DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 1 April 2022 (Fri)

Singapore Real Estate

Property price index grows at slower pace in Q1 2022 post-cooling measures: URA
The overall price index for private homes in Singapore increased 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2022, slowing from the 5 per cent jump seen in the previous quarter after the government introduced cooling measures in December 2021.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/property-price-index-grows-at-slower-pace-in-q1-2022-post-cooling-measures-ura
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/singapore-private-home-price-growth-slows-sharply-in-q1-on-cooling-measures

New record prices being set by good class bungalows at Jervois Hill, Chancery Lane
Singapore – New price highs are being set in the Chatsworth Park and the Bukit Tunggal good class bungalow (GCB) areas, even as sales momentum in the GCB market slowed in the first quarter of 2022 compared to a year ago.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/new-record-prices-being-set-by-good-class-bungalows-at-jervois-hill-chancery-lane

KKR buys Twenty Anson for nearly S$600m from AEW
An entity linked to US-based private equity group KKR is understood to be buying Twenty Anson for close to S$600 million from AEW, The Business Times understands. The price works out to about S$2,900 per square foot (psf) on the net lettable area of 206,200 square feet (sq ft) for the 20-storey office building which is on a site with a balance leasehold tenure of about 84.5 years.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/kkr-buys-twenty-anson-for-nearly-s600m-from-aew

Singapore Economy

PM Lee: Effort to tackle climate crisis not helped by geopolitical tensions
Global efforts to mitigate the climate crisis will be “inadequate” and are not being helped by geopolitical realities like the Russia-Ukraine war and tensions between the United States and China, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday (March 30).
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/pm-lee-effort-to-tackle-climate-crisis-not-helped-by-geopolitical-tensions
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/pm-lee-effort-to-tackle-climate-crisis-not-helped-by-geopolitical-tensions

Electricity tariff to rise by an average of 9.9% in Q2 as global energy prices surge
Singapore’s electricity tariff is set to rise in the second quarter due to higher energy costs arising from surging global oil and gas prices, exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine. For the period between Apr 1 and Jun 30, the tariff (before the goods and services tax or GST) will rise by an average of 9.9 per cent or S$0.0249 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from the rate in the previous quarter, utilities company SP Group announced on Thursday (Mar 31).
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/energy-commodities/electricity-tariff-to-rise-by-an-average-of-99-in-q2-as-global-energy-prices
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-electricity-tariffs-rise-by-10-per-cent-amid-ukraine-war

Hotel industry takings could be near-normal by year-end
Visitor arrivals and hotel revenues picked up in February on the month before, as Singapore resumed reopening international borders amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Some 67,760 visitors arrived in February, up from 57,170 in the month prior, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has said.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/hotel-industry-takings-could-be-near-normal-by-year-end

Job vacancies hit all-time high in 2021, indicating recovery from Covid-19: MOM
The number of job vacancies hit an all-time high in 2021, with nearly half of them comprising newly created positions, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Friday (Apr 1). “If you take it all together, the record-high job vacancies, the growth in employment and falling unemployment, these are clear indications that our economy is recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,”…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/job-vacancies-hit-all-time-high-in-2021-indicating-recovery-from-covid-19-mom
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/jobs/record-number-of-job-vacancies-in-spore-last-year-more-positions-unfilled-for-at-least-six-months

Companies’ Brief

Low Keng Huat sinks deeper into red in H2 with S$4.3m loss
Mainboard-listed builder Low Keng Huat (Singapore) sank deeper into the red in the fiscal second half from a year ago, its latest financials released on Thursday (March 31) showed. Net loss for the 6 months ended Jan 31, 2022 stood at S$4.3 million, compared with a net loss of S$3.1 million posted the same period a year ago.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/low-keng-huat-sinks-deeper-into-red-in-h2-with-s43m-loss

Wing Tai unit acquires remaining 50% interest in Melbourne properties for A$49.4m
Wing Tai Holdings on Thursday (Mar 31) announced that its unit has bought the remaining 50 per cent interest in its freehold properties in Melbourne, Australia for A$49.4 million (S$50.1 million). The properties are 464-466 St Kilda Road and units 112-218, 23 of Brooklands Car Park on Queens Road.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/wing-tai-unit-acquires-remaining-50-interest-in-melbourne-properties-for-a494m

Corporate digest
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/corporate-digest-1537

Views, Reviews, Forum and Others

‘Slow-balisation’: How war and the pandemic are reshaping global trade
Raising the drawbridge has been a response to war and pestilence throughout human history, and the tumultuous winter of 2022 has similarly led trading nations to turn inward – though talk that the era of globalisation may be winding down seems premature.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/slow-balisation-how-war-and-the-pandemic-are-reshaping-global-trade

Update on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Situation

Travellers to S’pore vaccinated overseas will have fully vaccinated status on TraceTogether for 30 days
Singapore – Travellers entering Singapore under the Vaccinated Travel Framework from 11.59pm on Thursday (March 31) will have their vaccination status in their TraceTogether app reflected as fully vaccinated for 30 days.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/travellers-to-spore-vaccinated-overseas-will-have-fully-vaccinated-status-on-tracetogether-for-30-days

*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