Author: My Exclusive Condo

According to a recent study, the private apartment prices are slipping. They had a 0.3% dip between March and April. This came after prices rose a tiny bit for the past month. Analysts believe that this is a small issue and nothing too much.

Despite the minor problem, the job market and economy in Singapore are still very healthy, and that’s a very important thing to keep in mind. The en bloc sale market is active, and the real estate market is very active. So that’s the thing that matters the most, as it delivers some great opportunities to the entire market.

The price drop was also driven by the fall in prices for the apartments in the central region. However, the small units did not see any price change in March. That’s a very important thing to keep in mind, but in the end that’s what matters, how the market grows and expands in ways you would not imagine.

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Singapore is a leader when it comes to liquefied natural gas. And the interesting thing about it is that it does have all the necessary benefits and features required for a very important hub. Of course, it’s not the primary leader now, but it can become until 2023, which is still a huge lead. According to the Deloitte oil and gas regional leader, Singapore has all the criteria needed to become a hub right now.

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The Tan Yeok Nee House is widely known for being a national monument. And while it did have an owner for a while, right now it’s back on sale. According to PropNex Realty, it seems that the indicative price is around $93 million. You have to realize that the establishment has 2 stories, and it’s the last traditional Chinese courtyard house that you can find in Singapore, so it’s an extremely special property.

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According to the latest statements coming from the National Wages Council, more workers that are currently earning low wager will begin to enjoy bigger salaries starting with 2018. The council strongly recommended companies to start sharing their growths in the productivity and economic sectors with their workers. Besides this, the NWC also increased the minimum wage threshold from $1200 to $1300, recommending built-in increments with values from $50 to $70, at least. In comparison with 2017, 24,000 additional workers will be included in this scheme and will enjoy bigger paychecks soon. Overall, a total number of 150,000 workers will have bigger salaries starting with this year.

Francis Tan, an economist at United Overseas Bank, backs up the initiative of NWC, saying that an additional $50 increase to a worker that earns $1000, for example, is a good initiative. This means a 5% increase in his salary, which means that the increase will exceed inflation’s percentage, expected to be anywhere between 0.5 and 1% in 2018. According to Mr. Tan, the proposed raise is just right, as it is not too high to affect the profit margin of companies and not too low, risking to fall below last year’s raise.

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Here is one more addition to the list of collective sales with a price of two hundreds of forty millions; The Lakeside Apartments. This is a total area of 134,176 square feet. The tender for this property was released recently on Tuesday when around 80% owners of this site agreed for sale. It means that each owner of this development of 120 unit can earn around 2 million  dollars.

This site is located within the Jurong district along Yuan Ching Road and is zoned as a residential property with a plot ratio of 2.1. It has two residential blocks of 15 levelsand out of 99 years lease of this property, 58 years are left ahead. Developers also need to deal with the premium of slightly less than fifty-six million dollars for both the land use intensification as well as to top-up the lease to 99-years.

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According to the statistics by Ministry of Manpower (MOM) conducted on 13th of June, 2,320 workers were fired in the first six months of the year. The number of unemployment (4000) has decreased from the same quarter of the last year. The initial estimation made by MOM was of 2,100 and it is higher than this.

The situation was not the same in previous years. Earlier in March 2013, the retrenchment figure was 2,120. From 2015-2017, it has been 5,000. This year in March, the rate of long-term unemployment was 0.7 percent. It has come down from last year (0.8%). This figure includes the share of those residents who are not employed for minimum 25 weeks. Read more

As specialists compared the numbers, it appears that Singapore’s economic expansion will continue this year as well, but at a slower pace this time. A report that was recently released by Oxford Economics, and backed up by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, predicts an economic growth of 3% for 2018, in comparison with the 3.6% growth that was recorded last year. This slight decrease happens due to the fact that the level of trade has decreased a little as well, together with the manufacturing demand. It is worth mentioning that this is not something that is specific to Singapore alone, as the entire south-east region of Asia is targeted by such changes. Thus, as exports slow down, the economic growth of the countries in this area will be supported by the demand generated by local markets.

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Due to skyrocketing inflation in the Asia-Pacific area, actions have been taken to calm the market down.  A study showed that while mortgages had increased across the region, it has slowed down significantly from 6 months ago. This has allowed for lower interest rates which have improved the mortgage financing sector.

