Singapore Property Review

By Yvonne Cheong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 17 October 2007 2323 hrs

SINGAPORE : Economists at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) are forecasting that 135,000 jobs will be created next year.

That is less than the estimated 200,000 for this year but it will still be the fourth straight year that jobs growth has come in above 100,000.

Overall, economists at NTU are optimistic about the economic outlook for 2008.

They expect job creation to remain strong with some 135,000 new positions. This will see the unemployment rate dropping to 2%, down from 2.3% currently.

Wage increases are forecast to go up a lower 5.1%, compared to 8.1% this year.

Economists said the flexibility of Singapore’s foreign worker policy will keep a lid on wage pressures.

Said NTU’s Assistant Professor Randolph Tan: “This huge employment increase that we’ve seen in the last 2 or 3 years will have spillover effect over the coming years. The second factor is productivity increases. We expect to see fairly good productivity improvements over the coming quarters.”

“And they are already beginning to show. There has been an improvement in productivity levels. These two factors will mean that while there are a lot more job openings. These jobs openings can basically be filled ultimately.”

Meanwhile, higher inflation is also expected to persist into the first half of 2008.

“Inflation will go up for another half year or so mainly because of the one-time effect of the GST rate increase. It (Inflation) will sort of taper off in the second half of next year, but we don’t really see it coming down very much simply because when you have robust growth this year and next, cost pressures build up. Wages have been going up and eventually it’ll translate into a higher rate, so we still predict that inflation next year is going to be above 2 percent,” said NTU’s Assistant Professor Choy Keen Meng.

The overall economy is forecast to grow by 7.5% next year, with faster growth expected in manufacturing, transport and storage and information and communication sectors.

NTU economists are expecting the growth in construction and financial services sectors to be slightly slower next year, but they said the figures will still be healthy at 14% for construction and 11% for financial services. - CNA /ls

Source: CNA

He says Friday’s measure will inject some market reality

(SINGAPORE) Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday said the government will continue to monitor property market trends closely and take further action if necessary.

His remarks come shortly after Friday evening’s announcement on the scrapping of the deferred payment scheme for property purchases, which Mr Lee described yesterday as a step that will ‘help to dampen excessive speculation and help to inject some reality into the market’.

Full Article at BT…

 See PM Lee’s full speech here…

It will be the firm’s biggest single manufacturing investment

By CHEN HUIFEN

(SINGAPORE) Swiss drug giant Novartis Pharma will invest another US$700 million in Singapore - hot on the heels of a US$180 million plant it opened yesterday.

 The US$700 million is for a major plant to produce protein-based drugs, known also as biologics or biopharmaceuticals.

It will be close to the company’s existing plant that makes drugs from chemically-synthesised substances.

‘We have six facilities at the moment in biopharmaceutical operations - five in Europe and one in California,’ said Novartis head of global biopharmaceutical operations Thibaud Stoll. ‘This new one will expand our operations in Asia and also in biopharmaceuticals.’

Full Article at BT…

 See Mr Lim’s full speech…

Published October 27, 2007

Deferred payments scrapped in bid to cool property fever

Market players expect blip, not crash, to follow the exit of the buy-now-pay-later scheme

By ARTHUR SIM AND UMA SHANKARI

(SINGAPORE) In a surprise move yesterday, the government said that it was withdrawing the deferred payment scheme (DPS) for the sale of uncompleted private properties in a bid to discourage speculative buying and cool the property market.

Market players said that the move could unnerve some buyers in the short term - leading to a drop in demand. A crash, however, was unlikely as the recovery of the mid-tier and mass markets this year shows that there is strong underlying demand from non-speculators.

Developers will not be allowed to offer the DPS with immediate effect, but a developer that has already obtained approval to offer the scheme for a project may continue to do so.

The DPS allows buyers to buy a property by forking out only a 10 per cent or 20 per cent downpayment, with the rest due upon completion - sometimes as long as three years later.

The scheme was introduced at a time when the property market was lacklustre and the economy was in recession.

But with the property market now booming, critics have said that the scheme encourages speculation as some seek to resell their properties at a profit without immediately worrying about payments.

Announcing the scrapping of the DPS yesterday, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said that the scheme was no longer needed as the property market has recovered.

Full Article at BT…

See URA Press Release…

SINGAPORE - Singapore’s prime Orchard Road shopping belt will be spruced up in a makeover worth $40 million (US$27.6 million) to enhance its appeal to tourists, the government said on Monday.

 Under the makeover, the shopping belt will have improved road and pedestrian mall lighting to complement its tree-lined boulevard, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said in a statement.

