Posts

Showing posts from July, 2010

Jim Rogers predicts a new recession in 2012

Image
Jim Rogers, the market sage, has warned the global economy is just two years away from another recession, but remains ill-prepared to cope with the after-effects. Mr Rogers, the respected currency trader and hedge fund pioneer, cautioned that when the downturn takes hold “the world is going to be in worse shape because the world has shot all its bullets.” Speaking in an interview with business television channel CNBC, the septuagenarian investor said that “since the beginning of time” there has been a recession every four-to-six years, and that’s mean another one is due around 2012. However, he said that due to the extraordinary measures already adopted by central banks and governments around the world, the arsenal of available tools to combat the next recession is somewhat lacking. With reference to Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, he said: “Is Mr Bernanke going to print more money than he already has? No, the world would run out of trees.” Meanwhile, Robert

HDB and Private resale prices reach new highs, again.

Image
Singapore, you are fabulous with these new high property prices (again)! Half-empty, most will probably struggle to pay off these huge loans for a long time to come. Half-full, we are now more or less a global metropolis competing with all the top dogs - Singapore (or rather her real estate prices) has certainly come a long way and truth be told we are really proud of what we have achieved. Anyway, as splashed all over the headlines during the weekend: Private prices has continued to go up, but at a more measured pace. Only 5.3 percent in this quarter! This has pushed the residential property price index to an all-time high as seen below: HDB meanwhile, has also continued to move upwards by 4.1% in the 2nd Quarter 2010 . Although resale transactions dipped 11% year on year (2nd Q 2009). The most eye-popping news however was that median Cash-Over-Valuation has made a vicious come back and increased to $30,000 ( how is it that this figure is so round and perfect? ). 96

Singapore's Consumer Prices Rise a Sixth Month on Transport, Housing Costs

Singapore’s consumer prices rose for a sixth month in June as an increase in car and electricity prices pushed transportation and housing costs higher. The consumer price index climbed 2.7 percent from a year earlier, Singapore’s Department of Statistics said in a statement today. That was less than the 3.5 percent median estimate of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Prices fell 1 percent from May, without adjusting for seasonal factors. Singapore expanded at a record pace in the first six months of 2010, putting the economy in contention for the world’s fastest-growing this year. Faster inflation this year may prompt the central bank to maintain a policy of allowing the currency to appreciate to contain prices at its next review in October. “You have to nip the inflation threat as quick as possible,” Geoff Howie, a senior vice president at MF Global Singapore Ltd., part of the world’s largest broker of exchange- traded futures and options, said before the report. “We

Every fourth migrant in Singapore an Indian: says a newsdaily

Indian nationals settling down in Singapore due to its friendly-environment, now account for about a quarter of the total 1.79 million foreigners and permanent residents' population, a newspaper reported Tuesday. According to a report published in The Straits Times the number of Indian nationals living in Singapore has doubled to 400,000 from 200,000 two years ago. It also reports the number of Indians setting up companies in Singapore has doubled from 1,500 in 2006 to 3,000 now, most of whom are doing businesses in the information technology, finance, trading and food and beverages sector. Tamil, which is the fourth official language in the city country after English, Chinese and Malay, is another magnet for Indian nationals from the Southern Indian states considering settlement in Singapore, Nikhilesh Gupta,president of the Bengali Association, Singapore told the newspaper. While top range professionals are moving into engineering, information technology and finance sec

GIC Says Risk of Shocks May Trigger World Recession `Sooner Than Expected'

Image
The global rebound is “fragile” and shocks could push the world toward another recession, according to Government of Singapore Investment Corp., manager of more than $100 billion of the nation’s foreign reserves. Risks to the global recovery have increased due to Europe’s debt turmoil, continued deleveraging in the U.S. and protectionist pressures, Tony Tan, deputy chairman of GIC, said in a speech in Singapore today. The fund is ranked the world’s sixth-largest state investment company by Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute in California. “The economic recovery, while real, is fragile and there is a risk that negative shocks could push the global economy towards a recession sooner than expected,” Tan said. “The strong rebound in global industrial production is peaking while monetary and fiscal policies, particularly in the larger emerging economies, are being normalized.” Policy makers in most developed economies have refrained from raising interest rates from record lows amid conce