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New Zealand is already facing a crisis concerning the affordability of houses on the island, so the government is determined to do something about it by adopting a set of measures. These measures will also keep foreigners from getting their hands on residential properties on the island, which will keep speculations at bay. This triggered an interesting phenomenon on the island, as investors coming from foreign countries are rushing to grab their desired homes while they still can. Soon, the new rules will become active and oversea home purchases will be severely limited.

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According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, expansions and the high-demand for development in the region will ramp up financing and capital in Singapore. They have also pointed out that while more companies start more expansions, both globally and regionally, capital raising will increase the diversity of Asian assets.

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It is already known that the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme or SERS is active and started changing the face of Singapore by revamping old residential units. Recently, it was announced that blocks with numbers starting with 81 and up to 83, inclusively, located on the MacPherson Lane, will enjoy the Sers transformation.

For the residents of these three blocks, the news is more than welcome, as it means that they will soon have the chance to move into brand new flats. Edward Chong, for example, who is a 48-years-old machine operator and just moved in a 3-room apartment in block 81 six months ago, is excited by this opportunity. He said that the flat, obtained with the support of the Housing Board, was rather old at the moment of purchase, so he and his family are happy to know that they will receive a newly renovated apartment in a modern building. With 49 years still left on the apartment’s lease, the compensation provided by Sers came at the right time, giving Mr. Chong the chance to fully renovate the unit without getting a dime out of his pocket.
It is worth mentioning that this Sers project is the first one since 2016, a year when the month of August brought it the last initiative of this kind. But Sers is far from being over, the blocks on MacPherson Lane earning their position within the project due to their considerable ages. Thus, there will be 313 apartments included in the renovation plan, all of them having approximately 50-years-old. Besides this, the two eateries and 27 shops that are part of these blocks will go through the same transformation. The last time Sers unrolled, 8 whole blocks were revamped and made to fit in the latest standards, which were located on the West Coast Road.

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Buangkok is a neighbourhood situated in the north east part of the island. Its boundaries are fairly nebulous, but in general terms it covers parts of Sengkang and Hougang, specifically Compassvale and Trafalgar. Its name comes from the Chinese word for “united” and was given to the area by the Chinese who settled in the area.

History

Those Chinese farmers were the first people to really settle in the area now known as Buangkok. In the early part of the twentieth century, they started to move onto the land that was at the time largely made up of rubber plantations, and in fact the land was jointly owned by the state and the Singapore Rubber Plantation Ltd.  Over the proceeding decades the area became a thriving neighbourhood made up of many different villages and kampongs. The Buangkok of today started to take shape in the last few years of the twentieth century as developers moved in, removing many of the original villages. Development continued over the years until by 2009 all but one of the kampongs had been cleared.

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Kim Keat Beacon, located in Toa Payoh, is a residential unit that got a lot of attention lately, as soon as it was announced that it is going to be transformed into a Built-To-Order project. With a capacity of 542 units, all of them being flats with three and four rooms, ideal for families, this development attracted no less than 2,400 applicants. The Housing Board is in charge of the process while implementing new ways that will support young families to get a house faster. Overall, there were 3,970 units offered for sale this May, with a total number of applicants reaching 7,603.

But, in spite of the apparently good numbers, the key executive officer of ERA Realty, Mr. Eugene Lim, said that the number of applications was rather low in comparison with the sales launched in the recent past, which can be closely connected to the somewhat inconvenient locations of the units were provided. Concerning the popularity of Kim Keat Beacon, he said that it was expected from homebuyers to swarm in, as Toa Payoh was always among the most preferred residential areas. It provides a wide range of amenities and has a central location, allowing its residents to reach any destination in no time.

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Firms usually spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on employees’ hiring. This is because they want to find the perfect match. The perfect match who is able to perform the task for what they are hiring them for. It is costly but in the long run the firm face benefits from these employees who excel and thrive for success. Hiring expats used to be expensive because according to the firm logic these people were better trained, probably due to a greater exposure and knowledge learned.

Throughout the past year, hiring expatriates has become very flexible for the firm. By this what I mean is that they are cheaper to employ. The salaries have dropped dramatically. For example a fully skilled expat manger was to receive $235545 if it was 2016 but no happens to receive $223095. The reason as to why the worth of expatriates was in decline was due to two factors. One was that they belonged to prestigious countries like Europe and US but now p pole are being employed from all over the globe, even the third world countries. Secondly, they are now being treated just like other Singaporeans. This suggests that their salaries too have to be altered if they are now the equals.

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