This is some blog description about this site
Switzerland has kept its title as the world's most competitive economy for the fifth year running, though it needs to resist any temptation to protect its core banking sector if it wants to stay top, the World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.
The Geneva-based body, most famous for gathering politicians and billionaires at an annual shindig in the Alpine resort of Davos, said the same economies made the top 10 as last year, but in a different order.
SINGAPORE: The en bloc market has slowed significantly this year as developers turned cautious following the government's cooling measures and loan curbs.
The value of en bloc transactions fell to S$1.3 billion so far this year, down from S$1.4 billion in 2012 and S$3.2 billion in 2011, according to property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle.
SINGAPORE: With a 30 per cent cap on how much house buyers can borrow to finance their executive condominiums (ECs), analysts expect developers to release more smaller-sized units for sale.
However, sales for EC units are expected to slow down with the measures, especially since December is traditionally a lull period for the property market.
SINGAPORE: Business receipts of the services industries excluding wholesale & retail trade and accommodation & food services, rose 8 percent in the third quarter of 2013, compared to the previous year.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, business receipts were up 0.7 percent.
Singapore and Zhejiang are to speed up and deepen collaboration in areas including financial services.
The Singapore-Zhejiang Economic and Trade Council (SZETC) will be looking into that effort as it enters its second decade, said the Singapore secretariat for the council International Enterprise (IE) Singapore in a statement on Tuesday.
Europe’s real estate recovery gains momentum
After years of facing a brutal combination of global tail risks and local head winds, European real estate markets appear to be gathering steam in both volume and breadth. While the global property investment market is predicted to grow by around 6 percent this year, European real estate markets generally experienced a more robust year-on-year progress in 2013.
Tokyo is expected to be the strongest market in Asia for real estate investment next year, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacifi 2014, a real estate forecast jointly published by ULI and PwC. After the introduction of dramatic economic reforms, transaction volume picked up significantly in 2013. Buying is expected to continue next year, as Tokyo is ranked second for development prospects for 2014.
The Government will implement three measures for Executive Condominium (EC) developments to bring the terms for ECs closer to that for public housing, and help support a stable and sustainable EC market. This follows a review by MND on the EC Housing Scheme, taking into account feedback from the Our Singapore Conversation on Housing.
Fresh efforts to market SkySuites @ Anson by Allgreen Properties could crank up interest in homes in Tanjong Pagar, long seen as an integral part of Singapore's central business district.
The 360-unit project, in Enggor Street, is being officially "launched" today, although about 200 units have been sold since marketing started a year ago.
The area is undergoing a significant change with numerous projects springing up.
FIVE months after emerging from a major renovation this year, Suntec Singapore Convention Exhibition Centre has released a sterling line-up of key events for 2014.
The company has announced 88 key events for its 2014 line-up, including 16 major medical events, 16 tradeshows, 19 consumer events and 37 international conferences and special events.
The final phase of Singapore’s new landmark integrated development, Asia Square, has been completed some six years since the land for the project was purchased from the Singapore government.
Designed from the outset as a mixed-use development, Asia Square comprises two million sq ft of prime Grade-A office space, a 305-room 5 star hotel and 60,000 sq ft (5574 sqm) of F&B and retail space. The project also features innovative design technology and building features, all of which have helped it attract top global firms looking to manage their regional operations from Singapore.
Singapore needs to narrow its huge current account surplus further and the International Monetary Fund supports the government's plans to raise public spending on infrastructure and social services, the IMF said on Thursday.
"Singapore's external position appears to be stronger than warranted by fundamentals, suggesting the importance of further efforts to narrow the current account surplus over the medium term," the IMF said on Thursday in its annual review of economic developments and policies in the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state.
New malls, new tenants and new shopping concepts set cautiously optimistic outlook as economy recovers
The premier shopping destination in Singapore, Orchard Road, has undergone a S$40 million transformation since works began in April 2008. A host of retail space was added to the vibrant shopping street, bringing in the likes of new-to-market fashion labels, award-winning architecture and novel retail concepts. The unveiled thematic zones of flowers, forests and fruits along the 2.2-kilometre shopping stretch saw an enhanced tropical setting and installation of coordinated street furniture, alongside the repaving of walkways and creation of urban green rooms. Complementing these transformations was the conception of state-of-the-art lighting that is synonymous with the city that never sleeps.
From Capital land - Inside
Ideas that pay – that is the essence of the creative economy, a concept first mooted by author John Howkins in 1991. In real estate, this has translated into innovations that lead to eco-buildings that make business sense and CapitaLand is committed to developing such projects.
Being green future proofs CapitaLand’s properties in anticipation of future higher fuel cost, rising expectations and changes in the physical environment and even legislative requirements.
CapitaLand had set Green rating targets in Singapore for its development projects before these were made compulsory. Over time, it raised its internal bench mark for such ratings to be always above legal requirement. Currently, the rating to be achieved is at least BCA Green Mark GoldPLUS status for all its Singapore projects initiated from 2011 onwards.
Southeast Asia’s property markets are poised to see a surge in investment in 2014, according to a survey of 250 regional real estate developers and investors conducted by the Urban Land Institute. The 2014 “Emerging Trends in Real Estate: Asia-Pacific,” released today in Hong Kong, listed Manila as Asia’s top spot for residential-property development in the coming year. Jakarta came in third, Bangkok fifth and Ho Chi Minh City 10th.
[SINGAPORE] Industrialists and third-party facility providers such as property funds/developers who own industrial properties on JTC-leased sites will now be required to hold these properties for a longer period before they may sell them.
JTC has also extended the minimum occupation period for anchor tenants of third-party facility providers. The changes took effect on Nov 15. The move is aimed at safeguarding Singapore's scarce industrial land resources for optimal use by genuine industrialists and dampening property speculation.
[SINGAPORE] Reflecting the current tepid market for residential land, the government yesterday cut the average development charge (DC) rates for landed and non-landed residential land by one and 2 per cent respectively.
There is no change in DC rates for commercial, hotel and industrial land. The new rates, which take effect today, will apply for the next six months after which there will be another review.
The cut in residential DC rates - which are broken down according to location or "geographical sectors" - ranged from 1.6 to 9.4 per cent, but in most cases, there was no change. Potential home buyers hoping the dip in residential DC rates would translate into price cuts by developers will probably be disappointed as it is chiefly market conditions at the time of a property's launch that determine pricing levels, property agents noted.
Japanese investment bank Nomura has declared that the global financial crisis is finally over, announcing: "The end of the end of the world" is here.
But if there is any lesson that should linger from the 2008 crisis, it is that danger lurks in exuberance.
Indeed, even as developed economies slowly get back on their feet, global markets are one step ahead of them.
