DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 19th September 2017

Singapore Economy

August’s NODX surge signals strong Q3 economic growth
Strong trade data in August is likely to point to vigorous third-quarter growth in the economy, but not beyond that, some private-sector economists have predicted. Practically all the trade numbers powered up last month, with little sign of waning. The key non-oil domestic export (NODX) grew 17 per cent year-on-year. This was the strongest expansion in six months, exceeding July’s 7.6 per cent (revised from 8.5 per cent) growth and beating the market forecast of 11.8 per cent.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/augusts-nodx-surge-signals-strong-q3-economic-growth
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/electronics-boom-china-rebound-lift-aug-exports?login=true
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore-s-exports-jump-17-in-fourth-straight-month-of-growth-9225588
http://www.todayonline.com/business/nodx-jumps-17-fourth-straight-month-growth

Singapore-China ties will advance with the times: PM
Singapore has been working with China at each step of its development, and will continue to ensure that the partnership advances with the times, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an interview published on Monday. Noting that China’s transformation has been very fast-paced, Mr Lee laid out how the Singapore-China partnership at the government level has also evolved over the past three decades.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-china-ties-will-advance-with-the-times-pm
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/spore-china-ties-will-keep-on-advancing?login=true
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/one-belt-one-road-can-bring-china-closer-to-global-community-pm-9227344
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/several-ways-spore-work-china-obor-pm-lee
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/third-g2g-project-chongqing-could-pave-way-western-chinas-development

Singapore Real Estate

Singapore property analysts turn bullish, predict 5-10% price gain by end-2018
After years of declining home prices in Singapore, analysts are expecting a turnaround as early as this year even as most of the government’s property cooling measures remain in place. Singapore property prices will rise between 5 per cent and 10 per cent next year after bottoming out in 2017, analyst Vikrant Pandey at UOB Kay Hian said. Morgan Stanley earlier this month said home prices will climb 2 per cent this year and 10 per cent by the end of 2018, turning around earlier and rising faster than people expect.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/singapore-property-analysts-turn-bullish-predict-5-10-price-gain-by-end-2018
http://www.todayonline.com/business/singapore-property-analysts-turn-bullish-predict-10-price-gain

Office spaces outside CBD ‘need to work harder’
The rental gap between Grade A central business district (CBD) office space and those outside the district is the smallest that it has been in a decade. With CBD rentals having plummeted more than 20 per cent since the start of 2015 according to CBRE’s index, city-fringe and suburban offices are finding themselves having to differentiate on building design and amenities to attract tenants.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/office-spaces-outside-cbd-need-to-work-harder

Braddell View hops onto en bloc bandwagon
Braddell View, the largest of Singapore’s 18 HUDC estates and the last to be privatised in March this year, is kick-starting its en bloc journey. The 918-unit estate is holding an extraordinary general meeting on Oct 10 to form the collective sales committee (CSC). The 99-year-lease Braddell View development has 63 years left on its lease.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/braddell-view-hops-onto-en-bloc-bandwagon
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/braddell-view-plans-to-join-collective-sale-rush

Gaw Capital poised to buy PoMo in Selegie
POMO, a nine-storey office and retail development in Selegie Road, is under exclusive due diligence for a transaction at around S$350 million. The potential buyer that is doing the due diligence is Hong Kong-based private equity real estate group Gaw Capital Partners, BT understands. The transaction is being negotiated as a sale of shares in a 51:49 joint-venture company of Enviro-Hub Holdings Ltd and BS Capital that owns the asset.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/gaw-capital-poised-to-buy-pomo-in-selegie

Companies’ Brief

Property trust seeks to raise up to 927m euros in S’pore IPO
Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust (Cereit), a property trust sponsored by Australia’s Cromwell Property Group, launched on Monday an up to 927 million-euro (S$1.5 billion) initial public offering in Singapore, IFR reported citing a term sheet of the deal.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/property-trust-seeks-to-raise-up-to-927m-euros-in-spore-ipo
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/cromwell-reit-cuts-ipo-size-raises-sponsors-stake

TEE Land buying Upper Thomson residential site for S$25.74m
TEE Land is buying a small strata development comprising six townhouses along Seraya Crescent off Upper Thomson Road through a collective sale at S$25.74 million. The price for the 24,069.16 sq ft freehold site works out to about S$931 per square foot per plot ratio inclusive of an estimated S$5.65 million development charge, said William Gan, founder of William Gan Realty, who brokered the deal.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/tee-land-buying-upper-thomson-residential-site-for-s2574m

Rowsley appoints new CEO, renews leadership team
Mainboard-listed Rowsley has appointed a new chief executive officer with immediate effect. The real estate developer announced on Monday that Tan Wee Tuck will lead Rowsley’s existing portfolio of real estate businesses with a “focus on growth, innovation and renewing the leadership of its design and engineering business”.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/rowsley-appoints-new-ceo-renews-leadership-team

More space for co-working at The Great Room
Co-working space The Great Room is opening a second location here and also expanding into Bangkok – its first overseas venture. The brand is also exploring more regional growth opportunities, with seven new locations planned next year, co-founder and chief executive Jaelle Ang, 37, told The Straits Times.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/more-space-for-co-working-at-the-great-room

Tycoon sets up $6.7 billion data centre business
Tycoon Oei Hong Leong is investing US$5 billion (S$6.7 billion) to set up a new company, named One Belt One Net, that will build data centres. As the name implies, Mr Oei envisions the business as a way to complement China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, a massive project to ignite growth in the countries along the ancient Silk Road.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/tycoon-sets-up-67-billion-data-centre-business

Views, Reviews & Forum

Is investment really booming?
The changes to today’s world economy are truly revolutionary. While many people get excited about the latest model of smartphone or other technological leap forward, economists do not. For an economist, it is the way technology changes society and the structure of the economy that is the exciting story. The growth of e-commerce in business has been dramatic. In the United States, manufacturing sales using e-commerce were below 20 per cent of total sales in 2000. Today they are over 60 per cent of total sales.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/is-investment-really-booming

Capitalism is changing its spots
Unexpected events are happening at a faster rate than ever before. The rare black swan – a term coined to denote such an event – has become as commonplace as ducks in a pond. Thinking the unthinkable has become cocktail chat. Before, potential missile bases on reclaimed islands in the South China Sea. Now, intercontinental missiles possibly raining down on Guam.
http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/capitalism-is-changing-its-spots