DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 13th September 2016

Top Story

Non-landed private home rents eased 0.6% m-o-m in Sept, HDB rents down 0.3%: SRX
Rentals as well as leasing volumes fell month-on-month (m-o-m) in September 2016 for both non-landed private homes and HDB flats, according to the latest flash estimates released by SRX Property on Wednesday morning. SRX’s rental index for private apartments and condos fell 0.6 per cent in September 2016 over August 2016 after easing 0.5 per cent m-o-m in August 2016. The index has contracted 4.6 per cent year on year (y-o-y) from September 2015 and is also 17.6 per cent below its January 2013 peak. According to SRX Property, an estimated 3,716 non-landed private homes were rented in September 2016 – a m-o-m decline of 14.2 per cent from the 4,329 units leased in August 2016. However, on a y-o-y comparison, last month’s rental volume was up 8.5 per cent from the 3,426 units leased in September 2015.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/non-landed-private-home-rents-eased-06-m-o-m-in-sept-hdb-rents-down-03-srx
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/suburbs-lead-y-o-y-slide-in-condo-rents-srx
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/condo-and-hdb-rents-continue-to-fall-in-september
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/rents-for-private-homes-hdb-flats-continued-to-slide-in-september-srx-property
http://www.srx.com.sg/research/25322/non-landed-private-rents-decrease-by-06-while-hdb-rents-decrease-by-03-in-september-2016

Singapore Economy

Online prices now form part of S’pore consumer price index
Waiting to pounce on the most affordable online air ticket for your year-end vacation? Or looking to buy weekend movie tickets online for that blockbuster that you’ve always wanted to catch? The Singapore government’s statisticians are also monitoring these prices – at work. In a significant move that may ultimately have a bearing on monetary policy, the government’s Department of Statistics (DOS) began earlier this year to include online prices in the consumer price index (CPI). The CPI measures average price changes in a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by resident households over time. It is also a measure of price inflation.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/online-prices-now-form-part-of-spore-consumer-price-index

Duty Free International’s Q2 profit up 46% at RM13.8m
A rise in revenue and foreign exchange gains boosted results for Duty Free International (DFI) in its fiscal second quarter. Net profit surged 46 per cent to RM13.8 million (S$4.5million) from the year-ago period, the group said in a Singapore Exchange (SGX) filing on Wednesday evening. For the three months ended Aug 31, revenue grew 4.7 per cent to RM157 million from the preceding year. The gain in revenue was mainly derived from the retailing of duty free goods and non-dutiable merchandise segment.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/duty-free-internationals-q2-profit-up-46-at-rm138m

Singapore Real Estate

Sentosa hotel on the market for S$300 million
The hotel that was formerly known as Movenpick Heritage Hotel Sentosa and is being rebranded into a Le Meridien has been put on the market. Sources say the asking price is S$300 million, although two recent valuations were done at S$270 million and S$284 million. These valuations work out to S$1.41 million and S$1.49 million per room respectively. Talk in the market is that both valuations assume a similar projected average room rate, of around S$440 to S$450 per night, when the operations of the hotel under the Le Meridien branding have stabilised. The difference between the two valuations seems to be in the assumptions of occupancy rates.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/sentosa-hotel-on-the-market-for-s300-million

Plan to buy BTO flat? Check out this website
Prospective buyers of a Build-To-Order (BTO) flat can now have a sneak peek at their options and plan ahead with the help of a new website. SRX Property – a digital platform of StreetSine Technology Group – yesterday launched a website that serves as a one-stop solution for all things BTO-related.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/plan-to-buy-bto-flat-check-out-this-website

Companies’ Brief

Lower occupancy hits Soilbuild Reit’s Q3
Soilbuild Business Space Reit’s third-quarter revenue, earnings and distributions were hit by lower occupancies at its industrial properties. For the three months ended Sept 30, gross revenue fell 4.7 per cent to S$19.73 million from a year ago while net property income dropped 2.9 per cent to S$17.26 million. Distributable income was 3.9 per cent lower at S$14.55 million. This, coupled with a 1-for-10 preferential offering of new units last month, contributed to a 13.9 per cent drop in distribution per unit (DPU) to 1.399 Singapore cents for Q3, from 1.625 cents a year ago. This compared with a range of 1.500 to 1.633 cents in the preceding 11 quarters.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/lower-occupancy-hits-soilbuild-reits-q3

Aussie firm clinches Frasers’ Central Park contract
Frasers Property has appointed Australian firm Multiplex to build the final residential stage of its urban renewal project in Sydney. The Wonderland component, as it is called, will comprise 294 apartments within a 13-storey curvilinear building in the Central Park project. The A$140 million (S$146 million) construction contract is the second to be won by Multiplex at Central Park, which sits on 5.8 ha in downtown Sydney.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/aussie-firm-clinches-frasers-central-park-contract

Real estate fund manager Standard Life sets up Singapore team
European asset manager Standard Life Investments has set up a four-person team in Singapore, it said in a press release on Wednesday morning. The chief executive officer of its Singapore office, which will be at Ocean Financial Centre, is Wong Choon Wah, who is also Standard Life’s head of Asia-Pacific real estate. Mr Wong joined the group from Partners Group where he was senior vice-president for Singapore. He reports to Mike Hannigan, head of international real estate, based in Edinburgh.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/real-estate-fund-manager-standard-life-sets-up-singapore-team

Views, Reviews & Forum

Don’t let poor growth outlook dampen sentiment too much
Initial estimates of Singapore’s third-quarter economic growth will only be out on Friday, but already there are signs that things aren’t pretty. Both Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang have said in recent days that full-year growth may fall within the lower end of the 1-2 per cent range. This is more bearish than the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s view put out a few months ago, which was itself a narrowing from 1-3 per cent at the beginning of this year.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/dont-let-poor-growth-outlook-dampen-sentiment-too-much