Full Article at BT…

 See STB’s Media Release here…

October 29, 2007, 12.34 pm (Singapore time)

SINGAPORE - Singapore Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang on Monday played down risks the fast-growing city-state’s economy would overheat as inflation was expected to fall between the government’s forecast range of 1.5 to 2 per cent this year.

Mr Lim also said he was confident growth prospects would not be hurt by a slowdown in the global economy thanks to demand from within Asia.

‘The economy is growing very strongly. There are some supply constraints, and we are taking steps to relieve the supply constraints with regard to manpower and space. So we don’t see serious overheating problems,’ he said.

His comments came after some economists warned that the US$129 billion economy may overheat as strong wage and employment growth, as well as rising office and residential rents, have helped push inflation to a 12-year high.

Full Article at BT…

Singapore bosses most generous among more advanced economies in the region: poll

By CHUANG PECK MING

(SINGAPORE) Employers across the Asia-Pacific region are anticipating another good year as they budget for bigger pay hikes in the coming year.

And among the region’s more advanced economies, Singapore bosses are the most generous in making allocations for the larger payoffs in the coming year, according to a recent poll by Hong Kong-based HumanResource Business Solutions (HRBS).

‘Pay increase in 2008 is expected to be higher than in 2007 across Asia-Pacific, looking at both median and mean (average) figures,’ says HRBS’ managing partner Elaine Ng.

‘The average figures show all locations having more pay rise,’ she says. ‘The median figures show that most countries will have more pay rise.’

The trend reflects some employers playing catch-up and offering a much bigger raise than the median reference.

The HRBS poll gels with the findings of a compensation report released last week by the Hay Group, which sees real wages in the Asia-Pacific region climbing further next year.

According to Hay, which is a human resources consultancy, real pay hikes in the region - after adjusting for inflation - are projected to range from 3.3 to 5.6 per cent in 2008. Salaries in Singapore are tipped to rise by 3.8 per cent.

HBRS’ poll did not cover inflation. Bosses in Singapore, who gave an increment averaging 4.8 per cent this year, are ready to up it to 5.2 per cent in 2008, according to the poll covering 862 employers in all industries in 18 locations in the region.

‘Singapore’s economy is performing very well this year,’ notes HRBS’ Ms Ng. ‘The growth in labour force is 9.6 per cent in 2006 while job vacancies jumped 54 per cent in that year.’

But employers in Japan, the most developed and biggest economy in the region, indicated they are likely to keep salary hikes in 2008 to just around 3.3 per cent - virtually unchanged from the 3.2 per cent dished out in 2007.

Bosses in Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan are also tipped to be cautious, offering pay hikes hardly better than this year.

Australian employees are likely to see their pay inch up from 4.6 to 4.7 per cent next year, the New Zealanders from 4.2 to 4.3 per cent, and the Taiwanese from 4.8 to 4.9 per cent.

Employers in South Korea, who raised pay by an average 6.9 per cent in 2007, intend to increase pay by 7.4 per cent next year, the poll shows.

‘Singapore’s rival, Hong Kong, is expected to grant average pay increase of 4.6 per cent in 2008, from 4.2 per cent in 2007,’ Ms Ng says. ‘The median is expected to remain stable at 4.1 per cent in 2008 relative to 4.0 per cent in 2007.’

She notes that the Hong Kong economy is performing well, drawing more foreign direct investments than Singapore and benefiting from China’s booming economy.

China, which is pulling in the biggest chunk of foreign investments in the region, continues to face a shortage of talent that is likely to push remuneration up 9.2 per cent in 2008. This would come after an 8.3 per cent hike this year.

Pay is tipped to shoot up even higher in the other emerging giant economy - India. The poll shows employers there planning to offer a raise of 15.1 per cent in the coming year, up from 14.1 per cent in 2007.

Bosses in Vietnam, another rising star economy in the region, are also expected to give a hefty increase in pay next year, upping it from 9.4 per cent in 2007 to 11.2 per cent.

Source: Business Times

Asia’s fundamentals are strong, and S’pore’s links with China, India will offset US slowdown

By CHUANG PECK MING

(SINGAPORE) Singapore’s economy is likely to grow at ‘the higher end’ of the government’s forecast of 7-8 per cent this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a labour movement speech yesterday.

Painting an upbeat picture of the economy despite the threat of a recession in the United States, as the sub-prime mortgage crisis leads to an overdue correction in the stock markets, he said Singapore remains in a strong position.

‘The economy is doing well,’ Mr Lee said at the National Delegates Conference of the National Trades Union Congress. ‘I think we can achieve the higher end of the (forecast) range.’

Full article at BT…