Daily Briefing: Find out why the city fringe is an important market; Singapore and Vietnam boost trade

And here's how the Fed rate could affect local home loans.

The private residential market in Singapore is divided into three regions, according to plans laid out by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). They comprise the Core Central Region (CCR), the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and the Outside Central Region (OCR). The RCR, also known as the city fringe, is defined as an area just outside the city centre. But why is it an important market, and how can prospective buyers benefit from investing in this region? Read more here.

Vietnam and Singapore signed several business agreements Thursday during a visit by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong aimed at boosting the island state's investment and trade with the communist country. Two of the six memorandums of understanding witnessed by Lee and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc were for industrial parks to be developed by Singapore's Sembcorp in central Vietnam. Read more here.

Are you a homeowner with a floating rate home loan? Like it or not, both SOR and SIBOR home loan packages will be affected with increases in the United States Federal Reserve funds rate. Back on 14 December 2016, the Federal Open Market Committee increased the US Fed funds rate by 25 basis points to between 0.5% and 0.75%, with a projection of three gradual rate hikes for 2017. Read more here.