Singapore Real Estate
Shophouse in CBD up for sale with $9.8m guide price
A five-storey commercial shophouse at 32 Hongkong Street has been launched for sale by expression of interest (EOI), sole marketing agent PropNex Realty said yesterday. Its guide price stands at $9.8 million, excluding the premium payable for lease renewal.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
HDB home buyers don’t want public rental blocks in vicinity: Study
Price and location are top of the list when potential home owners decide to buy Housing Board flats. No. 3 on the list is to be far away from HDB public rental blocks, a study has found. Owing to the deeply entrenched national aspiration surrounding home ownership, HDB public rental flat dwellers are stigmatised and held as unfamiliar, poor and even undesirable.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
Singapore Economy
Stimulus, rate cuts offer reprieve but STI still at risk
While markets in the region bounced back as investor sentiment improved after a series of government and central bank measures were announced, market watchers pointed out that this might not be sufficient to support the economic fallout from Covid-19.
https://www.businesstimes.com.
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Singapore, NZ commit to maintaining supply chains
Singapore and New Zealand will work to remove existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, as both countries yesterday committed to maintaining connected supply chains amid the coronavirus outbreak.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
Job vacancies to fall further, so focus will be on saving jobs, reskilling workers: Josephine Teo
Singapore saw fewer job vacancies overall last year but there were still many opportunities in growth sectors, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo on Friday. The uncertainties this year amid the coronavirus outbreak means vacancies are likely to fall further, she said.
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Companies’ Brief
OUE Commercial Reit sets up S$2b debt issuance programme
The manager of OUE Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (OUE C-Reit) on Saturday announced a new S$2 billion multicurrency debt issuance programme. The two issuers for the programme are DBS Trustee in its capacity as OUE C-Reit’s trustee, as well as OUE C-Reit’s wholly-owned subsidiary OUE CT Treasury.
https://www.businesstimes.com.
UOB, OCBC unveil relief measures for Malaysia customers as coronavirus outbreak worsens
United Overseas Bank (UOB) and OCBC Bank on Friday announced a slew of relief measures for its customers in Malaysia who are affected by Covid-19, as the virus outbreak situation in the country takes a turn for the worse.
https://www.businesstimes.com.
Views, Reviews, Forum & Others
Weathering a tornado of change
Chia Ngiang Hong, President, Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS)
The wider Covid-19 spreads, the longer it will last and this will certainly wreak havoc on financial markets and economies. For businesses, we need to be agile, adaptive and nimble in such a volatile and uncertain environment and plan for various possible scenarios including that of the novel coronavirus becoming part of our bio-environment.
https://www.businesstimes.com.
Hard truths about Singapore made evident in pandemic
It has been about two months since Singapore detected its first case of the coronavirus on Jan 23. Since then, the number of infection cases here has hit 455 as of yesterday, with two deaths. The virus has since spread from China, where it originated, to the world.
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Learning lessons from a viral outbreak
The outbreak of the coronavirus has resulted in countries adopting a range of necessary and deterrent policies. Lockdowns, the most stringent of those measures, and safe distancing are intended to impress on citizens the absolute need to keep themselves and others safe.
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Covid-19 – this too shall pass
It’s been more than three months since the world became aware of Covid-19. Since then, it has spread to 182 countries and areas, and infected some 250,000 people as at March 20.
https://www.businesstimes.com.
Coronavirus: Grappling with a triple whammy global crisis
In the span of a few long weeks, the world as we knew it and most of the bold projections about what lies ahead have been upended.
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It’s a war, not just an economic crisis, experts say
We’re not just dealing with an economic crisis, say growing numbers of economists, when asked how to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a war, and it has to be fought on a war footing.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
How to build resilience to future disease outbreaks in Asia
Covid-19 has quickly exposed the fragility in the global economic system. While it is too soon to understand the full economic impact of the disease outbreak, what is clear is that this will not be a one-off. The total number and diversity of outbreaks, and their severity, have increased significantly since 1980.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
Forum: Social resilience vital in fighting virus
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed the nation on the war against Covid-19, saying that we are fighting not only on the medical and the economic fronts, but also the social-psychological. Social resilience is vital for us to combat the virus and recover as a stronger community.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
A whole-of-government approach to tackling climate change
As a small island state with no natural resources, Singapore depends on others for its food, water and energy needs. The country is no stranger to this vulnerability and has over the decades built up the infrastructure required to safeguard its resilience against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions and disease outbreaks.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
Tapping nature in fight against climate change
A research centre focusing on how nature can be harnessed to help tackle climate change will be set up by the end of the year at National University of Singapore (NUS), in a move that underscores the Republic’s interest in being part of the global push in learning more about nature-based solutions.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
Why modern climate change has got the world abuzz
Throughout this planet’s more than four billion years, the climate has changed numerous times before. During a period of warming, for example, the sprawling ice sheet that once covered North America melted and retreated, carving out the Great Lakes that are still seen today.
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Restoring mangroves to protect coasts, reduce warming
Mangrove forests are iconic habitats. Even people who do not spend much time in nature would instantly recognise their prop roots, which rise up from the mud in an undulating fashion and intertwine with those of their neighbour.
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Water an underused weapon in climate change fight: UN
Barcelona • Using water more efficiently in everything from daily life to agriculture and industry would help reduce planet-warming emissions and curb climate change – a potential benefit that has yet to be widely recognised, the United Nations said yesterday.
