DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 14th December 2018

Singapore Real Estate

Eurokars Group buys 23 Leng Kee Rd for S$33m
Motor trade entrepreneur Karsono Kwee’s Eurokars Group is expanding its property ownership in the prime Leng Kee motor belt. Eurokars is understood to be buying 23 Leng Kee Road for S$33 million from Yong Lee Lee & Company. Eurokars Group already operates out of the building, which among other things houses the showroom and service centre for Mazda, for which the group is the authorised distributor in Singapore. The group declined to comment when approached by BT earlier this week.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/eurokars-group-buys-23-leng-kee-rd-for-s33m

Housing demand could still fuel 2019 growth in Singapore
The local housing market could still support Singapore’s growth in 2019, despite the curbs unveiled this year, bank analysts said this week. Standard Chartered’s (StanChart) global chief economist David Mann, who is based here, acknowledged that “there are lots of cross-currents” in the air, from dampeners like an electronics cycle slowdown to upsides like a ramp-up in investment diversions into Asean.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/housing-demand-could-still-fuel-2019-growth-in-singapore

Singapore Economy

Q3 labour market improves but hiring may be slowing: MOM
The labour market continued to improve in the third quarter of this year, but several indicators show hiring may be slowing amid global uncertainties. Official figures released on Thursday by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) confirmed the trends in the preliminary estimates released in October. From June to September, more people were employed here and fewer people lost their jobs. But overall unemployment crept up slightly,
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/q3-labour-market-improves-but-hiring-may-be-slowing-mom
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/employment-grows-at-fastest-rate-in-4-years

Job market picks up, but hiring may be easing
The labour market continued to improve in the third quarter of this year, but several indicators show that hiring may be slowing amid global uncertainties. Between July and September, more people were employed here and fewer lost their jobs, compared with the preceding three months. Official figures released yesterday by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) showed that total employment, excluding foreign domestic workers, grew by 16,700 from July to September.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/manpower/job-market-picks-up-but-hiring-may-be-easing

Slowdown in Asia next year before H2 recovery: Nomura
It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Nomura economists believe that 2019 will be a year of two halves for Asia, the first half gloomy and the second half a recovery. At its 2019 Equities and Economic Outlook briefing on Thursday, Rob Subbaraman, head of global emerging markets economics and Asia ex-Japan fixed income research, said that the growth deceleration in the first six months will come as a result of build-up in private debt, property market corrections in China, Hong Kong and South Korea, and global quantitative tightening, which could lead to a credit crunch.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/slowdown-in-asia-next-year-before-h2-recovery-nomura

Companies’ Brief

Mapletree Industrial Trust proposes to buy Tai Seng property for S$268.3m
Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT) plans to buy a mixed-use property at 18 Tai Seng St for an agreed property value of S$268.3 million from a unit of Mapletree Investments, a move that deepens its expansion of its Hi-Tech Buildings segment. The Reit has not yet made a financial decision on how it will fund this proposed purchase, though it said it has debt headroom to fund the proposed acquisition entirely by debt.Spanning a gross floor area of 443,810 sq ft
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/mapletree-industrial-trust-proposes-to-buy-tai-seng-property-for-s2683m
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/stocks-to-watch-singpost-mapletree-industrial-trust-delong-lorenzo

VIEWS, REVIEWS, FORUM & Others

The rise of co-living, in BT Weekend
Fancy sharing your rented abode with like-minded flatmates, in an arrangement where your landlord picks up your utilities tab, pays for WiFi, provides housekeeping, AND organises block parties? Living with strangers doesn’t sound so bad when the space that you cohabit is more of a cheery commune than just a room in a condo. Co-living operators are banking on demand for short-term rent and “community spirit” to fuel their business model. In Brunch this Saturday in The Business Times Weekend, we look at how the scene in Singapore has grown.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/weekend/the-rise-of-co-living-in-bt-weekend