PM Lee says PAP will work to have more women candidates in the next election

PM Lee says PAP will work to have more women candidates in the next election

By S.Ramesh/ Pearl Forss

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) will work to have more women candidates in the next general election.

He made these comments at the 20th anniversary celebrations of the PAP Women’s Wing (WW) on Saturday.

It was a rousing celebration of how far women had come in politics.

There were no women in politics from 1970 to 1984 and today, there are 17 elected women MPs.

But Prime Minister Lee said more has to be done.

PM Lee said: “They play key roles in business, in government and in the professions. And I think in politics too, we will work very hard to have more women candidates the next time round.

“But even today, if I speak frankly, it is still harder for a woman than for a man to become an MP, to enter politics. And for the old reasons, less now, but still the family puts more burden on the women than on the men.

“Work is heavy burden for the women too. And plus their political responsibilities to make that rapport with your grassroots, with your voters.”

Still, it seems female parliamentarians have managed to balance their different roles.

Lim Hwee Hua, Singapore’s first full-fledged woman minister and Chairman, PAP Women’s Wing, said: “35 - Now this is a piece of trivia, this is the number of children we women MPs have collectively produced for those of us who have children. So we do our bit towards population growth too.”

On average, women make up only about 18 per cent of parliamentarians worldwide. Even in the Nordic countries known for gender equality, women make up only about 40-plus per cent of parliamentarians. In Singapore, this figure is currently 20 per cent.

And the trailblazers include Dr Aline Wong, who was one of the first women office holders and Dr Seet Ai Mee, the first woman appointed to Cabinet.

Dr Dixie Tan, also among the first women in parliament was also honoured at the anniversary celebrations though she wasn’t present as she was out of the country.

So with the aim to increase participation by women in politics, should the PAP Women’s Wing or WW be a more dominant force?

Indranee Rajah, Parliamentary Deputy Speaker & Organising Chairman of PAP WW20 Celebrations, said: “WW was never intended to match the main PAP in its dominance and impact. WW is the women’s arm of the main party. If you think about it, we’re an arm like any other body. If the arm is not there, the main body cannot operate at full strength and capacity.

Prime Minister Lee said the Women’s Wing has to continue to support women to take interest in politics for many years to come. -CNA/vm

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 05 July 2009

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Current global economic crisis will test Singaporeans’ moral character

Current global economic crisis will test Singaporeans’ moral character

By Cheryl Lim

SINGAPORE: Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo said the current crisis in the global economy will test the moral character of Singaporeans.

Speaking at the 15th anniversary celebrations of Damai Secondary School on Saturday, Mr Yeo said if there is a strong sense of mutual obligation, solidarity and affection, Singaporeans will not only pull through the crisis but will also emerge stronger and more united.

But he added the world will be a very different place when the crisis is over, with many centres of political, economic and cultural influence in the world.

He said he expects China and India will become big powers in the future, and Russia and Brazil will also play major roles.

Mr Yeo said Singaporeans will also have to prepare for a different world and safeguard their security.

One way to cope with the changes is to learn languages.

He also added that making the maximum use of technology will help ensure Singaporeans keep connected with the rest of the global network. - CNA/vm

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 05 July 2009

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Govt to set up new S’pore Road Safety Council by early 2010

Govt to set up new S’pore Road Safety Council by early 2010

By S.Ramesh

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s setting up a new Singapore Road Safety Council by early next year.

It aims to adopt a more focussed and holistic approach to road safety by fostering closer cooperation of all stakeholders involved in activities to prevent road accidents and to enhance safety.

The new council will also be the official body for Singapore to engage with other international road safety councils and programmes that contribute to global road safety outcomes.

It will also serve as a forum for the public to express their views and exchange ideas on road safety matters.

Besides this outreach, 37 of the region’s best drivers were all set to perform and entertain in the Formula Drift series at the Changi Exhibition Centre which ends on Sunday.

Kicking off the campaign was Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee.

He said for the first quarter of this year, the number of fatalities on Singapore’s roads dropped by about 32 per cent to 37 cases against 54 in the same period last year.

This year’s campaign targets two key audiences - elderly pedestrians and motorcyclists.

Professor Ho said motorcyclists and pillion riders remain a key concern as they form half of those who died on the roads.

