Property firms reach out with online portals

Property firms reach out with online portals

Knight Frank launches VirtualHomes; ERA ties up with rednano.sg

By UMA SHANKARI

(SINGAPORE) Property used to be only a bricks and mortar game, but real estate companies are now going online in a big way to boost their profiles and sales.

Knight Frank on Oct 13 launched VirtualHomes, touted to be Singapore’s most comprehensive condominium search.

With more than 2,500 developments online, every condominium and apartment in Singapore is featured. The search engine provides detailed information on a property’s location and a summary of important amenities such as schools, transportation and shopping malls. Users are also able to ‘walk through’ the developments and their surrounding neighbourhood via a 720 degree panoramic view. All these are value-added enhancements beyond the basic information such as tenure, number of units, available bedroom types and typical floor plans which contribute to the ‘identity’ and ‘aura’ of each development.

Prospective homeowners are also able to check the prices at which recent units in each development were transacted.

‘We have consolidated all the essentials that matter to home buyers and investors into each development featured,’ said Tan Tee Khoon, director of Knight Frank subsidiary KF property Network. ‘Harnessing the power of the Internet, people can now find out all the property information they need before engaging a realty adviser specialising in a specific development or district.’

Knight Frank expects the search engine to be a big hit with everyone in the industry - property investors, developers, sellers, landlords and anyone interested in private residential projects in any district. So far, about 5,000 people have visited the site - www.virtualhomes.sg - Knight Frank said. The initiative will improve Knight Frank’s reach to prospective clients so that they can make informed decisions about property investments, said Knight Frank managing director Tan Tiong Cheng.

The property firm also has a tie-up with ST701 in the latter’s new condominium directory, launched on the same day.

Another property firm, ERA Singapore, also announced this week that it will work together with local search engine rednano.sg to give homebuyers more relevant information to help them choose the right agent and the right property for their needs.

The tie-up will allow ERA agents to add information about themselves in rednano’s ‘People’ list, including their achievements, years of working experience and their personal photographs.

The ERA agents can also turn to rednano’s maps to familiarise their clients with the key details of the area surrounding the homes or offices being offered for sale or rent. Information such as nearby ERP gantries and prices, ATMs and even 4-D outlets in addition to the nearest schools, clinics and shopping centres will be available.

‘Anyone who is keen to know more about news or information on properties in Singapore can easily search online at rednano.sg to learn more about ERA, our wide range of housing services and even make contact with any of our friendly and highly experienced associates to address their housing needs,’ said ERA senior vice-president Marcus Chu.

Source : Business Times - 04 Nov 2008

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Resorts World’s Singapore West Zone likely to open later

Resorts World’s Singapore West Zone likely to open later

It needs space to help build up East Zone, which will be occupied by Universal Studios

By ARTHUR SIM

RESORTS World Sentosa (RWS) is in talks with government agencies including the Singapore Tourism Board, Urban Redevelopment Authority and Ministry of Trade and Industry to start work on the project’s West Zone only when its Central and East Zones are well under way.

Quick pace: RWS plans to ’soft launch’ Universal Studios Singapore and four hotels in the Central Zone by the first quarter of 2010 -
The West Zone of the $6 billion integrated resort (IR) on Sentosa will include a Marine Life Park, a Marine Xperiential Museum, an Equarius Water Park and two hotels.

RWS executive vice-president (projects) Michael Chin said that the area to be occupied by the West Zone is needed to facilitate construction of the East Zone, which will be occupied by Universal Studios Singapore.

Mr Chin said the logistics of creating just one of the theme park’s attractions - Revenge of the Mummy - will require 150-200 container loads of material, equipment and paraphernalia.

And this requires space for ‘container parking’ and ’staging’.

RWS has never given firm opening dates for any of its attractions. But Mr Chin said that the pace of construction is ‘aggressive’.

‘It will be faster to stage in the West Zone and supply to the East Zone,’ he said. ‘We are trying to talk to the authorities and tell them this is the most sensible, logical plan that we can work on.’

With this plan in place, RWS intends to ’soft launch’ Universal Studios Singapore and four hotels in the Central Zone by the first quarter of 2010. This will include 21 theme park attractions and 1,400 hotel rooms.