IRAS set to launch new e-Stamping website

Starting July 27, 2010 businesses and individuals in Singapore can e-Stamp their documents and pay stamp duty at IRAS ’ new e-Stamping website . With the new e-Stamping website, any individual can stamp his document electronically, from his home or office without the hassle of physically moving his legal/commercial documents to the stamp duty counters. The new e-Stamping website is free of charge for anyone who wishes to stamp his document and pay stamp duty via the Internet.  All that one has to do is key in the details of the document on which stamp duty is payable and the system will automatically compute the amount of stamp duty he needs to pay. Once payment is made, he can print the “Certificate of Stamp Duty” immediately. The new e-Stamping website also allows registered users to view their past e-Stamping transactions or apply for stamp duty refund. Under the Stamp Duties Act, documents relating to property and shares must be stamped and these include lease, sale

URA releases 2 land parcels for sale at Eunos and Sengkang

Image
URA released 2 plots of land today at Jalan Eunos and Buangkok Drive/Sengkang Central. Both are meant for 99-year leasehold residential development. The Jalan Eunos land parcel has a site area of 441,320 sqft, with a gross floor area of 621,788 sqft and can house 525 housing units. It is under the confirmed list of of the Government Land Sales programme and well...sits close to the PIE. The Sengkang/Buangkok site has an area of 193,750 sqft, with a gross floor area of 592,306 sqft and can house approximately 495 housing units. It will not take a genius to figure out that while the site at Buangkok is only on the reserve list and not exactly available until someone triggers the sale by application - it is the better of the two sites. Sitting so close to Buangkok MRT, it will be hot - and we are pretty sure the bidding war for it will be fast and furious. It takes about 2-3minutes to cross the road and get to the station from its location (similar to The Quartz).

847 private homes sold in June 2010

Image
According to the latest figures from URA, out of the 1,010 units launched, only 847 private homes were sold in the past month. This is a 21% drop from last month’s already low sales of 1,078 apartments. April’s sales of 2,207 units were the highest so far, while total transactions for June is the lowest this year. Was it really due to the June school holidays and the World Cup? Could it be something else? Speculation aside, here are the most popular choices for June: •    The Minton at Lorong Ah Soo, with 173 units sold (median price $871 psf) •    La Brisa at Lor 28 Geylang, with 82 units sold (median price $960 psf) •    Waterfront Gold at Bedok Reservoir, with 77 units sold (median price $996 psf) Here are the more expensive units sold this month: •    Nassim Park Residences, sold at $4,120 psf •    The Ritz Carlton residences at Cairnhill Road, sold at $3,664 psf •    Orchard View, sold at $3,548 psf •    The Laurels, sold at $3,341 psf The most d

Changes to en bloc sale legislation effective today

The Land Titles (Strata) (Amendment) Act, enacted by Parliament on May 18, will take effect from today, July 15, the Ministry of Law said yesterday. The key provisions of the new Act include: Refinement of the Strata Titles Board's role to focus on mediation for en bloc sale applications. Imposition of a two-year restriction period, from the date of the initial failed en bloc attempt. The first retry requires approval from 50 per cent of the combined share value or number of owners. For the second and subsequent re-tries, approval from 80 per cent is needed. The automatic dissolution of any Sales Committee that has not received any signatories to its Collective Sales Agreement (CSA) within one year of the Committee's formation. For existing committees who have not collected any valid signatures for their CSA as of the date of commencement, the one-year period begins on the date of commencement of the new Act. Expansion of the disclosure requirements to stipulate that

Waterfront living more Indians are buying into it

FROM the plush sofas in the elegant living room of their Sentosa Cove bungalow, the Thakran family enjoys taking in the view beyond their patio and the plunge pool... the Singapore skyline, punctuated occasionally by tankers taking on their cargo at the Tanjong Pagar container terminals. The only intrusion to the calm, soothing sound of waves breaking gently on the shoreline, a hop, skip and a jump from where they sit in their 13,000 sq ft bungalow, is the occasional blare of a ship's horn. That view was one of the reasons Mr Ravi Thakran, his wife Anjali and their sons Ishaan and Soman moved to the exclusive gated community on Sentosa last year. The lifestyle was the other reason. "I was looking for something more peaceful. It just fit the bill fabulously," said Mrs Thakran. For Mr Thakran, who is LVMH's group president of South Asia, South-east Asia and the Middle East, his Sentosa Cove home is a sanctuary from his very busy schedule and gives him an oppor