To address this, the Traffic Police has also reviewed the Class 2B motorcycle training curriculum and new students since mid-May have to attend additional theory lessons on defensive riding before taking the practical test. - CNA/vm

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 05 July 2009

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Getting to know you

Getting to know you
Local businesses are turning to social networking websites to reach out to their customers, reports CHRISTOPHER LIM

THE Internet almost ground to a halt last weekend after pop star Michael Jackson’s death on June 25, as both the fervent and curious flocked to social web tools such as Twitter and Facebook for news.

Online presence: LAMC Productions’s Twitter page (above) lets it connect directly with people who go to their concerts
Twitter was also a key communication medium in Iran’s recent election, when the service delayed going offline for maintenance just so that the country could use it for the event.

All this makes it hard to ignore how intertwined these social networking tools have become in pop culture. You may not use them, but millions of consumers do - and if you want to reach these pockets and minds, you may just have to hop on to the bandwagon.

Social networking website Facebook (facebook.com) has become a tool not just for many companies in Singapore, but for many of executives.

And micro-blogging website Twitter (twitter.com) is quickly entrenching itself in the vocabulary of marketing and communications professionals.

Facebook is one of many similar services that allow people to connect with one another online and share a plethora of information including news, photos and videos. It has emerged as a favourite among businesses here because of the ease with which they can set up corporate accounts that can seamlessly connect to consumers’ personal accounts.

Twitter pioneered the concept of micro-blogging - posting messages, called tweets - that are no longer than 140 characters. A raft of imitators have popped up but Twitter still leads the niche. Its strength versus Facebook is its single-minded focus on rapid updates.

The idea is that 140-character tweets don’t take long to write, and therefore encourage people to tweet in real time as events unfold. In fact, you can often predict news before it’s officially announced by monitoring the volume of corresponding Twitter activity.

Adoption by trendsetters

Another unique advantage that Twitter has over its competitors is adoption by trendsetters. If you want to find out what book celebrated fantasy author Neil Gaiman is working on at the moment, subscribe to his Twitter feed and be kept up to date.

And if you want to find out when the next Nine Inch Nails album will be out, follow frontman Trent Reznor. Every celebrity worth following is on Twitter, not its competitors.

However, Facebook, in an attempt to stave off competition from Twitter, has incorporated its rival’s micro-blogging approach into its own more comprehensive offering.

And to complicate matters, people like Financial Times journalist Gideon Rachman are sceptical about Twitter’s real value as a communication medium - Mr Rachman wrote in a column on Tuesday that he feels that Twitter ‘is mainly hype’.

So, are companies in Singapore voting for Twitter or Facebook, or do they treat them as complementary tools? And do they see themselves buying into an excuse to waste valuable man-hours slacking, or adopting a credible new communication channel?

IT solutions provider Datacraft Asia isn’t usually in the central media spotlight, but it deserves attention for making social media an integral part of its marketing strategy.

Datacraft Asia’s Singapore-based chief executive Bill Padfield is a huge champion of social media, and is personally active on both Twitter and Facebook. He can often be seen tweeting on his Apple iPhone, as well as using the mobile device to update his Facebook account.

Another IT company active in social media is Cisco, whose chief technology officer Padmasree Warrior, has over 650,000 followers on Twitter. That’s a mind-blowingly huge following for someone who’s not a pop icon.

‘During a TelePresence interview this week between press and analysts around the world with Padmasree Warrior, an analyst in Singapore prefaced his question by saying that he follows her on Twitter,’ says Tom Cheong, Cisco’s managing director for Singapore and Brunei.

Beyond raising a company’s or executive’s profile, Lenovo Asean communications manager Derrick Goh highlights the democratic nature of social media tools. ‘They allow you to be ubiquitous while giving your audience the option of how and to what extent they would like to engage with you,’ he says.

Audience engagement is a key area of interest in music and the arts, and concert Promoter LAMC Productions’ Twitter and Facebook activity is geared towards encouraging customers to engage it more.

‘These sites give us an opportunity to connect directly with people who come to our concerts and to also get fans involved with promoting our concerts,’ says LAMC’s Andre Alabons, who administers the promoter’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Mr Alabons estimates that the target demographic for LAMC’s Facebook page is 14-40 years old, whereas its Twitter page is narrower at 14-30 years.

Relevance of traditional media

Despite LAMC’s heavy use of social media tools, Mr Alabons stresses the importance of basic Web services such as websites and e-mail newsletters, as well as the continued relevance of traditional media outlets such as print, television and radio. ‘We are aware that not everyone has a Facebook or Twitter account so we need to reach the masses and not risk focusing on one particular group,’ he says.

Michelle Koh, director of marketing services for the Esplanade, agrees. ‘We see social media very much as a complement to industrial media, such as newspapers, radio and TV, as well as our corporate website and festival micro sites,’ she says. But she affirms the value of social media tools in fostering dialogue with the Esplanade’s audience. Facebook is the service of choice, and the Esplanade has six Facebook group pages at the moment.

Ms Koh points to the multiplier effect of social networking websites, where publicity can spread virally through communities of friends.

Some business have thrown all their social media eggs into one basket, such as Warner Music, which only uses Facebook, although it is evaluating Twitter and working on revamping its main website.

Warner’s Facebook page is run by its marketing team. ‘Our purpose is to inform and spread news relating to our artists, products, and events, and the occasional competitions to win prizes,’ says promotions executive Evelyn Woo, adding that Warner was the first record label in Singapore to set up a Facebook page.

IT, music and the arts aren’t the only businesses to benefit from social media. Nightspot Supperclub is also a big Facebook and Twitter user.

‘People can give their opinion, ask questions or make remarks about Supperclub, and Supperclub has the ability to respond to this almost immediately, says general manager Edme Straver.

One of the potential pitfalls of embracing social media at a corporate level is the blurring of lines between work and play since the same channels are used for both activities.

Supperclub gets around this by establishing some basic ground rules for staff. ‘No confidential information or gossip can be spread through their accounts,’ says Mr Straver. ‘The business accounts cannot be used for personal help and they are advised not to get in touch with business contacts, with the reason that it should only be used for business,’ he adds.

Relaxed policy

MTV Networks Asia has a more relaxed policy. ‘Employees are free to use social media networks on a personal capacity,’ says Nam Ji Hee, the company’s vice-president of digital media for South-east Asia and Greater China. ‘What they say about the company and its activities is unofficial and should not be taken as fact,’ she adds.

But not every company focuses on the potential downside of employees using social media. ‘In general, the employees that use these services feel better informed, better connected to one another and the company, and better able to keep pace with what is going on inside the company and in the industry,’ says Manjit Kour, vice-president of corporate communications for Oracle Asia-Pacific and Japan, whose company uses a mixture of custom-designed social networking tools along with public ones like Twitter.

A useful gauge of the real-world usefulness of social media is to look at business that have used it for a while. Restaurant and bar entrepreneur Michel Lu was an early Facebook adopter and is happy with the traffic and publicity that it has brought to his businesses.

‘I believe in social media but also know that it is most effective when paired with an integrated marketing strategy instead of relying entirely on it,’ Mr Lu says.

What all these persepectives seem to indicate is that social media is only useful if it’s channelled towards a specific purpose for your business.

Like any other tool, it can be abused to death, but if used within the right parameters, it can be a formidable addition to existing communications channels.

Source : Business Times - 03 July 2009

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Technical expert testifies in MediaCorp vs RecordTV trial

Technical expert testifies in MediaCorp vs RecordTV trial

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s largest broadcaster, MediaCorp, produced a technical expert in court on Thursday to give evidence that an Internet start-up had infringed the copyrights in its free-to-air programmes and broadcasts on Channels 5, 8 and Channel NewsAsia.

RecordTV is suing MediaCorp for millions of dollars for “groundless threats” of copyright infringement, while MediaCorp is counter-suing for copyright infringement.

In his affidavit, Derek Kiong, programme director of Technical Curriculum at the Institute of Systems Science, National University of Singapore, said that unlike a dedicated digital video recorder (DVR), users of RecordTV have no control over the web-based recording system.

RecordTV’s CEO, Carlos Fernandes, has said that his service functions like a home video recorder. But Mr Kiong said unlike a DVR, where users decide which video recordings to keep, edit or delete, RecordTV imposes a 15-day retention of its recordings.

He added that even though RecordTV has attempted to limit its users to Singapore residents by restricting access to IP addresses known to be sited in Singapore, an IP address is not always a good or correct indication of the location of the computer or its users.

It is argued that users of RecordTV are merely making electronic requests for a recording to be made, while the actual recordings are done by RecordTV’s system.

In a cross-examination, RecordTV’s lawyer, Koh Chia Ling, asserted that the online service’s systems are automated, with no human intervention. “The system draws information from (MediaCorp’s) electronic programme guide,” he said.

At this juncture, MediaCorp’s lead counsel Davinder Singh interjected saying: “While the defendants have a schedule, the plaintiff has to install a software to draw that information in. It doesn’t just come uninvited.”

Mr Koh also argued that his client did not try to suppress evidence as earlier alleged by Mr Singh.

MediaCorp’s senior vice-president of Network Programming and Promotions, Khiew Voon Kwang, also took the stand and will continue his testimony on Friday.

- CNA/so

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 03 July 2009

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S-REITs can cushion external shocks, says S&P

S-REITs can cushion external shocks, says S&P

By Mok Fei Fei

SINGAPORE: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said Singapore Real Estate Investment Trusts (S-REITs) can cushion against external shocks in the event the economic downturn is prolonged.

In a report, S&P said three factors will offer S-REITs some buffer – cash flow resilience of the underlying properties, strong management of operations and strength of the S-REITs’ sponsor or key shareholder.

S&P also assessed the relative credit strengths of 15 of the 21 S-REITs listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

CapitaMall Trust, Ascendas REIT, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, and CapitaCommercial Trust have emerged as its top picks. They were singled out for managing their finances better than others.

At the other end, S&P found CDL Hospitality Trust, Parkway Life REIT, Frasers Commercial Trust, First REIT, and MacarthurCook Industrial REIT to be the most vulnerable to external shocks.

Six S-REITs were excluded from S&P’s assessment as they did not have any Singapore-based property exposure in their asset portfolios.

- 938LIVE/so

Source : Channel Newsasia - 03 July 2009

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Factory output expands 2 mths in a row in June

Factory output expands 2 mths in a row in June

By TEH SHI NING

SINGAPORE’S manufacturing economy expanded for a second straight month in June, going by the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index, released yesterday.

Although June’s PMI reading of 51.1 was one- tenth of a point down from May’s figure, due to a first-time contraction in overall stocks of finished goods and imports, more positive signs surfaced in the electronics sector. The electronics PMI was 55 in June - its highest level since December 2006.

The PMI is a forward-looking indicator based on a survey of purchasing executives at 150 companies, conducted by the Singapore Institute of Purchasing & Materials Management (SIPMM) each month. Readings above 50 indicate expansion, while ones under 50 imply a contraction.

Both the overall new orders and new export orders indicators continued to expand in June, recording their highest readings since December 2007. ‘This is clearly a positive sign in an otherwise uncertain state of global business environment,’ said SIPMM executive director Janice Ong.

Inventory indicators for both the overall manufacturing economy and the key electronics sector expanded.

Input prices for both overall manufacturing and electronics contracted. ‘A likely explanation would be the weakening of the Singapore currency and the ability of local manufacturers to localise their input materials,’ Ms Ong said.

Order backlogs, for overall manufacturing and electronics, continued to contract too, which could indicate that local manufacturers are no longer holding back on production. But Ms Ong said that anecdotal evidence from the survey suggests local producers remain cautious. The depletion of order backlogs could therefore mean uncertainty over future orders.

The outlook on the employment front remained negative. While the electronics employment index moderated after 11 months of contraction, the index for overall manufacturing employment contracted for a 19th consecutive month in June.

Noting that the spread of H1N1 flu has had minimal impact on the economy so far, Ms Ong said that she is ‘hopeful that the overall employment ambience could be improved in coming months’.

Source : Business Times - 03 July 2009

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Aviva Building, Cecil House may change hands in $101m deal

Aviva Building, Cecil House may change hands in $101m deal

Buyers expected to build apartments on adjoining sites

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

(SINGAPORE) YI Kai Group and Fission Group, the duo that recently paid $71 million for VTB Building in Robinson Road, are said to have joined forces to buy Aviva Building in Cecil Street and next-door Cecil House from insurer Aviva for a total of $101 million.

Potential: Aviva Building (above) and Cecil House may have potential for an additional 20,000 sq ft of GFA each
Aviva is understood to be selling the assets that it considers ‘non-core’.

Market watchers reckon Fission and Yi Kai hope to redevelop all three CBD office blocks they have snapped up lately into residential projects - subject to official approval.

The three sites are zoned for commercial use with an 11.2-plus plot ratio and 35-storey maximum height, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Master Plan (MP) 2008.

In October last year, URA lifted its ban on converting office blocks in the Central Area to other uses.

Aviva and VTB buildings are freehold. Cecil House is on a site with a remaining lease of 71 years.

Analysts suggest that Yi Kai and Fission’s plans to redevelop the Cecil House plot into apartments will be subject to getting a lease top-up to 99 years from the state. ‘Otherwise, they may redevelop the property to a new office block,’ a market watcher suggested.

BT understands the freehold Aviva Building is being sold for about $65 million, which translates to roughly $960 per sq ft of existing net lettable area (NLA).

Based on the site’s 11.2-plus plot ratio under MP 2008, the unit land price works out to about $590 psf of potential gross floor area (GFA), excluding any development charge (DC) that may be payable.

Cecil House was priced at $36 million or about $710 psf of NLA in the sale to Yi Kai and Fission.

It is believed there is untapped potential to develop a further 20,000 sq ft GFA each for the Cecil House and Aviva Building plots.

The earlier sale of VTB Building for $71 million worked out to $1,061 psf of NLA and a unit land price of about $700 psf per plot ratio - based on an 11.2 plot ratio and assuming no DC is payable.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s director of investment sales Stella Hoh is understood to have brokered the sale of Aviva Building and Cecil House. JLL is also the marketing agent for two office floors at Parkway Parade that Aviva is looking to sell.

BT understands both buildings are currently almost 100 per cent occupied. Aviva uses about 60 per cent of Aviva Building.

Source : Business Times - 03 July 2009

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Recession may end, but recovery still not in sight

Recession may end, but recovery still not in sight

Singapore may technically climb out of a recession but stay in a rut, the numbers suggest

By ANNA TEO

(SINGAPORE) Now that the economy is believed to have touched bottom, data watchers are on the lookout for signs that it is headed up, and not still floundering. So it’s no surprise that May’s manufacturing uptick has spurred talk that Singapore could soon well be ‘technically’ out of recession - in or from the second quarter just past, in fact.

The surprise 2 per cent rise in manufacturing output in May - the second straight month of growth following April’s revised 0.4 per cent figure - no doubt adds to the sense of budding turnaround here. And if the pace is sustained in June, the payoff should certainly show up in the Q2 manufacturing and overall GDP figures.

But to infer from the May boost an end to recession - imminent or ‘already’ - is probably a tad hopeful. The qualifying asterisks behind the May output figure, to begin with, are glaringly obvious.

First off, the 2 per cent growth came courtesy of (as usual) the highly volatile pharmaceutical industry, which grew close to 140 per cent in May (and 80 per cent in April). Excluding the biomedical cluster - the only cluster that grew in May - total industrial output shrank about 18 per cent in the month.

And if comparing with the preceding month is a better indicator of recent pace, May’s overall output was down from April’s, albeit by a small 1.6 per cent in seasonally-adjusted terms.

More telling perhaps, beyond industrial output, the all-important exports still do not convincingly spell recovery, even if, as economists have noted, exports have lately shown better ‘improvement’ than output.

Sure, non-oil domestic exports (NODX) have continued to improve: April’s 19 per cent decline was followed by a 12 per cent decrease in May. And in adjusted month-on-month terms, NODX grew 5.6 per cent in May, following a 1.4 per cent slide in April.

But if NODX seem to have turned around, another key indicator - non-oil retained imports of intermediate goods (NORI) - suggests only that demand in the months ahead remains weak.

While NORI (the retained ‘intermediate goods’ presumably get consumed in domestic production) is said to be a coincident indicator for NODX, the two series have diverged of late: indeed, NORI fell for a third straight month in May on an adjusted basis, after a small pick-up in February. And apart from Taiwan and South Korea, Singapore’s non-oil exports to the top 10 markets continued to fall in May.

