Singapore private residential property market encouraging

Yeoh with a model of the Village At Pasir Panjang.

 

SELANGOR Dredging Bhd (SDB) sees Singapore’s private residential property market as still encouraging despite a cut in the republic’s growth forecast.

Its communications and corporate affairs manager, Yeoh Guan Jin, says private residential properties are still being sought after in the city state by Singaporeans and foreign buyers.

He says although the republic might be experiencing a slowdown due to the economic uncertainties in the eurozone and the United States, Singapore will be able to weather the situation.

“Mind you, there are still many wealthy Singaporeans and foreigners with Singapore permanent residents status looking for private residential properties here,” says Yeoh at a sales gallery showcasing SDB’s latest freehold residential project in Singapore, Village At Pasir Panjang.

Yeoh says the company is optimistic that the new project will receive positive response, similar to its completed and on-going project in the republic.

He says as Singapore continues to welcome and attract affluent people and expatriates from all over the world, demand for private residential properties here will remain good.

Yeoh adds Singapore’s close proximity with Malaysia is an added advantage for the company to attract Malaysians looking to invest in properties overseas.

“Our proven track record in the Klang Valley area and Singapore’s high transparency level will attract affluent Malaysians as well as foreigners to our project,” he says.

Yeoh says the company is attracted to launch a project in the western district of Singapore due to the availability of the land for redevelopment purposes.

He says SDB will continue to look for new sites from time to time for future development in other parts of Singapore as there are many land parcels available for redevelopment in the republic.

Village At Pasir Panjang, located at Pasir Panjang Road on 0.99ha, comprises nine five-storey blocks with attic and a basement car park.

The U-shaped development consists of 148 units of two, three and four-bedroom apartments with built-up area of 818 sq ft-2,303 sq ft and the price starts from S$1.4mil or S$1,650-S$1,660 per sq ft.

Works on the project with gross development value (GDV) of S$260mil will start next year with expected completion in the fourth quarter of 2016.

“We want to bring back the kampung atmosphere in our latest project; hence the name Village and also to reflect Pasir Panjang’s past which was once a kampung area,” says Yeoh.

He explains the architectural façade of the residences and the clubhouse draw references from the abstracted and interpreted “black and white” houses of the 1950s.

Yeoh says that apart from catering for owners-occupiers looking for properties in the western district of Singapore, those buying as an investment could expect to fetch good rental.

He says a two-bedroom apartment in the Pasir Panjang area fetches between S$3,000 and S$4,500 per month, while the monthly rental for a three-bedroom ranges from S$5,500 to S$6,500.

“The rental for a four-bedroom unit starts from S$7,000 and above, and I personally feel it is good investment for Malaysians,” says Yeoh.

SDB’s project in Singapore, the 22 units of low-rise condominiums called Jia at Wilkie Road with GDV of S$55mil was completed in December 2010.

It is currently developing the high-rise condominium project – Gilstead Two at Gilstead Road – consisting of 110 units with GDV of S$200mil.

The project is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2014.

Other projects are Residences at Balestier Road in district 12 – the 18-storey apartment block consists of 104 apartment units and 10 retail shops and offices with GDV of S$102mil and is slotted for completion in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Hijauan On Cavenagh, located on Cavenagh Road in Singapore’s prestigious District 9, is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2015.

Hijauan is within walking distance from Orchard Road and a tree-lined passageway behind the Istana and adjacent to 25,000 sq ft of lush state land.

The Istana is the official residence and working office for both the president and prime minister.

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Singapore job growth high, unemployment low, vacancies rise despite more layoffs

Singapore job growth high, unemployment low, vacancies rise despite more layoffs

Job growth remains high despite more layoffs

SINGAPORE: Employment growth stayed high, even though layoffs rose in the third quarter, said the Manpower Ministry PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN 

Job openings increased, bucking the declines in the preceding two quarters. The seasonally adjusted vacancies rose by 13 per cent over the quarter to 51,500 in September this year. For every 100 job seekers, there were now 125 job openings, up from 91 in June and 105 in March this year.