At present, 2,000 people are working on-site 24 hours a day. In the East Zone, the steel structure for the Revenge of the Mummy ride is being put up. But the all-suite, 12-storey Maxims Residence - which houses the casino - appears to be the fastest-rising structure, with the lift core built up to the seventh floor.

The significance of this is that RWS will want its key revenue generator - the casino - open to gamblers as soon as possible.

And it looks like nothing will stand in the way of the casino being the first attraction to open for business.

Even if the West Zone is not completed by 2010, the government has already said that the casino licence can be awarded when at least 50 per cent of the investment capital has been spent and 50 per cent of the overall gross floor area has been built.

Mr Chin confirmed that about $3 billion of construction contracts have been awarded, more recently to local companies like Cityneon Holdings and Pico Art.

And according to RWS head of communications Krist Boo, the IR will be ‘quite ample as a destination’, even without the West Zone.

Source : Business Times - 04 Nov 2008

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Black October eats into Singapore Temasek’s paper wealth

Black October eats into Singapore Temasek’s paper wealth

$16.4b wiped off from portfolio of major listed S’pore companies

By TEH SHI NING

(SINGAPORE) Last month’s market upheaval swept away $16.4 billion in market value from Temasek Holdings’ portfolio of major investments in Singapore-listed companies alone.

Calculations, based on the shrunken market capitalisation of 12 companies Temasek has a significant stake in, show that the value of its investments fell 25.7 per cent between Sept 30 and Oct 31. Compared to the beginning of the year, the drop is 45.7 per cent, or $40 billion.

Singapore’s stock market capitalisation plunged $123.5 billion in the month of October.

Temasek saw a huge chunk of market value destroyed - on paper - from its 55 per cent stake in SingTel, which translated into $7.1 billion getting sliced off its portfolio’s value in the month of October. The value of its SingTel stake fell $13.7 billion from Dec 31, 2007.

Its 29 per cent core interest in DBS Group meant that the bank contributed the second largest cut in value to Temasek’s Singapore portfolio - $2.4 billion over the course of last month. DBS had borne the brunt of the sell-off among the three local banking stocks in October, losing 34 per cent of its market cap.

Temasek’s 54 per cent share in Singapore Airlines’ market cap dipped $2 billion in the month of October, and $4 billion this year so far. Its other transportation and logistics investments saw market value shrink too. Temasek’s stake in SMRT Corporation meant a loss in market value of $360 million, while the value of its interest in Neptune Orient Lines fell by $563 million.

Market cap fell for the three infrastructure, industrial and engineering stocks with Temasek interest too.

Temasek’s share of ST Engineering, Sembcorp Industries and Keppel Corporation’s market value losses last month came to $584 million, $726 million and $1.1 billion respectively.

Technology stocks Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and STATS ChipPAC meant value cuts for Temasek of $232 million and $776 million respectively in October too. Its comparatively smaller 15 per cent stake in Fraser and Neave still led to a loss in value of $171 million last month.

CapitaLand was not hit as badly in October, so Temasek’s 40 per cent interest in it led to a loss of $237 million, though for the year so far, the property developer has taken $3.8 billion off Temasek’s portfolio.

Geographically, Singapore accounts for about a third of Temasek’s net portfolio value.

It maintains a 12 per cent portfolio exposure to Asean countries, 22 per cent to North Asia, 23 per cent to the OECD economies, and a 7 per cent exposure to emerging South Asian economies such as India and Pakistan.

Source : Business Times - 04 Nov 2008

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Govts act to breathe life into economies

Govts act to breathe life into economies

Reflation takes centre stage; Seoul joins bandwagon with S$16.4b package

By CONRAD TAN

(SINGAPORE) Central banks and governments worldwide are slashing interest rates and pumping billions of dollars into their economies to boost faltering growth. Reflation is the name of the game.

The desperate hope is that a combination of lower borrowing costs, direct government spending and tax breaks will spur business investment, create jobs and encourage people to spend, at a time when the world’s biggest economies appear to be sliding into recession.

