DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 21st August 2018

Top Story

HDB value proposition improves as market awaits scheme details
Fresh measures to spruce up and to redevelop ageing HDB flats aren’t expected to immediately impact the HDB resale market, say property analysts, who are seeking greater clarity on how the new voluntary early redevelopment scheme (VERS) will be implemented.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/hdb-value-proposition-improves-as-market-awaits-scheme-details
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/vers-scheme-future-for-old-hdb-flats-experts-10634124
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/gearing-vers-some-flat-owners-want-earlier-rollout-new-hdb-scheme

Singapore Economy

GST, tax hikes could help fund new healthcare, housing initiatives
The major healthcare and housing initiatives announced in Sunday’s National Day Rally will require considerable public spending – but economists believe the fiscal burden will be well managed. For taxpayers and consumers, even though taxes would have to go up, the pain would be spread out as many of the macro policies will be carried out over years and decades.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/gst-tax-hikes-could-help-fund-new-healthcare-housing-initiatives

Singapore’s Q2 wholesale trade rises 10.3%
Singapore’s total domestic wholesale trade rose 10.3 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2018, according to data released by the Department of Statistics on Monday. With petroleum stripped out, domestic wholesale trade fell 0.4 per cent compared to a year ago. After adjusting for price changes, overall domestic wholesale trade registered a year-on-year decrease of 5.4 per cent.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapores-q2-wholesale-trade-rises-103
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/singapores-q2-wholesale-trade-up-103-on-higher-prices-for-petroleum-chemical

Africa’s a growth market, but it’s a long-term play
Investing in Africa is a long-term play, various experts have cautioned, even as one national strategist has identified the continent’s digital economy as a brand-new growth area for Singapore. Enterprise Singapore global markets director G. Jayakrishnan singled out technology and food manufacturing as sectors for Singapore investors to explore, along with traditional ones such as oil and gas engineering.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/africas-a-growth-market-but-its-a-long-term-play

Singapore Real Estate

Lease buyback now open to all HDB flats; liquidity boost for older resale flats
Elderly owners in all Housing Board flats – including those in five-room units or executive maisonettes – can now sell a part of their lease to the Government and use that income to fund their retirement years. Previously, the Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS) was restricted to those living in four-room or smaller flats.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/lease-buyback-now-open-to-all-hdb-flats-liquidity-boost-for-older-resale-flats
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/lease-buyback-to-be-extended-to-all-flats
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/lease-buyback-scheme-gives-elderly-couple-peace-of-mind-financially
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/hdb-lease-buyback-scheme-ndr-extended-flats-lawrence-wong-10633492
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/lease-buyback-scheme-be-extended-all-hdb-flats-including-5-room-and-larger-ones-lawrence
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/cautious-approach-needed-letting-buyers-use-more-cpf-money-older-hdb-flats-analysts

Owners of older HDB flats split over Vers
Madam Valentina Doss still remembers the smell of nearby pig farms at Block 1 Lorong 7 Toa Payoh five decades ago, where she has lived since she was 19. It is not her fondest memory, said Madam Doss, now 68 and retired, but it reminds her of how she has grown with Toa Payoh.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/owners-of-older-hdb-flats-split-over-vers

Cheng Hoe House in Kovan up for collective sale
Cheng Hoe House, a group of eight freehold townhouses, was on Monday launched for collective sale by tender for S$28 million, marketer Teakhwa Real Estate said. The reserve price reflects a land rate of S$1,082.90 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), including a development charge of about S$6.1 million.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/cheng-hoe-house-in-kovan-up-for-collective-sale
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/cheng-hoe-house-along-kovan-road-goes-en-bloc-for-28m

OrangeTee & Tie unveils app for agents to manage multiple property listings
OrangeTee & Tie has joined forces with players such as 99.co, Carousell and UOB to launch an app exclusively for its agents to manage property listings across multiple portals, via a single platform. Through Agent App, property agents can create new listings, market their properties, as well as manage and repost existing listings on 99.co, EdgeProp, Carousell and SRX. OrangeTee said that the feature, called Listing Hub, will continue to expand and sync with more portals.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/orangetee-tie-unveils-app-for-agents-to-manage-multiple-property-listings

