News

The industrial production index for the previous month due today grew from a mere 9% in December.

Singaporeans are not tech-savvy enough compared to the Hong Kong market which registered a 14% growth.

However, those who used the public bus to commute to work declined from 25 percent to 19 percent.

A total of $21.77 billion worth of sales transactions were concluded during the second half of 2010.

The proportion of mainland Chinese buyers rose 3% in Q4 2010 from 20% a quarter ago.

The other big issue about oil, apart from the risk of inflation, is its potential impact on growth.

A weak European economy and the continuing political instability in Thailand pose challenges for the leisure property developer.

The January inflation reading has raised the underlying trajectory for DBS' inflation forecast, up from 3.2 percent.

Inflation forecast has been notched higher by 0.1% point due to the higher-than-expected January CPI print.

Pembroke sees its partnership with the airline and the transaction as a boost to their future financial condition.

Moody's revealed that cash flow from properties backing Singaporean Commercail Mortgage Backed Securitization has been strong. This has been an ongoing trend throughout 2010.   According to its new quarterly report -- which covers 4Q2010 and is entitled "Singaporean CMBS 4Q2010 Performance Review" -- actual debt service coverage ratios were 3x, while appraisers' loan-to-value ratios were in the 20-32% range. "For the office building in the CMBS transaction, both vacancy and rents were in line with Moody's stabilized assumptions," says Marie Lam, a Moody's VP/Senior Credit Officer and author of the report. "For shopping malls, the majority of the securitized retail space portfolio generated rents above our assumptions. Vacancy rates were lower than our stabilized assumptions," adds Lam. "The retail industry has benefited from a robust economy and a strong tourism industry." In addition, rents in securitized industrial buildings tracked closely with Moody's stabilized assumptions, although vacancy rates for some buildings have not improved after leases matured in 2010. Overall, the commercial real estate sector in CMBS transactions has benefited from the strength of Singapore's economy, which recorded 14.7 per cent GDP growth in 2010, making it one of the world's fastest growing economies.

Singapore consumer price index in January rose by 5.5 percent year on year. It is the highest in more than two years. The inflation rate was also higher than previous market estimates, which typically projected a rise of less than 5 percent. The department said the increase was mainly due to higher costs of transport, housing and food. The costs of transport increased by 18.4 percent due to higher prices of cars and oil. Housing cost rose 5.3 per cent while food prices rose 2.8 per cent. On a month-on-month basis, the consumer price index increased by 1.6 percent from December last year. However, the core inflation of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which excludes accommodation and private road transport costs, rose 2 percent year on year, following a 2.1 percent increase in the previous month. Inflation pressure has been high in Singapore recently. The CPI inflation for January was the highest since October 2008. The CPI inflation was 3.8 percent in November and 4.6 percent in December last year. The Ministry of Trade and Industry raised its inflation forecast last week for the year 2011 to 3-4 percent from the previous estimate of 2-3 percent. The ministry said inflation was expected to accelerate to 5-6 percent in the first months of the year before moderating in the second half.  

Underlying demand-led pressures will join up with rising commodity prices to keep inflation readings on the high end for a while.

Higher costs of transport, housing and food also pushed inflation to rise 1.6% over December 2010.

While prime office rents in Asia Pacific are forecast to increase by 6.2% in 2011, property investment sales in Singapore are expected to remain buoyant in 2011.

Rising violence in Libya is throwing the market focus on oil, said OCBC.