Property developers CapitaLand and Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) have secured financing facilities worth nearly S$2 billion for their collective purchase of Farrer Court estate in prime district 10. CapitaLand and HPL, along with their partners, had bought Farrer Court for S$1.34 billion last June. The financing facilities will be used to refinance the acquisition costs of the purchase, as well as to...

Monetary authority acts to curb inflation The Singapore dollar climbed to a record high yesterday after a surprise tightening in monetary policy aimed at combating inflation. The currency jumped 1.7 per cent in Asian trade to touch a high of $1.3567 in afternoon trade - its largest single-day gain since October 1998. While a rising Singapore dollar can provide consumers some respite from spiralling...

Singapore’s economy has not only averted a technical recession but bounced back with a vengeance in the first quarter of this year. Flash estimates show GDP grew 7.2 per cent year-on-year, thanks largely to a big swing in pharmaceutical exports. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew a surprising 16.9 per cent. However, experts warn about getting too excited. This flash estimate may not give...

Three-year wait likely, so couples in a hurry will have to resort to resale market AS MORE flats come on stream under the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) build-to-order (BTO) scheme, the board says such units will be its main source of supply in future, and would-be home buyers would have to factor in a three-year wait. This is because construction work on a project under the scheme will only...

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) said build-to-order (BTO) flats will constitute the main supply of new flats going forward. HDB also plans to build another 5,000 units under this scheme, between now and September 2008. The move comes as HDB’s stock of unsold flats is progressively being taken up. During the days of excess supply of HDB flats, there were over 25,000 ready-built flats waiting...

Singapore’s economy grew an annual 7.2 per cent in the first quarter, faster than the 5.4 per cent expansion recorded in the previous three months, the government said on Thursday. Last quarter’s performance was also better than economists’ average growth forecast of a 6.4 per cent expansion. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, real gross domestic product for the first...

Singapore’s economy is expected to see a rebound in the first quarter. Economists are forecasting GDP to expand by some 6.8% on year, swinging up from the 4.8% decline in the previous three months. They said the boost will come from a rebound in the pharmaceutical and electronics manufacturing sector. But going foreward, they expect growth numbers to go downhill. The construction sector is one of the...

The Singapore economy probably rebounded in the first quarter, escaping a technical recession. A Today strawpoll of seven private sector economists shows all those surveyed expect the Government to announce positive GDP growth, when it unveils flash GDP estimates for the first quarter tomorrow. “But the question is: is there a sustainable demand in the pipeline?” said Mr Vishnu Varathan, an economist...

Former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the drop in American home prices will probably end “well before” early next year as the number of houses on the market diminishes, aiding an economic rebound. “It will not be until early 2009 that we will be close to having eliminated most of this home inventory,” Mr Greenspan said yesterday. “But it is very likely that home prices will...

Asian inflation and a weaker greenback are driving up US consumer prices The free ride for American consumers is ending. For two generations, Americans have imported cheap goods from low-wage countries - first Japan and Korea, then China and now places like Vietnam and India. But inflation in the developing world, especially Asia, is threatening this. And it is not just limited to China - where rising...