Yesterday, South Korea said it would spend 14 trillion won (S$16.4 billion) on infrastructure development and tax benefits next year to stimulate economic activity.

Just last week, the country’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to 4.25 per cent from 5 per cent - the biggest-ever reduction - in a bid to spur growth.

Australia is expected to cut rates by half a percentage point to 5.5 per cent today, after official data yesterday showed that retail sales and house prices there are falling faster than expected. Central banks in the UK and euro zone - two of the biggest economies in the world - are also expected to deliver unprecedented interest-rate cuts on Thursday.

The Bank of England is facing strident calls to slash its benchmark rate by a full percentage point to 3.5 per cent, although economists are expecting a more cautious reduction of half a percentage point. Mervyn King, its governor, warned on Oct 22 that the UK - the second-largest economy in Europe after Germany - is ‘likely’ to be sliding into recession.

The European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the 15 euro-zone economies - is expected to cut rates by half a percentage point to 3.25 per cent.

Fear of deflation - a destructive spiral of falling consumer prices and shrinking income for businesses, leading to fewer jobs and a moribund economy - has rallied support for steep interest-rate cuts in major economies such as the US and UK.

That marks a complete reversal from just a few months ago, when soaring inflation was a big worry - a sign of how quickly and drastically the global economic outlook has deteriorated.

Last Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve lowered its main interest-rate target to just one per cent - the lowest since 2004 - and signalled that it could cut rates even further. The same day, China’s central bank also cut its key lending rate.

But Kevin Scully, who heads independent research firm NetResearch Asia here, said governments in the United States and elsewhere would have to resort to aggressive fiscal measures to revive floundering economies.

With credit markets still malfunctioning and banks tightening their lending activity, ‘monetary policy is useless - even if they cut rates to zero, nothing will happen’, he said.

In his testimony to US lawmakers on Oct 20, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said that a fiscal package would be ‘appropriate’, with the US economy ‘likely to be weak for several quarters, and with some risk of a protracted slowdown’.

At an emergency meeting last Saturday, the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, cut interest rates and reduced the amount of money that commercial banks have to hold in reserve at the central bank for every dollar they lend, to free up more money for loans to businesses and households.

Last Thursday, Hong Kong and Taiwan also cut rates, following the move by the Fed, and Japan announced a massive five trillion yen (S$75 billion) stimulus plan of public spending and tax breaks.

The next day, the Bank of Japan eased its already low benchmark rate to 0.3 per cent, from 0.5 per cent.

In normal times, cutting interest rates helps to reduce borrowing costs, encouraging businesses to invest in expansion and people to spend, creating more jobs and fuelling economic growth.

But with some of the largest banks struggling to stay afloat, healthy ones reluctant to lend, and businesses and individuals cutting back on their borrowing, economists say that the latest round of interest-rate cuts is likely to be far less effective than usual in revitalising economic growth.

Instead, governments are hoping that boosting public spending on infrastructure projects such as roads and utilities will create jobs in sectors such as construction, while tax breaks and cash handouts for businesses and individuals will encourage them to spend more on goods and services, keeping companies in business.

Source : Business Times - 04 Nov 2008

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F1 in the air by 2010?

F1 in the air by 2010?

Singapore could be the first Asian country to host the Red Bull Air Race
By Jermyn Chow

The world-famous Red Bull Air Race pits the world’s ace pilots flying agile and lightweight racing planes through a maze of inflated conical air gates, called pylons. — PHOTO: REUTERS

PERTH: Singapore is close to staging a leg of the world-famous Red Bull Air Race in 2010.
Race organisers, who currently are in talks with Singapore tourism officials, said the prospect of Singapore hosting one round of the eight-leg world championships ‘looks very promising’.

A likely staging ground would be the Marina Bay area. The time-based air race pits the world’s ace pilots flying agile and lightweight racing planes through a maze of inflated conical air gates, called pylons.

The 1,200m by 800m aerial track can span land and water. The eight races this year were in in Abu Dhabi in the Middle East, San Diego and Detroit in the United States, and London, Rotterdam, Porto and Budapest in Europe.

Britain’s Paul Bonhomme won the final race in Perth on Sunday, while Austria’s Hannes Arch was crowned 2008 champion.

