DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 20th Sep 2019

Singapore Real Estate

Singapore projects target HK buyers in inaugural property festival in HK
A property festival featuring residential projects in Singapore will take place in Hong Kong next weekend, with some local developers looking to market their developments to Hong Kong residents. The inaugural Singapore Property Festival, organised by the South China Morning Post, will be held on Sept 28 at the JW Marriott Hotel in Hong Kong. Among the exhibitors are CapitaLand, GuocoLand, United Industrial Corp…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-projects-target-hk-buyers-in-inaugural-property-festival-in-hk

S-Reits on acquisition binge amid low interest rates
Amid a lower-for-longer interest rate environment, Singapore real estate investment trusts (S-Reits) are ramping up their acquisitions worth billions of dollars, according to market observers. Just this week alone, three S-Reits have announced equity financing to partially fund their acquisitions – Keppel DC Reit raised S$478.2 million to fund its proposed acquisition of two data centres worth about S$587 million, Mapletre…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/s-reits-on-acquisition-binge-amid-low-interest-rates

Government working on new pricing model for HDB flats in Greater Southern Waterfront: Lawrence Wong
Singapore: The Government is working out a new pricing model for future public housing in the Greater Southern Waterfront, in order to mitigate the so-called “lottery effect” of obtaining a subsidised flat in a prime area, said Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong on Thursday (Sep 19). His comments come after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Rally speech last month that the…
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/new-pricing-model-hdb-flats-greater-southern-waterfront-lottery-11920858

Singapore Economy

South-east Asia economic growth likely to slow to 4.5% this year: report
Economic growth in South-east Asia is forecast to ease to 4.5 per cent this year from 5.1 per cent in 2018, before stabilising at the same rate of 4.5 per cent in 2020, British advisory firm Oxford Economics said on Thursday. The slowdown comes amid a fresh round of tariffs and trade restrictions by the US and China, according to the firm’s latest Economic Update: South-East Asia report.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/south-east-asia-economic-growth-likely-to-slow-to-45-this-year-report
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/regions-2019-growth-set-to-ease-to-45

Tapping vast business opportunities in S-E Asia
The statistics show that South-east Asia – a bustling region of about 650 million people – is brimming with business potential and expansion opportunities for both Singapore and global companies. There are 10 member states in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) grouping – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/tapping-vast-business-opportunities-in-s-e-asia

Companies’ Brief

CapitaLand group of stocks outpaces global peers
The eight Singapore-listed stocks under the enlarged CapitaLand group generated higher average returns than their regional and global peers in the year to date, while also significantly outpacing broader benchmarks, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) said on Thursday. They averaged a 3.3 per cent total return in the quarter to Sept 18, bringing their average total year-to-date return to 28.2 per cent.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/capitaland-group-of-stocks-outpaces-global-peers
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/capitaland-stocks-beat-peers-with-28-return-this-year

Senior level departures at CBRE; firm expected to add to capital markets team
Some reshuffling is set to take place among real estate consultancies, with several senior level departures taking place at CBRE. It is understood that CBRE’s managing director of capital markets (Singapore), Jeremy Lake, as well as Galven Tan, executive director of capital markets (Singapore), have both left CBRE this week.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/senior-level-departures-at-cbre-firm-expected-to-add-to-capital-markets-team

Manulife US Reit raises US$142.7m from placement, preferential offering
Manulife US Reit’s private placement and preferential offering has netted gross proceeds of about US$142.7 million after both priced in at the top end of their issue price range. The pure-play US office Reit had planned to raise US$142.1 million from the equity fundraising for its latest acquisition.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/manulife-us-reit-raises-us1427m-from-placement-preferential-offering
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/manulife-us-reit-raises-1968-m-from-placement-preferential-offering

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Negative interest rates are not a magic pill for growth
Until recently, the spectre of negative interest rates seemed a distant one – afflicting parts of Europe since around 2015, and Japan in 2016. Today, the possibility that negative rates might permeate a wider swath of the world is not as far fetched as it might have seemed just a year or two ago. Concerns over a deepening economic slowdown are spurring rate cuts elsewhere, including Thailand and India. The…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/negative-interest-rates-are-not-a-magic-pill-for-growth