News Highlights Monday 9 June 2008

Makeover to turn Paya Lebar into commercial node

The neighbourhood around the Paya Lebar MRT station will be transformed into Paya Lebar Central, a suburban commercial node nestled between the city centre and the Tampines commercial hub, as part of the URA draft masterplan. About 12ha of land around Sims Avenue and Geylang Road will be developed, yielding some 5.4 million sq ft of commercial space. More than half of this space will be for offices and the rest will be for shops and hotels. Some upcoming developments include landscaped public spaces around the Geylang River, a pedestrian mall along Geylang Road, and a new plaza square and civic centre next to the rebuilt Geylang Serai Market. Over time, from about five years from now, properties in the area will almost definitely become more valuable. There are currently no plans for new housing sites in Paya Lebar. This, however, may be a boon to existing homes in the area. Their prices and rentals are expected to rise, as the workers that will flow into the commercial hub look for homes nearby to buy or rent. Latest transactions for developments along Haig Road, such as Butterworth 8 and Haig Garden, have fetched prices of around $1,000 psf.

-The Sunday Times, P26 – 8th June




Views from the top – S’pore upgrades

As Paya Lebar Central increasingly becomes an important employment centre, the resident population in the public housing estates of Geylang, Aljunied/Paya Lebar, Marine Parade and Bedok would benefit by forming the labour base for this new commercial node. Existing commercial buildings in the vicinity of Paya Lebar Central could also witness a strengthening of value over time as the area becomes a recognised place for work, shopping and community activities.

- Pauline Goh, Managing Director, CB Richard Ellis Singapore

- The Business Times, P12-13





Expat schools make room for growing population

The Australian International School's new campus extension in Lorong Chuan is the latest among international schools here. The fact that it needed this add-on facility points to the booming expatriate population here: many international schools are full, and popular ones have long waiting lists. The number of expatriates here went up nearly 10% in one year, from 798,000 in 2005 to 875,500 in 2006 and the demand for places in international schools is expected to grow. All eight international schools contacted have either expanded or will do so in the next few years. The Economic Development Board is facilitating the expansion of the German European School and the United World College's second campus.

- The Straits Times, P4




No signs of a recession, says Tharman

Singapore is not heading for a recession, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, although fuel price increases in Malaysia would lead to discomfort. He added that it was fortunate that rice prices globally were going down.

- The Straits Times, H4



BRIC economies gaining clout in wake of crisis: Goldman analyst
The Western financial crisis means that the fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) will grow their share of the world economy even faster than originally forecast, said Goldman Sachs. Russia, China and India have all grown on average 2% more than forecasted.

- The Business Times, P2




China raises reserve-requirement ratio to record high of 17.5%
China's central bank ordered lenders to set aside more money as reserve, the fifth such move this year. The reserve-requirement ratio would be raised by 0.5 percentage points on June 15, and another 0.5 percentage points on June 25. This will bring the ratio to a record high of 17.5 per cent. The move would help the country reduce inflationary pressure and to control excessive investment. The consumer price index (CPI), the main inflation gauge, was up 8.5 per cent in April from a year earlier.

- The Business Times, P21



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