Straits Times Forum: After rule change, consider plight of estate agents

THE announcement on removal of estate agent’s commission has left agents to the mercy of the public. It encouraged the public to view agents’ services as a commodity to be bargained over and not see agents as human beings performing an uncertain job with no fixed pay, no CPF and no Medisave.
The statement has resulted [...]

Straits Times: Global gloom

RECESSION REPORT
Economic chill spreads in Europe, while US housing woes deepen
BRUSSELS: The German, French and other Eurozone economies braked sharply in the second quarter, shrinking for the first time in more than a decade.
The data, coupled with a report from the United States that home foreclosure notices jumped by half last month, creates a worrying [...]

Straits Times: 5 licences may go to foreign law firms

Final number to be handed out depends on quality of applicants
By Selina Lum & K.C. Vijayan
THE Law Ministry yesterday started accepting applications from foreign law firms to practise Singapore law using Singapore-qualified lawyers.
The ministry expects to give out about five licences, each valid for five years, although the final number will depend on the [...]

Business Times: Weak £, absence of tax credits pull down CDL Q2 profit 15.1%

Group posts higher profit from property development, rental properties in Q2, H1
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
AMID a quieter property market, City Developments (CDL) yesterday posted a higher profit from property development and rental properties in second quarter and first half.
But the translation of earnings by its London-listed Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C) at a weakening exchange [...]

Business Times: Frasers opens US$135m Beijing service residence

FRASERS Hospitality, a unit of Frasers Centrepoint, the property arm of listed conglomerate F&N, yesterday officially opened a 23-storey service residence in Beijing, the sixth of up to 20 it hopes to open in China. The company owns or operates service residences in more than 14 cities in Asia and Europe and is targeting 8,500 [...]

Straits Times: Rising building costs stall Mitsui’s decision on plant

JAPAN’S Mitsui Chemicals is considering sinking a few hundred million dollars into a new major manufacturing plant in Singapore, but surging construction costs are complicating the decision.
The company, which was presented yesterday with Singapore’s top corporate accolade, said a 20 to 30 per cent hike in costs is weighing heavily on its final decision, which [...]

Business Times: One man’s panic is another’s bargain…

CDL chief points to some good buys as panic-sellers offload, but he’s not alarmed
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
(SINGAPORE) City Developments Ltd (CDL) executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng yesterday acknowledged that there have been some cases of high-end property buyers resorting to panic-selling in the secondary market. These are people who’d bought their units during the [...]

Straits Times: CDL’s new debt issue to tap Islamic sources

CITY Developments (CDL) is planning to raise funds through what will be Singapore’s first Islamic unsecured financing arrangement.
The developer said it will issue a S$1 billion Islamic multi-currency medium-term notes programme. This will allow CDL to tap new markets and investors, including Islamic sources, for possible acquisitions in a slowing economy.
‘It is to keep ourselves [...]

Business Times: Most firms in the black, but it’s paler now

Many saw profits dip in H1; outlook not bright
By EMILYN YAP
(SINGAPORE) Singapore-listed companies had mixed financial fortunes in the first half of the year, and market watchers warn of tougher economic conditions ahead which could shave earnings for some sectors.
Of the 441 listed firms which had reported their results as of yesterday evening, 376, [...]

Business Times Forum: URA index reflects overall price trends

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
WE refer to the letter ‘URA private home index an anomaly’ by Kenneth Pang Cheow Jow (BT, Aug 5).
The writer asked why URA’s Private Residential Property Price Index (PPI) for second-quarter 2008 was still lower than its 1996 peak, when private residential property prices in Singapore were anecdotally at, or near, [...]

Business Times: Property firms report weak set of Q2 numbers

Most developers see their business hit in 3rd and 4th quarters
By UMA SHANKARI
HIT by fewer home sales, lower revaluation gains from investment properties, drops in divestment gains – and even the stronger Singapore dollar – property companies largely reported weak results for the second quarter.
And the future doesn’t look rosy either.
Most listed developers have [...]

Business Times: China a key contributor to Keppel Land’s profits

Its main focus there is on building premier residential properties and townships
By CHUANG PECK MING
OVERSEAS operations account for about half of Keppel Land’s profits – and China is the main contributor.
The property arm of Singapore-based Keppel Group, Keppel Land, first ventured into China in the 1990s as part of its regionalisation drive which also [...]