestier Road for sale
Three shophouses, one on Amoy Street and two on Balestier Road have been put up for sale, sole marketing agent PropNex Realty announced on Monday. The guide price for the three-storey shophouse at 97 Amoy Street stands at nearly S$26 million, while the two-storey shophouses at 449, 451 Balestier Road has an indicative price of S$6.8 million.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/shophouses-on-amoy-street-balestier-road-for-sale

Are new cooling measures coming to Singapore’s housing market?
Talk is rife that policy tweaks could be on the horizon to cool Singapore’s buoyant residential segment, as the government keeps an eye on the real estate market. Home prices gained pace last year, even as the economy slipped into recession. A further acceleration in price trends in 2021 “may put the property market in frothy territory”, said DBS Group Research.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/are-new-cooling-measures-coming-to-singapores-housing-market

Are property curbs looming?
Talk is rife that policy tweaks could be on the horizon to cool Singapore’s bouyant residential property segment. The sizzling sales momentum at two major launches this year – Normanton Park and The Reef at King’s Dock – coupled with the 2.1 per cent quarterly price jump in the residential index in Q4, “certainly increased the possibility” of additional cooling measures, said RHB analyst Vijay Natarajan.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/infographics/are-property-curbs-looming

Local retail S-Reits see gradual recovery in tenants’ sales
Eight out of the 43 Reits and property trusts listed in Singapore (S-Reits) are classified as retail S-Reits. Retail S-Reits own and manage retail real estate, including shopping malls, outlet malls and grocery-anchored strip malls among others. These eight have a combined market capitalisation of close to S$1.3 billion and an average dividend yield of 6.6 per cent.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/local-retail-s-reits-see-gradual-recovery-in-tenants-sales

4,600 public rental families are now HDB flat owners
About 4,600 families in public rental homes have become home owners of Housing Board (HDB) flats over the past five years through various housing schemes and grants. By 2023, around 1,000 families will be offered help by HDB to do the same. Among the 4,600 households, three in four bought a flat directly from HDB while the remainder bought a resale flat on the open market, said HDB yesterday.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/4600-public-rental-families-are-now-hdb-flat-owners

Singapore Economy

Business ‘bubble’ scheme put on ice
The launch of a pilot plan to bring “business, official and high-economic value travellers” into Singapore and put them in a “bubble” was pushed back, The Business Times has learnt. Under the original plans for the Connect@Singapore initiative, the first travellers would have been able to arrive from mid- to late January. The programme would allow them to enter Singapore without quarantine for up to 14 days, as long as they stay, work and meet in dedicated facilities and undergo regular testing.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/business-bubble-scheme-put-on-ice

About 300 small businesses seek to renegotiate terms
The Government’s Re-Align Framework scheme to help eligible small and micro businesses cope with the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic has drawn close to 300 filings in the three weeks since it was launched. The Law Ministry said on Friday that 292 notices had been filed between Jan 15 and Feb 4, comprising 177 Notices of Negotiation(NoN) and 115 Notices of Revision(NoR).
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/about-300-small-businesses-seek-to-renegotiate-terms

Companies’ Brief

Lian Beng chairman continues building stake
For the five local trading sessions that spanned Jan 29 to Feb 4, the Straits Times Index (STI) declined 0.5 per cent while the Nikkei 225 Index, Hang Seng Index and S&P/ASX 200 Index averaged a 1.4 per cent gain. This has brought the STI’s total return for the 2021 year to Feb 4 to 2.3 per cent.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/lian-beng-chairman-continues-building-stake

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Covid-19 has changed commuting patterns in Singapore. Can we keep them?
One of my enduring memories of the circuit breaker last year, and in the months following it, was how smooth traffic on the roads was, with fewer people out and about. It was a breeze travelling along roads and expressways that would typically be congested during peak hours, such as the Central Expressway (CTE) and Lornie Highway, among others.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/covid-19-has-changed-commuting-patterns-can-we-keep-them

Green opportunities for the little red dot
The travel industry is taking the opportunity to reboot this year, with businesses upgrading their facilities and attractions during this downtime. Despite the fact that visitor arrivals are at their lowest in about four decades, attractions like Haw Par Villa and Resorts World Sentosa are sprucing up venues and expanding their offerings in preparation for the post-Covid-19 future.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/green-opportunities-for-the-little-red-dot

Experts foresee uncertain future for mass travel
Singapore – Mass travel in the near future appears to be increasingly uncertain, with countries relaxing and reimposing travel restrictions based on their progress in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Singapore, for one, suspended three green lane arrangements with South Korea, Germany and Malaysia late last month in view of a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in those countries.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/experts-foresee-uncertain-future-for-mass-travel

Climate change presents strategic opportunities for boards
The connection between business and climate change has been clearly established by the Covid-19 pandemic. A locked-down world cut its carbon dioxide emissions last year by 7 per cent, the biggest drop ever, according to the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists who track emissions. During the peak of the global confinements in the first quarter of 2020, Nature Climate Change reported that daily emissions were about 17 per cent below the previous year.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/climate-change-presents-strategic-opportunities-for-boards