If both sides should sign on the dotted line, Singapore would be the first Asian country to host a leg of race, dubbed the Formula One race in the air.

Mr Stefan Lehrmayer, director of international relations and acquisitions at the Austrian-based organiser Red Bull Air Race GmbH, told The Straits Times that the Singapore race would fall between April and June in the eight-month race calendar. He said that both sides were working to iron out location and safety issues.

‘We are looking for a perfect backdrop to frame the race, as well as ensuring that planes fly safely,’ said Mr Lehrmayer, speaking on the sidelines of the race in Perth on Sunday.

Responding to media queries, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) officials said that ‘nothing was confirmed’.

‘The Red Bull Air Race has potential to showcase Singapore’s beautiful skyline and would be a nice fit in our events calendar,’ said STB’s director for cluster development (events and entertainment) Lynette Pang.

She was here with senior tourism officials, including STB’s incoming chief executive Aw Kah Peng.

If given the green light, the island would get to witness pilots Mike Mangold, Peter Besenyei and Kirby Chambliss burn up the skies here.

‘Ultimately, it must be a win-win situation and an event that will put Singapore on the map as a leading sporting and entertainment capital in Asia,’ said Ms Pang.

The optimism is backed by the success of the inaugural Formula One night race two months ago, which pulled in 50,000 visitors.

Another crowd-pulling event is the 10-month-long Volvo Ocean Race that will sail into Singapore come January.

Just last week, it was announced that Singapore will host one leg of the Moto GP from as early as 2011.

In Perth, more than 50,000 people flocked to the shores of the Swan River on Sunday to witness the high jinks.

The air race organisers are hopeful that the familiar green light to start the race, ’smoke on’, will soon be heard from Singapore shores to thrill adrenalin junkies.

Said Mr Lehrmayer: ‘Singapore already has F1 on the road and in the sea. It’s a good time to include one in the air.’

About the race

What is this?
It is an aviation motorsport featuring the world’s best pilots flying lightweight racing planes.

In a competition based on speed, precision and skill, a dozen pilots take turns to navigate a low-level aerial race track made up of air-filled pylons or air gates.

Planes thunder overhead at top speeds of up to 370kmh while performing heart-stopping precision aerobatics.

Pilots pull about 12Gs of G-force during the 70-second routine - comparable to what fighter pilots withstand.

Where is the race held?
The annual world championship is run over eight legs in Abu Dhabi, San Diego, Detroit, Rotterdam, London, Porto, Budapest and Perth.

What does it take to set up the race?
About 350 crew members criss-cross the world to set up 400 tonnes of equipment such as 12 race planes, portable hangars, air gates and a five-storey race tower.

How popular is the race?
It is beamed to more than 500 million people in 115 countries on six continents. Close to three million people watched the race in the host cities this year.

Who won this year?
Briton Paul Bonhomme won the final race in Perth on Sunday, but Austrian Hannes Arch was crowned 2008 champion.

Source : Straits Times - 04 Nov 2008

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Weaker Singapore job market as employers turn cautious

Weaker Singapore job market as employers turn cautious

There could be higher retrenchment, says Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong

By Jessica Lim

THE job market, already beset by worries over the economy, could turn worse over the next few months, resulting in more Singaporeans losing their jobs.

This is because employers could turn more cautious as a global slowdown takes hold, said Acting Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong yesterday.

The outlook may be bleak, but Mr Gan gave this assurance: The Government, unions and employer’s federation are ready to help those affected. Workers will get training and upgrading opportunities, and be helped to acquire new skills.

Speaking after the Singapore Hotel Association’s (SHA) annual awards ceremony held at the National University of Singapore Cultural Centre, Mr Gan said: ‘I think, overall, the job market will continue to weaken towards the end of the year as businessmen turn more cautious.

‘In hiring practices, they will be more cautious so job creation will slow down, there could also be higher retrenchment.’

His warning comes on the back of a Manpower Ministry report last week which showed that the job market was weakening.

The report said 2,000 workers were retrenched in the third quarter of the year, up from 1,798 in the previous quarter. Although unemployment was unchanged at 2.2 per cent, the report noted that 13,600 fewer jobs were added in the three months ending Sept 30.

The outlook may be bleak, Mr Gan noted, but he gave this assurance to workers: The Government, unions and Singapore National Employer’s Federation are prepared, and they are ready to help those affected.

Workers will get training and upgrading opportunities, and will also be helped to acquire new skills so they can get jobs in sectors less affected by the downturn, he said.

He gave the example of manufacturing workers switching to the service sector, and said: ‘We are looking at how to help them find jobs, match them with new jobs that are still being created.’

Yesterday, Mr Gan also had words of advice for the tourism sector, which has seen arrivals decline for four straight months.

Though the short-term outlook for the industry is shaky, he said tourism workers should strive to uphold high standards.

In a downturn, he explained, people are more likely to take short trips, so this means regional travel would help prop up the sector.

Looking down the road, he said things are much more rosy, with big events such as the Volvo Ocean Race early next year and the opening of the two Integrated Resorts in a few years on the calendar.

This means the industry should ‘continue to train manpower so it can capitalise on the growth opportunities’ later, he added.

At yesterday’s ceremony, 1,928 service staff, ranging from junior sous-chefs to bell-hops, received Excellent Service Awards - an annual national prize which was launched in 1994 to recognise individuals who have delivered outstanding service.

Among those honoured yesterday was Mr Mohamad Yusoff bin Mohd Shah, 26, who started working in the service industry when he was 16, serving guests at Chinese weddings for $5 an hour.

Since then, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) drop-out has relied on elbow grease to climb the rungs in the industry, and now runs Orchard Hotel’s lounge bar.

Said the first-time winner, who has had praise lavished on him by many hotel guests: ‘I feel great for being recognised for working so hard from the bottom. There was once I worked 24 hours at a stretch.

‘It is all about passion. Have that, and it will overcome every obstacle. That, and a big smile on your face always.’

Source : Straits Times - 04 Nov 2008

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If McCain loses: End of party’s historic rise

If McCain loses: End of party’s historic rise

How Americans vote today will also determine the fate of their parties. JONATHAN EYAL reports

SHOULD Senator John McCain lose his bid to become the United States’ 44th president, rumblings of unhappiness among Republicans are to be expected.
There will be mutterings about the style of his campaign. There will also be accusations that the Democrats ‘cheated’ by artificially boosting voters’ registration. But, on the whole, the Republicans will conclude that Mr McCain did as best as could be expected.

Republicans may not be able to return from the wilderness unless they settle their internal disputes. Religious and social conservatives are reportedly already preparing for a fight over the leadership.

The economic crash had overshadowed everything in the campaign’s closing stages. Rightly or wrongly, voters blamed the party for the mess.

Yet the Republicans will be wrong to believe that they were just the victims of a regular political swing.

For Mr McCain’s defeat would signal the end of their historic ascendancy which began in the mid-1990s, when the Republicans gained control over Congress after half a century in opposition.

For the first time since 1992, Republicans will be out of power in the House of Representatives, Senate and the White House. It is a rout, pure and simple.

More significantly, battle lines in the US are being redrawn. The old Republican slogans - babies, guns and Bibles - have played only a minor role in the last elections. Patriotism and the ‘war on terror’ are no longer their monopoly either.

Instead, sound economic management is now required and on this, the ‘Grand Old Party’ has no particular answers.

Old policies which emphasised deregulation and free markets and considered the government as the problem rather than the solution are as bust as US banks An expansion of the government’s role in financial markets is inevitable and Congress, supported by a like-minded President Obama, will move swiftly in that direction.

Regulation will spill over into other sectors, with emission curbs to address climate change and health-care reform. Mortgages, car and student loans will come under control. Credit card companies’ marketing, billing and interest rates will be reviewed.

The Republicans will have to resist the temptation to fight all these measures. The Americans’ collective sense of anger with a financial system which failed remains strong, and voters will punish any party which stands in their way.

Big government is fashionable again, big time. And the Democrats are better-placed to deliver it.

What the Republicans can do is to ask at every stage whether the regulation pendulum swings too far, and whether the inevitable budgetary cuts make sense.

