The Leading Professional and Representative Body for the Real Estate Industry

The Leading Professional and Representative Body for the Real Estate Industry

DAILY NEWS

 

Daily News – 10th June 2016

Top Stories

Singapore-based firm starts fund to buy ‘death spiral’ convertibles
A Financier that specialises in a controversial form of convertible financing has launched its first fund to public clients, hoping to benefit from tight capital raising conditions for smaller companies.  Advance Capital Partners is marketing its Advance Opportunities Fund I to high net worth individuals and institutional investors.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/singapore-based-firm-starts-fund-to-buy-death-spiral-convertibles

Collaborate to harness full potential of disruptive technologies: Tharman
All parties here should collaborate to harness the full potential that disruptive technologies may bring, so that economic restructuring can yield the highest levels of benefits for everyone, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the launch of an incubator on Thursday.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/collaborate-to-harness-full-potential-of-disruptive-technologies-tharman

Singapore Real Estate

Another Malaysian developer eyes backdoor listing on SGX
Property developers from across the Causeway seem to have developed a taste for the Singapore bourse, with three of them having struck separate deals over a span of two short weeks for backdoor listings.  Commenting on the interest for a Singapore Exchange (SGX) listing, as seen by the proposed reverse takeover (RTO) deals, observers say this could be a sign of some Malaysian developers wanting to capitalise on Singapore’s access to capital markets and its stable currency.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/another-malaysian-developer-eyes-backdoor-listing-on-sgx

Mapletree bags prime asset in Saigon CBD for over S$400m
Mapletree Investments has bought Kumho Asiana Plaza Saigon, a completed mixed development in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City’s (HCMC) central business district. The price is understood to be the equivalent of more than S$400 million and takes Mapletree’s total assets under management in Vietnam to more than S$1 billion. The deal was completed on Thursday.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/mapletree-bags-prime-asset-in-saigon-cbd-for-over-s400m

HDB resale prices stay flat in May: SRX
THE latest flash estimates data from SRX Property on the Housing & Development Board resale flat market shows continuing price stability.  SRX Property’s price index for HDB resale flats inched up 0.2 per cent in May 2016 over the preceding month.  This follows a 0.1 per cent month-on-month dip in April 2016. Year on year, the index is unchanged. From the peak in April 2013, the index has slipped by 10.9 per cent.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/hdb-resale-prices-stay-flat-in-may-srx
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/hdb-resale-volume-stays-flat-in-may-but-prices-inch-up-02?login=true
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/hdb-resale-market-stabilising-analysts-say
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/hdb-resale-prices-inch-up/2857340.html

Singapore’s prime retail rents continue to fall in Q2
Average prime retail rents in Singapore continued their downward trend in the second quarter, with those in Orchard Road falling by a bigger quantum than those of suburban malls, according to CBRE Research in a press release released on Thursday.  CBRE said average prime rents for the suburban sub-market fell 0.7 per cent from the first quarter of 2016 to S$29.45 per square foot per month. Average prime Orchard Road rents slipped 1.1 per cent from Q1 to S$32.50 psf/pm.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapores-prime-retail-rents-continue-to-fall-in-q2
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/fall-in-average-prime-retail-rents-in-orchard-suburbs

Orchard flood protection works half complete
Major works by PUB to improve flood protection in Orchard Road are about halfway done, the national water agency said yesterday.  The Stamford Diversion Canal and Stamford Detention Tank will reduce the load of the Stamford Canal – which flanks Orchard Road on both sides – by 30 per cent, a spokesman said.  The diversion canal, which will relieve Stamford Canal of a portion of water, is close to 50 per cent complete.  The detention tank, which will hold water temporarily so that less water flows into Stamford Canal during heavy rain, is more than 50 per cent complete.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/orchard-flood-protection-works-half-complete?login=true
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/slight-delay-orchard-road-flood-mitigation-works
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/canal-to-ease-flooding-on/2858016.html

Retailers are cranking up the gears for this year’s Great Singapore Sale
In light of a weakening retail environment here, retailers are looking to the annual, month-long Great Singapore Sale (GSS), which began early this month, to bring about a much-needed spike in their sales charts.  According to the Singapore Statistics website, the year-on-year retail sales figures for June have been dipping over the past two years, indicating that the positive impact of the GSS on retail sales could be declining.
http://www.todayonline.com/lifestyle/retailers-are-cranking-gears-years-great-singapore-sale

Bugis Street takes to online retailing in a big way
Its alleys are narrow and maze-like, branching out from a main avenue with a distracting amount of apparel, accessories and souvenirs displayed at every crevice.  Handwritten signs join bright neon ones, an onslaught of colour and lights hawking goods that are “3 for S$10” or even less. The air is thick, with people jostling for space on one’s left and right.
http://www.todayonline.com/lifestyle/bugis-street-takes-online-retailing-big-way

Companies’ Brief

A-Reit to sell logistics facility near Shanghai for S$26m
The manager of Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit) on Thursday said the trust has agreed to sell A-Reit Jiashan Logistics Centre in China for S$26 million. This would translate to a gain of S$5.1 million over the total development cost. The centre, located near Shanghai, was sold to Goodman Developments Asia and GCLP Developments No 3 (BVI) Limited.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/a-reit-to-sell-logistics-facility-near-shanghai-for-s26m-0

Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust
Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit) is selling A-Reit Jiashan Logistics Centre, a logistics facility near Shanghai, China. The property’s attributable value is $26 million.  The move will “further strengthen… resources to look at other opportunities in Singapore, Australia and China”, said Mr Chia Nam Toon, executive director and chief executive of Ascendas Funds Management, A-Reit’s manager.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/company-briefs-ascendas-real-estate-investment-trust-1

Mapletree
Mapletree Investments has acquired a development in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City from Kumho Industrial Company and Asiana Airlines. Called Kumho Asiana Plaza, it comprises a 21-storey Grade A office building, a 32-storey serviced apartment tower, 21-storey hotel and a retail podium with food and beverage offerings. 
The net asset value of the development is estimated at about US$215 million (S$291 million). It is Mapletree’s largest acquisition involving a completed, income-producing property in Vietnam.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/company-briefs-ascendas-real-estate-investment-trust-1

RWS lets go of 400 staff as casino sees fewer visitors
Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) is cutting its casino headcount and letting go of close to 400 employees as it struggles against unprecedented headwinds from the retreat of mainly Chinese high rollers due to a combination of a corruption crackdown led by President Xi Jinping and a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/rws-axes-close-400-jobs-casino-business-falters

Views, Reviews & Forum

Singaporeans are ageing fast — let’s get planning
I am not bringing up this subject because I see my hairline receding rapidly or because I need bifocals.  As highlighted in my latest book, Weathering a Property Downturn, if we took a snapshot of Singapore’s population tree in 2015 and assumed that the population was with us all the while (that is, no inward or outward migration), 400,000 residents celebrated their 60th birthdays between 2006 and 2015, and in the next 10-year period between 2016 and 2025, more than 600,000 residents will celebrate their 60th year on earth.
http://www.todayonline.com/business/singaporeans-are-ageing-fast-lets-get-planning

Japan’s real estate fervour could lose its mojo all too quickly
In countries with growing populations, rising incomes and falling real interest rates, property is usually a winning bet.  Strike Japan out on two of three of those counts. Its population is both ageing and shrinking. The 1.9 per cent rebound in the first quarter aside, the economy is hardly booming. But thanks to massive money printing, real interest rates are negative. And chiefly as a result of that, Japanese real estate has been the biggest source of returns for Asian property investors for at least two years.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/japans-real-estate-fervour-could-lose-its-mojo-all-too-quickly

Global Economy & Global Real Estate

BOJ signals its defiance of monetary policy critics
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/boj-signals-its-defiance-of-monetary-policy-critics

2 banks in NZ tighten mortgage lending to non-residents
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/2-banks-in-nz-tighten-mortgage-lending-to-non-residents

South Korean firms on shopping spree for overseas properties
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/south-korean-firms-on-shopping-spree-for-overseas-properties

Additional Articles of Interest – Local & Overseas Real Estate

Local & Overseas Real Estate – Full Article
http://www.stproperty.sg/articles-property/singapore-property-news/c/11
http://business.asiaone.com/property/news
http://www.propertyguru.com.sg/market-news
http://www.btinvest.com.sg/property 
http://www.theedgeproperty.com.sg/property-news

Scroll to Top