4 tips to avoid losing money in property
It was in 2010 when I started blogging in PropertySoul.com to share experiences and exchange ideas with like-minded property investors. Unexpectedly, I started receiving e-mails from unhappy home buyers sharing their regrets and grievances. Why are they so unhappy and how come people are losing money over property purchases?
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/4-tips-to-avoid-losing-money-in-property

3 legal tips all property owners should know
If you look at the property market today, you would be forgiven for thinking that it is all going really well. Sales of both private homes and Housing Board flats are getting stronger by the day, as if the pandemic never happened. What this means is that overall, there are likely to be more property owners today than, say, a year ago.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/3-legal-tips-all-property-owners-should-know-0

Most employers not adjusting pay based on staff’s location: Survey
While working from home has become the new norm amid the pandemic, most employers said they were not considering adjusting pay based on an employee’s location, according to a new survey. It found that only 23 per cent of respondents said they may alter staff compensation, while 11 per cent had modified salaries according to location, such as lowering pay if the employee moves to an area with lower living costs.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/most-employers-not-adjusting-pay-based-on-staffs-location-survey

Most willing to pay more to boost migrant worker welfare
Most Singaporeans and permanent residents want to improve the welfare of migrant workers and are willing to pay more to firms that provide better working and living conditions to these workers, with the majority willing to pay between 5 per cent and 10 per cent more, a survey has found. The survey is part of a research project commissioned by philanthropic organisations The Majurity Trust and LEAP201, following increased public scrutiny on the living and working conditions of low-wage migrant workers here during the height of the pandemic.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/most-willing-to-pay-more-to-boost-migrant-worker-welfare
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/community/most-are-satisfied-with-welfare-and-benefits-here

Singapore Budget 2021

Boost family offices, private wealth management sector to spur recovery: BDO
The family offices and private wealth management sector could be a key engine of recovery for Singapore, said accountancy network BDO, proposing possible moves to encourage this, ahead of this year’s Budget. As for potential tax measures in the Budget, while corporate and personal income taxes are not expected to rise, property cooling measures such as increased stamp duty might be a possibility, it said.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-budget-2021/boost-family-offices-private-wealth-management-sector-to

Budget to have more targeted schemes for those needing help
The upcoming Budget will have more targeted schemes aimed at segments of society and sectors of the economy which have not recovered as well, as the pandemic continues into its second year, said Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah yesterday. Ms Indranee, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for National Development, added that the strategy for Budget 2021 will be to make sure that resources are channelled to those who still need help, compared with the broad-based approach at the height of the crisis last year.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/budget-to-have-more-targeted-schemes-for-those-needing-help

Update on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Situation

Airport worker is sole community case; 23 imported
There were 24 new coronavirus cases confirmed as at noon yesterday, including one community case. The rest were imported cases. The sole community case is a 43-year-old Singaporean man who works at Changi Airport Terminals 1 and 3, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in an update last night.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/airport-worker-is-sole-community-case-23-imported

Daily Covid-19 testing capacity to be ramped up
Singapore plans to tap the private sector to significantly ramp up its capacity to test for Covid-19 infections. This will enable it to carry out more than 21,000 tests daily in dormitories and regional screening centres, amid ongoing efforts to vaccinate the country’s population and avoid subsequent outbreaks. The Health Promotion Board (HPB) wants to appoint vendors to administer Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab tests in 41 foreign worker dormitories and 16 regional screening centres, tender documents seen by The Straits Times show.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/daily-covid-19-testing-capacity-to-be-ramped-up

Eye centre employee given 5 doses of vaccine by mistake
A staff member at the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) has been mistakenly given the equivalent of five doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. This occurred during a vaccination exercise on Jan 14, and was due to human error resulting from a lapse in communication among members of the vaccination team, said SNEC yesterday. It said it has been following up closely with the staff member, who remains well.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/eye-centre-employee-given-5-doses-of-vaccine-by-mistake

First case of likely Covid-19 reinfection detected in dorm
The first case of likely Covid-19 reinfection in Singapore has been detected, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday. It said the patient, a 28-year-old male Bangladesh national, was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on April 12 last year and he subsequently recovered. He consistently tested negative for the infection from June onwards. But on Jan 25 this year, his test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection, and he was isolated.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/first-case-of-likely-covid-19-reinfection-detected-in-dorm

Reinfection possible as immunity wanes over time: Experts
People who have recovered from Covid-19 can get reinfected as the immunity they have gained against the virus wanes over time, say experts. But how this pans out with each person is difficult to predict as antibody levels and their longevity vary from person to person, they told The Straits Times yesterday in response to the first case of Covid-19 reinfection detected in Singapore.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/reinfection-possible-as-immunity-wanes-over-time-experts-coronavirus-reinfections
*For more information, please visit the Ministry of Health (MOH) website at www.moh.gov.sg and refer to go.gov.sg/mohupdates for updates on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation