DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 5 January 2016

Singapore Real Estate

Private home prices in Q4 register smallest drop in more than two years
Private home prices registered the smallest quarterly decline in more than two years in the fourth quarter of 2015, which some consultants see as a sign of a future soft-landing and another justification for the government to keep the cooling measures in place for now.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/private-home-prices-in-q4-register-smallest-drop-in-morethan-two-years
http://www.todayonline.com/private-residential-property-index-fell-07-points-q4-ura

HDB resale prices inch up 0.2% in Q4
After nine months of decline, public housing resale prices in Singapore rose 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015 over the third quarter, although it remains to be seen if this uptick is sustainable. The latest data was according to flash estimates released by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) on Monday. It brings the decline in resale flat prices for the whole of 2015 to 1.5 per cent.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/hdb-resale-prices-inch-up-02-in-q4
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/hdb-resale-prices-stabilising-private-home-values-fallfurther?login=true
http://www.todayonline.com/business/hdb-resale-price-index-02-q4-2015

JTC Corp building ‘next-gen’ logistics hub
Industrial landlord JTC Corporation is building a next-generation facility as part of its efforts to boost innovation and efficiency within the logistics industry, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday. The multi-tenanted JTC Logistics Hub @ Gul, which will be the first of its kind, will integrate a multi-storey inland container depot, warehouses and a heavy vehicle park. It is slated to be completed in 2019.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/jtc-corp-building-next-gen-logistics-hub

Companies’ Brief

Yoma gets long-awaited lease extension for landmark hotel project
The long wait for Yoma Strategic Holdings is over – the firm has secured the lease extension until 2048 for its landmark hotel project at the former headquarters of the Myanmar Railway Company. The group said on Monday that it has signed a framework agreement with Myanmar’s Ministry of Rail Transport to extend the master lease for the site for an initial period of 50 years from January 1998. For the smaller plot of land measuring 0.5 acres, however, the additional appro-val of the Myanmar Investment Commission will be required.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/yoma-gets-long-awaited-lease-extension-forlandmark-hotel-project

GLP
The provider of logistics facilities has signed leases totalling 87,000 sq m with three industry leaders in China. GLP said that the leases would strengthen its collaboration with two key customers – e-commerce firm JD.com and Best Logistics, a third-party logistics provider in China.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/company-briefs-deskera-holdings

Keppel Corp builds ‘new muscles’ amid headwinds
Keppel Corporation’s chief executive officer Loh Chin Hua in his year-end staff address played up a multibusiness strategy and diversification beyond “selling homes and rigs” as the key to weather industry headwinds. “Overall higher contributions from Property and Infrastructure in the past year have helped cushioned the impact of a considerable fall in net profit from Offshore & Marine,” Mr Loh said, summing up the performances of the group’s business segments.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/keppel-corp-builds-new-muscles-amid-headwinds

Views, Reviews & Forum

Keep up effort to make old towns new
The ageing of public housing is rightly among the key issues that National Development Minister Lawrence Wong aims to address going forward. This will include the improvement of Housing Board towns built in the 1970s and 80s, like Toa Payoh and Bedok, where the 99-year leases of flats will reach the halfway mark over the next 10 years or so.
http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/keep-up-effort-to-make-old-towns-new

Global Economy & Global Real Estate

Best that property investors in Asia can hope for is a soft landing
Real estate in Singapore just finished a second ho-hum year, with home prices down 3.7 per cent from 2014. But investors only need to look at the gravity-defying markets to their north and south – Hong Kong and Sydney – to better appreciate the risk that they may have been spared. At least until now.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/best-that-property-investors-in-asia-can-hope-for-is-a-softlanding

GIC forms JV targeting US$1.4b student housing portfolio
GIC on Monday said that it plans to, together with joint venture partners, buy a student housing portfolio in the United States that is worth about US$1.4 billion. GIC, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and The Scion Group LLC said that they have formed a student housing joint venture entity, Scion Student Communities LP.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/gic-forms-jv-targeting-us14b-student-housingportfolio
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/gic-in-joint-venture-to-buy-us-student-housing-firm-for-2b

New World Development said to be making 2nd bid to take China unit private
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/new-world-development-said-to-be-making-2ndbid-to-take-china-unit-private

Sydney home prices record worst quarter in 4 years
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/sydney-home-prices-record-worst-quarter-in-4-years

China wants migrant workers to buy vacant homes
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/china-wants-migrant-workers-to-buy-vacant-homes