Boon Tat Street conservation shophouse put up for sale
A 999-YEAR leasehold conservation shophouse with attic at 21 Boon Tat Street has been put up for sale via an expression of interest (EOI) exercise by marketing agent JLL. Located in the Telok Ayer Conservation Area, the shophouse has permanent food and beverage (F&B) approvals granted for both floors, and houses the Michelin-starred restaurant Cheek by Jowl.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/boon-tat-street-conservation-shophouse-put-up-for-sale
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/conservation-shophouse-and-eight-townhouses-up-for-sale

Fewer vehicular-related workplace fatalities in first half of 2018; falls top cause of major injuries
Singapore: There were fewer fatalities in the workplace related to vehicular incidents in the first half of the year, but falls remain a top cause for major injuries, according to official figures released on Monday (Aug 20). Vehicle-related fatalities – the top cause of workplace fatalities annually since 2013 – fell to four in the first half of 2018, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Institute said in a press release.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-mom-wsh-workplace-fatalities-10633642
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/fewer-workplace-deaths-construction-sector-saw-more-fatalities-major-injuries

Companies’ Brief

Perennial launches and prices S$170m of 5.95% notes due 2020
Perennial Real Estate launched and priced S$170 million of 5.95 per cent notes due 2020 on Monday, it has announced. Net proceeds from the notes – which will be issued under a S$2 billion multi-currency debt issuance programme established in 2015 – will be used to refinance the group’s borrowings, Perennial added.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/perennial-launches-and-prices-s170m-of-595-notes-due-2020

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

To quell uncertainty, explain public housing policies clearly and promptly
In the space of 30 minutes during the National Day Rally on Sunday night, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made a dizzying number of announcements related to public housing in Singapore. These centred mostly on the upgrading of Housing Board (HDB) flats and the re-development of precincts, and the perennially hot-button issue of a flat’s 99-year lease.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/to-quell-uncertainty-explain-public-housing-policies-clearly-and-promptly

Thinking long term on housing estates
Singapore is one of few countries which can make long-term plans, anticipating needs and identifying opportunities and projecting both into the distant future. By drawing attention to this distinctive feature of nationhood and governance, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made a pertinent point in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday. This is that, even as everyday challenges and concerns preoccupy citizens and leaders, Singaporeans must be able to imagine themselves well into the future.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/thinking-long-term-on-housing-estates

Building HDB homes that our grandchildren will desire
Singapore’s housing policies have been uniquely successful. We are the only major city in the world where nearly every young couple getting married can afford to buy their first home immediately. In other major cities, young couples can only hope to rent a flat, and the monthly rent can cost up to 40 per cent of their household income. And in some cities, you do not rent a flat, you rent a space. In Singapore, you buy a flat, you pay for most of your flat out of your CPF (Central Provident Fund), and the flat is yours.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/building-hdb-homes-that-our-grandchildren-will-desire

HIP II, Vers must be planned well: Experts
A programme to upgrade every Housing Board flat after 60 years should be planned such that it does not take place in blocks right before they undergo a new voluntary redevelopment scheme, said experts and MPs. Their comments come a day after the National Day Rally, when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the multibillion-dollar Home Improvement Programme (HIP) II. It upgrades all flats that are 60 to 70 years old for a second time.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/hip-ii-vers-must-be-planned-well-experts

New VERS scheme could bring about ‘acrimony’ among residents, warns Alex Yam
Singapore: The chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for National Development Alex Yam on Sunday (Aug 19) raised concerns about a new housing scheme which will allow more HDB households to benefit from redevelopment before the 99-year leases on their flats expire. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong revealed plans for what is called the Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (VERS) during his National Day Rally speech on Sunday.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/new-vers-scheme-could-bring-about-acrimony-among-residents-warns-10632016

Can China’s BRI be a blueprint for long-term economic benefit?
T’S not uncommon for commentators to liken large-scale economic development programmes with the Marshall Plan instituted after World War II to rebuild Western Europe. This comparison has now been applied to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), both in the benefits it promises and its risks over the longer term. The Marshall Plan involved US$44.3 billion of grants from 1945 to 1953 and is credited with bringing America out of its pre-war isolationist mindset, helping to establish it as a dominant global economic force.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/can-chinas-bri-be-a-blueprint-for-long-term-economic-benefit