Congress will have to slash US defence spending, currently at over US$500 billion (S$735 billion). Other projects will also suffer. And taxes will rise.

A comeback is not impossible. But only if the Republicans are careful to restrict their criticism to the substance of economic measures, rather than ideology. Americans want action, not theoretical debates.

The Republicans will enjoy one advantage. If the recession continues - as now seems likely - a few years from now the voters will blame a Democratic president and Congress for their pain.

But even then, the Republicans may not be able to return from the wilderness unless they settle their internal disputes. Religious and social conservatives are reportedly already preparing for a fight over the party leadership.

The GOP will also have to promote fresh national leaders. And the indications are that vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin sees herself as one of them. With four years to go before the next presidential showdown, she has plenty of time to brush up on both domestic and foreign policy issues, and get some visa stamps in her pristine new passport.

True, she will have to use her own - rather than her party’s - money if she wishes to buy new outfits. Would she retain her trademark spectacles? You betcha!

Source : Straits Times - 04 Nov 2008

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If Obama loses: Upset could spark violence

If Obama loses: Upset could spark violence

How Americans vote today will also determine the fate of their parties. JONATHAN EYAL reports

IF SENATOR Barack Obama loses his bid for the presidency, this will be one of the most significant upsets in modern US history.
He led the polls solidly in the concluding month of the electoral campaign.

Democrats’ party machine initially supported Hillary Clinton’s candidature, and it is bound to claim that it was vindicated in its suspicions about Obama?s electability.

Furthermore, a Republican - and one of the most controversial in recent memory - held the White House for the last eight years.

Plagued by errors of its own making and quite a few crises beyond its control, the Bush administration now leaves behind the biggest economic crisis since the Depression of the 1930s.

If a young, photogenic candidate like Mr Obama failed to win under such uniquely favourable political circumstances, the Democrats would surely have to wonder how they can ever recapture the White House.

After the results are known, the Democrats will face two immediate crises. The first is the reaction of the electorate.

An Obama loss could come by the smallest of margins; indeed, he may get a plurality of votes, but fail to win a majority in the Electoral College.

The inescapable conclusion would be that racial prejudice was the decisive element in his defeat; the Southern and Midwestern states were simply not ready to accept a black commander-in-chief of the United States.

Many would also argue that rival John McCain’s personal attacks against Mr Obama fanned racial divisions. And there will be plenty of allegations about ballot rigging.

The frustration could easily turn into street violence.

The Democrats’ first major test would be to disassociate themselves from such potential clashes and accept their loss with dignity.

The slightest indication that they sympathise with or justify street violence could doom their presidential chances for years.

An Obama failure will also reopen some old internal wounds. The Democratic party machine initially supported Mrs Hillary Clinton’s candidature, and it is bound to claim that it was vindicated in its suspicions about his electability.

The Democrats will have to take a serious look at their chaotic method of conducting primaries in order to make sure that, next time around, party bosses have a bigger say in picking a ’safe’ candidate.

They will also have to revisit their ‘rainbow coalition’ electoral strategy, which sought to bond together disparate ethnic voters.

Hispanics and blacks will have to be re-embraced in a different way from the past.

Mrs Clinton will probably become their unofficial candidate for the 2012 elections, but the jockeying for power will consume the party for a long time.

The pain will be mitigated by the fact that the Democrats are guaranteed to increase their hold over Congress.

Yet controlling the purse strings during an economic recession remains a double-edged sword: it allows Democrats to put their stamp on spending programmes, but also leaves them exposed to accusations of mismanagement.

Some of the Democratic pet projects - such as health-care reform - will have to be slimmed down due to lack of resources.

Furthermore, unlike President George W. Bush, who either ignored or confronted Congress, Mr McCain will be more adept at forging ad hoc coalitions in the legislature.

The Democrats will, therefore, have to tread a fine line between working with a Republican White House which they detest, while making sure that they do not get blamed for the economic downturn.

This may be possible. But only if the Democrats become far more disciplined and united, two traits which were never their strongest assets.

And the sheer scale of their disappointment will make unity much harder to achieve.

Source : Straits Times - 04 Nov 2008

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