CNA: Total wages in Singapore rise by 7-year high of 5.9% in 2007

SINGAPORE: Despite the fact that Singapore’s economy grew by a lower 7.7 per cent in 2007 compared to 8.2 per cent in 2006, wages grew strongly last year.
Total wages – basic wages plus bonuses – of private sector employees rose by a seven-year high of 5.9 per cent in 2007, higher than the increase of [...]

CNA: Cooling global economy makes Chinese exporters hedge their bets

SHANGHAI : Feeling the chill from the US sub-prime crisis, Chinese exporters such as Zhejiang New Oriental Fastener Company no longer take it for granted that their customers will pay them.
The company, whose 600 staff produce screws, nuts and bolts by the millions, has found that in an age of uncertainty it has to rethink [...]

Straits Times: Geylang Bahru flats get $32m facelift

TEN blocks of flats in Geylang Bahru have been given a new lease of life with the completion of upgrading works that included covered linkways and fitness stations, among other things.
Elderly residents who live in the 30-year-old Geylang Bahru Ville and Geylang Bahru Riverpoint estates also welcomed new sitting toilets and lifts that stop on [...]

Straits Times: Buyers snap up 195 units in Bishan condo

LEASEHOLD PROJECT (CLOVER BY THE PARK)
IN A welcome departure from the generally quiet market so far this year, the latest property launch – of the 616-unit Clover by the Park – has generated sales of 195 units so far.
Sim Lian Group, which is developing the condo, said that as at 8pm last night, it had [...]

Business Times: Raising service quality at Housing Board the IT way

THE Housing Development Board (HDB), which is responsible for providing homes for more than 80 per cent of the population in Singapore, needs to be able to store a huge amount of data and have constant access to this data. To address this challenge, HDB decided to look for an information management solution that would [...]

Business Times: Is the sub-prime crisis really over?

ONE of the most striking things about the past couple of months is how quickly the phrases ’sub-prime crisis’ and ‘credit crunch’ have disappeared from mainstream consciousness, both replaced by ‘inflationary worries’ and ‘oil crisis’ as the stock market’s main bogeymen.
In its ‘Third Quarter Strategy Outlook’ dated June 27 for instance, BCA Research said the [...]

Business Times: Missing Web ads biggest screw-up: Gates

(REDMOND) Microsoft Corp’s biggest ’screw- ups’ happen when the software maker fails to predict changes in the technology industry, such as the growth of Internet advertising, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said.
‘In software, you’ve got to anticipate the turns in the road,’ Mr Gates said. ‘We missed the search and advertising thing – the way that’s [...]

Straits Times: ‘Mickey Mouse homes’ snapped up near Little India

Buyers like these small apartments as they are close to the city and they seem more affordable
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent
The area near Farrer Park MRT station in Little India – once largely shunned by developers – has become the playground of smaller property players.
These little-known companies have bought land there and launched projects that [...]

Sunday Times: Is this S’pore’s most expensive house?

Worth at least $120 million The size of 92 five-room HDB flats Owned by a prince
By Tan Dawn Wei
The mansion mired in a legal battle between the Brunei Sultan’s brother and the country’s national investment agency could well be Singapore’s most expensive residence.
Owned by Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the younger brother of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, [...]

CNA: S$2.8m Active Ageing Centre to be built at Ang Mo Kio

SINGAPORE: Residents of Ang Mo Kio and Yio Chu Kang can soon look forward to a multi-million-dollar Active Ageing Centre aimed at promoting elderly well-being.
Built at a cost of some S$2.8 million, the centre will be the first of its kind in the district.
To be completed by the end of next year, the centre will [...]

Straits Times Forum: What determines market value of property

I REFER to Mr Patrick Tan’s letter, ‘Valuation the culprit in artificially inflating HDB flat prices’ (June 17).
The market value of a property is the estimated amount for which it should exchange on the date of valuation between a willing buyer and a willing seller in an arm’s-length transaction after proper marketing where both parties [...]

Straits Times: Domain names freed up: Critics fear World Wild Web

Domain names freed up: Critics fear World Wild Web
Internet body gives the nod for a variety of Web address suffixes
PARIS – MOVE over .com and .org. Get ready for a nearly infinite variety of new Web addresses ending in words like .perfume, .sports and .paris.
The Internet’s main oversight agency has approved the most sweeping changes [...]

Straits Times: Syariah-approved properties get boost

$137M SAUDI-S’PORE FUND
Syariah-approved properties get boost
A NEW Saudi-Singapore joint venture is looking to invest up to US$100 million (S$136.7 million) in syariah-complaint real estate in the Republic and in the region.
AEP Investment Management, formed by Saudi Arabia-based private investment firm Al Rajhi Group and Singapore’s AsiaEquity Partners, has already raised US$100 million and is looking [...]

Business Times: CCT expects financing to get more expensive

CAPITACOMMERCIAL Trust (CCT) expects financing to become more expensive after it raised US$1.2 billion to fund an acquisition of an office tower this year.
The manager of about three million square feet of commercial space in Singapore agreed in March to buy a 23-storey office block known as 1 George Street in Singapore’s business district for [...]

Business Times: SPH’s Paragon valued at $2b

SPH’s Paragon valued at $2b
By NISHA RAMCHANDANI
SINGAPORE Press Holdings’ Paragon shopping centre in Orchard Road is now worth $2 billion, about 10 per cent up from its valuation of $1.82 billion a year ago.
‘Rents are firm, increasing as of last June. Occupancy is at 100 per cent,’ said Lydia Sng, executive director of valuations [...]