DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 03 Dec 2019

Top Story

Redas urges developers to be more prudent in land purchase, capital allocation
With the conditions for the real estate industry becoming more challenging, developers in Singapore have been urged to take stock and adopt a more prudent approach in land purchase and capital allocation. Making this call was Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas) president Chia Ngiang Hong, who noted that developers here are already more cautious in their bidding for land.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/redas-urges-developers-to-be-more-prudent-in-land-purchase-capital-allocation

Property market stable but faces risks: Desmond Lee
The property market is now broadly stable, but risks from trade rows and geopolitical tensions could still hit the sector, Second Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said yesterday. He told the 60th anniversary dinner of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas) that private housing prices appear to be moving more in line with economic fundamentals than they were in the first half of last year.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/property-market-stable-but-faces-risks-desmond-lee

Singapore Real Estate

Robinson Centre close to being sold: sources
Robinson Centre, a 20-storey office building in the CBD, is close to being sold, BT understands. Market watchers expect the pricing to be around S$340 million, or in the range of S$2,550-S$2,600 per square foot based on the building net lettable area of about 132,300 sq ft. Robinson Centre is on a site with about 76 years left on its leasehold tenure.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/robinson-centre-close-to-being-sold-sources

A third of units at One Holland Village Residences sold
Nearly a third of apartments at One Holland Village Residences have been booked since sales began on Nov 21, at average prices ranging from $2,600 to $3,200 per sq ft (psf). The developer – Far East Organization with partners Sekisui House and Sino Group – sold 95 apartments of a total 296 as of 6pm yesterday.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/a-third-of-units-at-one-holland-village-residences-sold

Government keeps steady supply of private housing for first half of 2020 land sales programme
The Government is maintaining the amount of private residential housing under the government land sales (GLS) programme for the first half of 2020, in view of the supply overhang and cooler demand from developers
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/government-keeps-steady-supply-of-private-housing-for-first-half-of-2020-land
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/private-housing-supply-from-h1-2020-gls-holds-steady-mnd

‘Limited’ risk of big price correction for S-Reits
The risk of Singapore real estate investment trusts (S-Reits) facing major price corrections in the coming year is limited as long as global borrowing rates stay low, Credit Suisse said at an investment outlook for 2020 on Monday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/limited-risk-of-big-price-correction-for-s-reits
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/spore-reits-see-record-year-of-ma-deals-as-investors-pile-in

Singapore Economy

Some civil servants to see decade-low total bonus for 2019
Civil servants in Singapore will get a year-end bonus of 0.1 month and an additional one-off lump sum of between S$250 and S$1,500, with those in junior grades getting more. The exception are senior civil servants in superscale grades, who will get a one-off payment of S$400 instead of the year-end annual variable component (AVC).
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/some-civil-servants-to-see-decade-low-total-bonus-for-2019
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/lower-bonus-for-civil-servants-amid-weak-economic-outlook

Companies’ Brief

Frasers’ logistics and commercial Reits propose S$1.58b merger
A S$1.58 BILLION merger between Frasers Logistics & Industrial Trust (FLT) and Frasers Commercial Trust (FCOT) has been proposed by the managers of both real estate investment trusts (Reits). The proposed deal will be by way of a trust scheme of arrangement, which will see FLT acquiring all units of FCOT for about S$1.54 billion, the managers said on Monday in a bourse filing.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/frasers-logistics-and-commercial-reits-propose-s158b-merger
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/frasers-logistics-frasers-commercial-propose-154-billion-reit-merger

LHN to acquire Gul Avenue property for S$13m
Catalist- Listed LHN Limited is purchasing a property at Gul Avenue for S$13 million as part of its plan to expand its logistics services business, the real estate management services group announced late on Monday night. This comes after JTC granted in-principle approval for the deal on Nov 25.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/lhn-to-acquire-gul-avenue-property-for-s13m

Nordic Group Q3 profit down 12% to S$2.9m
Precision engineering and systems integration solutions provider, Nordic Group, on Monday night posted a 12 per cent fall in third-quarter net profit to S$2.9 million, from S$3.3 million a year ago. This translated to earnings per share of 0.7 Singapore cent for the three months ended Sept 30, versus an earnings per share of 0.8 Singapore cent in the preceding year.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/nordic-group-q3-profit-down-12-to-s29m