Also, with no firm sign as yet of any rebound in the US economy any time soon, forecasts of any sustained export and GDP recovery here - out of the trenches, that is - are probably optimistic or wishful thinking.

In any case, even if Q2 sees a return to positive GDP pace in Singapore - as may well be likely for the quarter-on-quarter numbers, though probably not the year-on-year figures yet - that would mark at best a tenuous rebound, until at least another positive quarter or two is in hand. After all, a ‘technical’ recession is called only after two straight quarters of economic decline.

And even then, just as output and exports had already been weak last year well before the GDP data pronounced recession after Q3 2008, a technical end to recession would not necessarily spell full recovery in industries and sectors big and small across the economy at large. You may get businesses asking: ‘The recession is over - but where’s the recovery?’

Source : Business Times - 03 July 2009

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HDB resale prices up 1.2%

HDB resale prices up 1.2%

Surprise increase in index reverses first quarter’s dip to reach new high

By Jessica Cheam

PRICES of HDB flats have staged a surprising comeback, reversing a first-quarter dip of 0.8 per cent to rise 1.2 per cent in the second quarter and reach a historical high.

Flash estimates from the Housing and Development Board (HDB) released yesterday show the resale price index rising to 140 - a record level not seen since the current index started in 1990.

It beats the previous record set in the fourth quarter of last year when it hit just over 139.

Market analysts said they were caught off-guard by the turnaround, as many had been predicting 2 to 10 per cent declines in HDB resale flat prices for this year after a descent began in the first quarter - the first one since 2006.

Yesterday’s numbers have changed expectations, with analysts reversing their forecasts for HDB flat prices to hold or increase by up to 5 per cent this year.

Industry observers attribute the latest surprise figures to three factors.

First, talk of an economic recovery has gathered momentum, backed by the recent stock market rally and brisk private property sales. This has slowed the slide in private property prices islandwide.

Flash figures capturing sales prices in the first 10 weeks of the quarter,released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday, show prices falling 5.9 per cent in the second quarter, compared to a 14.1 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

The marked slowdown in the price decline is in line with rising transaction prices evident since the strong rebound in home sales since February, said Colliers International’s director for research and advisory, Ms Tay Huey Ying.

More bullish sentiment, coupled with the strength in HDB resale prices, has supported the private market, say analysts.

High HDB valuations is another key factor. HDB upgraders - buyers with HDB addresses buying private property - have been able to sell their units at high valuations and for tidy profits to fund private property purchases.

Banking executive Vic Cheow, 28, is one such HDB upgrader who recently sold a four-room HDB flat to buy a three-bed condominium unit in Jurong.

Due to the high valuations, buyers do not need to dig deep for upfront cash - otherwise known as cash-over-valuation - to purchase resale flats.

‘We found selling at a profit easier as a result of this,’ said Mrs Cheow.

ERA Asia-Pacific associate director Eugene Lim reports that the agency, which accounts for more than 40 per cent of the HDB resale market, saw transaction volumes surge 52 per cent in the second quarter compared to the first.

‘The feeling in the second quarter is the recession hasn’t been as bad as it seems,’ said Mr Lim. Many sellers have become more willing to negotiate and are realistic, especially those selling larger flats, he added.

The third factor, flagged by Chesterton Suntec International head of research Colin Tan, is that demand far outstrips supply. HDB launched 7,793 new flats last year and will launch another 3,700 in the first nine months of this year.

‘HDB may have ramped up the supply of new flats recently, but it’s not enough and it takes too long,’ said Mr Tan. ‘There is still a lot of pent-up demand from a needs-based group of people. And they have no choice but to pay high prices because they cannot wait.’

A Credit Suisse report released recently notes that total public and private housing supply for 2008 to 2012 is 16,000 on average per year - 42 per cent lower than the 10-year historical average.

‘This does not look excessive versus the annual average 24,000 household formations or marriages,’ said the report.

But, added Mr Tan, it seems ‘unnatural for prices to rise against the fundamentals of the economy’, which is still in recession.

More detailed public and private housing data for the second quarter is set to be released at the end of this month.

Source : Straits Times  - 02 July 2009

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