But layoffs rose after declining in the preceding two quarters. This was one of the few higher quarterly redundancy figures reported in post-recessionary periods, but they remained substantially below recessionary highs.

The labour market in the city-state remained tight supported by domestic-oriented activities and tightening of foreign manpower controls, according to a report released by the Manpower Ministry’s research and statistics department.

The report entitled, Labour Market, Third Quarter 2012, said that employment growth remained high, while unemployment stayed low.

“Although layoffs rose in the third quarter, they remained substantially below recessionary highs,” it said.

It said job openings increased, resulting in a rise in the ratio of vacancies to job seekers.

The report said total employment grew 26,200 in the third quarter this year, moderating from an increase of 31,900 a year earlier and 31,700 in the second quarter.

For the first nine months this year, employment grew 85,100 from 85,000 a year earlier, it said.

It said the growth in employment in services slowed to 12,700 in the third quarter from 21,200 in the corresponding period last year, while in manufacturing it was down from 3,900 to 3,700. Boosted by public infrastructure projects, construction continued to register high employment increase of 9,700, up from 6,700 a year earlier, it said.

The report said unemployment rates remained low, reflecting high manpower demand amid the tightening of foreign manpower controls.

The seasonally-adjusted overall unemployment rate dipped to 1.9% in September from 2% in the year-ago quarter, while the unemployment rates for residents and Singapore citizens were unchanged at 2.8% and 3% respectively.

Layoffs rose after declining in the preceding two quarters. This was one of the few higher quarterly redundancy figures reported in post-recessionary periods, but they remained substantially below recessionary highs. — Bernama

Labour Market, 3rd Quarter 2012

Unemployment Remained Low While Job Vacancies Increased

1. The labour market remained tight supported by domestic-oriented activities and tightening in foreign manpower controls. Employment growth stayed high, while unemployment remained low. Although layoffs rose in the third quarter, they remained substantially below recessionary highs. Meanwhile, job openings increased, resulting in a rise in job vacancies to job seekers ratio. These are the key findings from the “Labour Market, Third Quarter 2012” report released by the Ministry of Manpower’s Research and Statistics Department.
   
   Main Findings 
2. Total employment grew by 26,200 in the third quarter of 2012, moderating from the growth of 31,900 in the same period last year and 31,700 in the second quarter of 2012. In the first nine months of 2012, total employment grew by 85,100, similar to the increase of 85,000 in the corresponding period last year.
3. The growth in employment in services slowed from 21,200 in the third quarter of 2011 to 12,700 in the third quarter of 2012 and manufacturing from 3,900 to 3,700. Boosted by public infrastructure projects, construction continued to register high employment increase of 9,700, up from 6,700 in the same quarter last year.
4. Unemployment rates remained low, reflecting high manpower demand amid the tightening in foreign manpower controls. The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate dipped marginally to 1.9% in September 2012 from 2.0% a quarter ago, while the unemployment rates for residents and Singapore citizens were unchanged at 2.8% and 3.0% respectively.
5. Resident long-term unemployment rate declined slightly over the year from 0.5% in September 2011 to 0.4% in September 2012, returning to its low (for September periods) in 2007 before the 2009 recession.
6. Layoffs rose after declining in the preceding two quarters. This was one of the few higher quarterly redundancy figures reported in post-recessionary periods, but they remained substantially below recessionary highs.
7. Job openings increased, bucking the declines in the preceding two quarters. The seasonally adjusted vacancies rose by 13% over the quarter to 51,500 in September 2012. With the rise in job vacancies, the seasonally adjusted ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons rose over the quarter in September 2012, after declining in the two preceding quarters. For every 100 job seekers, there were now 125 job openings, up from 91 in June and 105 in March 2012.
   
   For More Information
8. The report is available for online on MOM's Statistics and Publications webpage. 

