Monthly Archives: March 2010

Govt to build more Executive Condos if there is demand: Mah Bow Tan

Posted on 13 Mar 2010 | Comments Off on Govt to build more Executive Condos if there is demand: Mah Bow Tan

The government will build more Executive Condominiums (ECs) to meet the housing needs of what is described as the “sandwiched group”.

For this year, ECs will make up 10 per cent of about 12,000 new flats to be built.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said this on Channel NewsAsia’s programme, “Talking Point”. He was responding to a question on prices for the market for ECs, which is regarded as the intermediate market between HDB flats and private apartments.

He said: “The EC market is really a hybrid. It is HDB in the first five years, which will morph into private after ten years. And the reason is we wanted to cater to the so-called sandwiched group – the S$8,000 to S$10,000 group. So that is the reason why the income ceiling for ECs is not S$8,000 but S$10,000.

“And we still give the S$30,000 grant. So if you are a person, couple who are earning say S$9,000, ideally that is the housing type for you. It is well-designed; it is in good location. It is something that would have all the amenities. And at the same time, you still enjoy the grant.

“So that is the reason why we are putting up more ECs on the market. We are catering for 80 per cent of the population, so EC is one housing form that we are watching, and we have recently let out two tenders. And if there is a market and there is a demand, we will let out more.”

This special edition of “Talking Point” can be viewed on Sunday night at 10.15pm on Channel NewsAsia.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 13 Mar 2010

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S’pore ranked 4th in financial centres survey

Posted on 13 Mar 2010 | Comments Off on S’pore ranked 4th in financial centres survey

SINGAPORE is closing the gap on London and New York as a leading financial centre, according to a new ranking.

The poll placed the two heavyweights in joint top spot but London has lost 15 points since the index was published last September while New York has gained one. Both scored 775 out of 1,000.

But Asian cities are fast catching up in the Global Financial Centres Index.

Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo all registered double-digit gains to close the gap between New York and London and the rest to its narrowest since the survey began in 2007.

Hong Kong gained 10 points to be third while Singapore added 14 to stay fourth. Tokyo gained 18 points to leapfrog Zurich and Shenzhen into fifth place.

Four of the top 10 financial centres are now in Asia.

The six-monthly index is compiled by the Z/Yen Group think-tank and published by the City of London. It combines a survey of financial professionals with factors such as tax rates, airport satisfaction, office occupancy costs and stock exchange capitalisation.

Mr Stuart Fraser, chairman of the policy committee of the City of London, said the survey responses were more optimistic compared with those six months or a year ago.

However, he added: ‘Their optimism is still muted by the prospect of the challenges to be faced over the next few years in reaction to the financial crisis, and any reading of relative rankings needs to take account of a very large uncertainty factor.’

Among the top cities, Singapore was perceived to be riding out the financial crisis with more resilience than the others.

Respondents were asked which financial centres they believed were suffering most from the crisis. New York was named 110 times and London, 89.

In contrast, Hong Kong received less than 20 per cent of the mentions of New York while Singapore received fewer than 10 mentions overall.

Source : Straits Times – 13 Mar 2010

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