Monday, March 28, 2011

Slight haze expected in S'pore over next few days

Slight haze expected in S'pore over next few days
By Tan Qiuyi | Posted: 27 March 2011 1215 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore may experience slight haze over the next few days.

The National Environment Agency said satellite pictures over Sumatra detected isolated hot spots, but no smoke plumes were observed.

The 24-hour PSI reading at 4pm on Saturday was 35, which is within the "good" range.

Wet weather conditions are expected over the region in the next few days, although a slight haze may still be seen.

Callers to the MediaCorp hotline said the skies appear hazy, while others complained of a burning smell.

-CNA/ac

- wong chee tat :)

Private home prices down slightly in Feb: NUS Index

Private home prices down slightly in Feb: NUS Index
By Chris Howells | Posted: 28 March 2011 1412 hrs

SINGAPORE: Private home prices in Singapore saw a small decline last month, after the government introduced stringent measures in January to cool speculation.

The NUS Private Residential Price Index, which measures prices of non-landed private homes, fell 0.4 per cent compared with that of January.

Prices of properties outside of the central area softened 1.5 per cent from previous month.

But the index for central area homes saw an increase of one per cent.

In January, the government mandated higher stamp duties for sellers and asked banks to curb credit to those who already have outstanding mortgages.

Analysts said the latest data from the National University of Singapore's Institute of Real Estate Studies show that the cooling measures are beginning to have an impact.

Credo Real Estate Residential Services head Liang Thow Ming said: "I don't think it is extremely meaningful until we can see further trends from now onwards.

"But in a way, it does suggest that the market has taken a breather, as compared to how it was behaving last year and in January this year, and that the government measures might finally be seeing some impact".

-CNA/wk

- wong chee tat :)

Hillsong - At the Cross



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