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 The country that tops the IQ charts isn't the US or in Europe, it's Singapore

Before I get to the dreary budget debates in Washington, here’s a bright spot of good news: We’re getting smarter.

Damon Winter/The New York Times

Nicholas D. Kristo

My readers are all above average. But if I ever had average readers, they would still be brilliant compared with Americans of a century ago. 

The average American in the year 1900 had an I.Q. that by today’s standards would measure about 67. Since the traditional definition of mental retardation was an I.Q. of less than 70, that leads to the remarkable conclusion that a majority of Americans a century ago would count today as intellectually disabled. 

The trend of rising intelligence is known as the “Flynn Effect,” named for James R. Flynn, the New Zealand scholar who pioneered this area of research. Countless other scholars worldwide have replicated his findings, and it is now accepted science — although there is still disagreement about its causes and significance. 

The average American I.Q. has been rising steadily by 3 points a decade. Spaniards gained 19 points over 28 years, and the Dutch 20 points over 30 years. Kenyan children gained nearly 1 point a year. 

Those figures come from a new book by Flynn from Cambridge University Press called “Are We Getting Smarter?” It’s an uplifting tale, a reminder that human capacity is on the upswing. The implication is that there are potential Einsteins now working as subsistence farmers in Congo or dropping out of high school in Mississippi who, with help, could become actual Einsteins. 

The Flynn Effect should upend some of the smugness among those who have historically done well in global I.Q. standings. For example, while there is still a race gap, black Americans are catching up — and now do significantly better than white Americans of the “greatest generation” did in the 1940s. 

Another problem for racists: The country that tops the I.Q. charts isn’t America or in Europe. It’s Singapore, at 108. (The reason may have to do with Singapore’s Confucian respect for learning and its outstanding school system.) 

None of this means that people today are born smarter. While I.Q. measures something to do with mental acuity, it’s a rubbery and imperfect metric. It’s heavily shaped by environment — potential is diminished when children suffer from parasites or lead in air pollution. As a result, the removal of lead from gasoline may have added 6 points to the I.Q. of American children, according to Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and epidemiologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. 

Flynn argues that I.Q. is rising because in industrialized societies we give our brains a constant mental workout that builds up what we might call our brain sinews. 

“The brains of the best and most experienced London taxi drivers,” Flynn writes, citing a 2000 study, have “enlarged hippocampi, which is the brain area used for navigating three-dimensional space.” In a similar way, he argues, modern life gives our brains greater exercise than when we were mostly living on isolated farms. 

It’s not that our ancestors were dummies, and I confess to doubts about the Flynn Effect when I contemplate the slide from Shakespeare to “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Likewise, politics does not seem to benefit: One academic study found a deterioration in the caliber of discussions of economics in presidential debates from 1960 to 2008. 

But Flynn argues that modern TV shows and other entertainment can be cognitively demanding, and video games like those of the Grand Theft Auto series probably require more thought than solitaire. (No, don’t call the police. My teenage kids are not holding me hostage and forcing me to write this paragraph.) 

Back to the debates in Washington. To me, the lesson from this research is the vast amount of human potential globally that is available if we can nurture and stimulate kids who now get neglected. 

One challenge is to preserve foreign aid. Some 61 million children around the world still don’t attend even primary school, and President Obama in his 2008 campaign was right to propose a global education fund, in part as an alternative to extremist religious schools. I’m hoping the idea doesn’t get dropped forever. 

The even greater challenge is nation-building at home at a time when funding for schools is being slashed, about 7,000 high school students drop out every day, and there are long waits to get into early-childhood-enrichment programs like Head Start. Literacy programs can help break cycles of poverty and unleash America’s potential — and a single F-35 fighter could pay for more than four years of the Reading Is Fundamental program in the entire United States. 

As we make hard budget choices, let’s remember that the essential fact of the world is that talent is universal and opportunity is not. I hope we’re finally smart enough to try to remedy that.

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Singapore job growth high, unemployment low, vacancies rise despite more layoffs