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Singapore Budget 2020
Businesses looking for larger second stimulus package, SBF poll finds
Businesses here are hoping for more support from the government in the form of a larger second stimulus package as the global economy worsens amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
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2nd stimulus package may be $15b: Experts
Singapore’s second stimulus package is expected to be a hefty one, and could be more than double the initial $6.4 billion set aside last month to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus outbreak. The package, which is expected to be unveiled in the coming days, might be in the region of $15 billion, according to experts.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
Update on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation
Social capital and trust help government respond to virus crisis: PM Lee
The Singapore government is able to respond effectively to the Covid-19 outbreak by being transparent and having the people’s trust, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. “It helps to go into this with some social capital and some trust, but you have to build on that during the crisis. Because if you do not, and people start to doubt what they are told, or think that facts are being withheld, you will be in deep trouble very quickly,” he said in a Skype interview with The Australian newspaper last Friday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.
Singapore shuts borders to short-term visitors
From 2359 hours on March 23, all short-term visitors will no longer be allowed to enter or transit through Singapore. Where work pass holders are concerned, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will only allow the entry or return of those providing essential services.
https://www.businesstimes.com.
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S’pore residents who still go abroad may face consequences
Those who choose to travel abroad despite travel advisories against doing so may face consequences, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said yesterday. The Government is considering measures against residents who choose to travel overseas despite border control restrictions, he said at a briefing.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
New distancing rules could be last straw for some businesses
The latest social-distancing measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus may deal another heavy blow to frontline businesses already battered by the outbreak.
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Coronavirus: Firms urged to get staff who returned from abroad to go on leave of absence
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has urged companies to impose a leave of absence (LOA) on employees who returned from overseas between March 14 and yesterday, before a mandatory stay-home requirement for all those entering Singapore kicked in.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
More major events in Singapore to be delayed as social distancing kicks in
Some flagship industry showcases that regularly put Singapore on the world map will have to be delayed this year, as the Covid-19 pandemic puts the kibosh on large gatherings.
https://www.businesstimes.com.
Coronavirus: Leaders urge Singaporeans to heed social distancing rules
Singaporeans can do a lot more to keep themselves and their families safe, national leaders said yesterday, as the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced the first two deaths here from Covid-19.
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Coronavirus: Singapore app allows for faster contact tracing
A contact-tracing smartphone app has been launched to allow the local authorities to quickly track people who have been exposed to confirmed coronavirus cases. Dubbed TraceTogether, the app can identify people who have been within 2m of coronavirus patients for at least 30 minutes, using wireless Bluetooth technology.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
Covid-19: Stricter measures like ban on events with over 250 people; new contact tracing app
Stricter “safe distancing measures” are being introduced for events, public venues such as food and beverage outlets, and workplaces, to reduce the risk of further local transmissions of Covid-19, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Friday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.
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Coronavirus: Singapore has sufficient healthcare facilities
Singapore has sufficient healthcare facilities and workers to cope with the current number of Covid-19 patients. However, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said there are contingency plans should the number of patients rise.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
S’pore sees first two Covid-19 deaths
Two Covid-19 patients died at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) yesterday morning due to complications, the first deaths Singapore has seen from the coronavirus that has taken over 10,000 lives globally.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
Malaysians with work permits can continue working in Singapore: MFA
Malaysians with Singapore work permits will continue to work in Singapore with health screening and accommodation arrangements made for them, while food and products will continue to be transported across the border smoothly.
https://www.businesstimes.com.
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S’pore employers urged to make housing plans for Malaysian staff
Employers should arrange short-term accommodation for their Malaysian staff, the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) said last Friday. The call – in response to Malaysia’s implementation of movement control orders to contain the coronavirus outbreak – is part of a joint initiative by the SNEF, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
Coronavirus: MOH tells doctors to stop or defer taking in new foreign patients
All doctors in public and private hospitals, as well as private specialist clinics, have been advised by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to immediately stop or defer accepting new foreign patients who do not reside in Singapore.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
Maids advised to spend rest day at home: MOM
Foreign domestic workers (FDWs) are advised to spend their rest day at home during this period of the coronavirus outbreak, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said yesterday. If they still go out on their rest day, they should practise social distancing, the ministry added.
https://www.straitstimes.com/
*For more information, please visit the Ministry of Health (MOH) website at www.moh.gov.sg and refer to go.gov.sg/mohupdates for updates on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation
Global Economy & Global Real Estate
Global economy already in recession, say experts in survey
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US home sales race to 13-year high, but virus disruption looms
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UBS to redeem 2 leveraged ETNs tied to mortgage Reits
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From eviction bans to cash support: Cities act against virus housing crisis
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Property titans brace for worst as virus empties Europe’s buildings
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New York’s millennial homeowners and where to find them
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How the coronavirus has affected New York real estate
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Commercial property market on ice as virus wreaks havoc
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Climate shocks in one country could disrupt global food supplies
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Asia shares, US futures dive on global recession fears; STI sinks 6.8%
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How China, South Korea and Taiwan are using tech to curb coronavirus outbreak
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China unexpectedly keeps benchmark lending rate steady
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China central bank calls for boost to global policy coordination
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China looks headed for worst economic performance in 50 years
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Malaysia growth seen as low as 2% on ‘triple whammy’ of troubles
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Additional Articles of Interests – Local & Overseas Real Estate
Local & Overseas Real Estate – Full Article
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