DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 30 Nov 2021 (Tue)

Singapore Real Estate

Singapore private homes aren’t as pricey as they seem
There is some anxiety over rising private home prices here, which are up by almost 8 per cent in the third quarter of 2021 compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, data by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-private-homes-arent-as-pricey-as-they-seem

Will rising residential prices heighten the risk of fresh cooling measures?
With the private residential market poised to end the year on a high note, does this once more heighten the risk of policy measures? Even the perceived possibility of cooling measures could serve as a near-term headwind for the share price of property developers with exposure to the private residential market, one analyst has flagged.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/will-rising-residential-prices-heighten-the-risk-of-fresh-cooling-measures

Singapore Economy

Singapore economy still on track to grow, despite Omicron risk
Singapore is still headed for positive economic growth in 2022, but the potential hit from the highly mutated new Covid-19 variant remains to be seen, economists told The Business Times, as the global spread of Omicron is expected to put the brakes on international border reopenings.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-economy-still-on-track-to-grow-despite-omicron-risk

Wage recovery to put more stress on rising consumer costs
Rising wages will push up Singapore inflation in 2022, although external forces remain the main culprit behind price increases, labour-market watchers told The Business Times. Continued border closures have put upward pressure on salaries, which are also picking up from a pandemic-related trough in 2021…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/wage-recovery-to-put-more-stress-on-rising-consumer-costs

Companies’ Brief

LHN full-year net profit up 16.9% to S$28.9m
Property player LHN Group’s net profit rose 16.9 per cent to S$28.9 million for the full-year ended Sept 30, 2021, despite a 9.9 per cent slip in revenue from a year ago. This was mainly due to an improvement in the profitability of its space optimisation business (industrial and Singapore co-living segment)…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/lhn-full-year-net-profit-up-169-to-s289m

Digital Core Reit aims to raise almost US$1b in Singapore IPO
Pure play data centre real estate investment trust (Reit) Digital Core Reit intends to raise total gross proceeds of US$977 million from its initial public offering (IPO) on the Singapore Exchange, including the issuance of the sponsor units, cornerstone units and parent US Reit preference shares.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/digital-core-reit-aims-to-raise-almost-us1b-in-singapore-ipo
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/data-centre-operator-digital-core-reit-registers-largest-ipo-in-singapore

IReit Global bags new tenant for office space in Germany
IReit Global has secured a 5-year lease from a tenant for 5 floors of office space in its Munster Campus building in Germany, the real estate investment trust’s (Reit) manager said on Friday (Nov 26).
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/ireit-global-bags-new-tenant-for-office-space-in-germany

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Is property tax ready for the future economy?
Property tax, which originated as a municipal levy, hardly receives much attention from fiscal strategists, especially in these days of the re-design of the global tax system under the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS 2.0).
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/is-property-tax-ready-for-the-future-economy

Rise of Omicron variant underscores need to address vaccine inequity
For at least the next couple of weeks, the world will be holding its breath – or perhaps masking up more – as scientists race to understand the new Omicron variant of Covid-19. The United Kingdom, which has hardly been a paragon of caution amid the pandemic…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/rise-of-omicron-variant-underscores-need-to-address-vaccine-inequity

Stay calm amid new Covid-19 variant
The World Health Organisation (WHO) last week designated a newly detected Covid-19 strain, known as B.1.1.529, as a variant of concern, assigning it the name Omicron. After Delta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma, this now is the fifth mutant among the active variants of concern.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/stay-calm-amid-new-covid-19-variant

Update on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Situation

1,103 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore on Monday; ICU rate falls to 51.2%
[Singapore] There were 1,103 new Covid-19 infections reported in Singapore on Monday (Nov 29), up from 747 on Sunday. The Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate stood at 0.69, consistent with Sunday’s figure, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its nightly update.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/1103-new-covid-19-cases-in-singapore-on-monday-icu-rate-falls-to-512
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/1103-new-covid-19-cases-in-singapore-icu-ratio-falls-to-512

2 SIA passengers who tested positive for Covid-19 variant Omicron transited in S’pore but did not leave airport
Singapore – Two passengers on a Singapore Airlines flight who were infected with the Covid-19 variant Omicron were travelling from Johannesburg and were in transit to Sydney, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday (Nov 29).
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/all-staff-on-sia-flight-from-spore-to-sydney-that-had-two-cases-of-omicron-covid-19-strain

Is there a better tech alternative to TraceTogether-SafeEntry to check vaccination status?
Singapore – Mandatory use of contact tracing tool TraceTogether and digital check-in system SafeEntry is burdensome to the majority of the population since contact tracing is no longer extensively done here.
https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/tech-news/is-there-a-better-tech-alternative-to-tracetogether-safeentry-to-check-vaccination

Singapore and Malaysia aim to expand land VTL to general travellers from mid-December
Singapore and Malaysia are aiming to expand the land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme, which began on Monday (Nov 29), to include general travellers from the middle of December, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-and-malaysia-aim-to-expand-land-vtl-to-general-travellers-from-mid
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-and-malaysia-aim-to-expand-land-vtl-to-general-travellers-from-mid-december

Omicron clouds recovery of aviation, tourism sectors
Despite not much being known about the Omicron coronavirus variant, it has already created an uncertain outlook for the aviation and travel industries, challenging the nascent recovery these sectors have just begun to see since the pandemic hit last year.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/transport/omicron-clouds-recovery-of-aviation-tourism-sectors

*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