S’pore is tops in industrial competitiveness

Ireland and Japan came in second and third, according to a UN survey

SINGAPORE came out top in terms of industrial competitiveness, a United Nations (UN) survey has found.

The 2009 Industrial Development Report, which ranked 122 markets, said that the city-state took pole position in 2005 and 2000, based on an index that assesses national industrial performance across a five-year period.

Ireland and Japan came in second and third, while Switzerland, Sweden and Germany followed behind.

Developed by the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the competitive industrial performance (CIP) index considers factors such as industrial capacity, manufactured export capacity, industrialisation intensity and export quality.

In the report, UNIDO pointed out that the United States was the only mature industrial power that saw a deterioration in its relative position. This resulted from the improved performance of South Korea and Taiwan.

Among the top 60 countries, the largest improvements were seen in Qatar (up 23 places), Cyprus (18), Iceland (13) and Slovenia (10).

Among the bottom 60, several African countries, including Mozambique, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire, improved their rankings considerably – by 21, 18 and 13 places, respectively.

Manufactured exports in those three countries grew much faster than manufacturing value added (MVA), while the share of primary exports in total exports declined sharply.

East Asia leads the developing world in the CIP index, where the four mature ‘tigers’ continue to dominate the rankings.

However, Hong Kong has dropped in industrial competitiveness, while China continues its impressive performance and is in 26th position in the 2005 ranking.

Sub-Saharan Africa lagged behind all other regions. Most of the region’s countries cluster at the bottom of the CIP index.

Latin America continued to lose ground to East Asia. The best three performers in the region – Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil – lost several positions in the rankings.

South Asia does not perform well on the CIP measure. India leads the CIP in the region but lost three positions in the global rankings, despite its strong information technology and electronics sectors.

In the Middle East and North Africa, Tunisia and Morocco continued to improve in industrial competitiveness.

They have emerged as small dynamic economies and are able to compete in global markets not only in basic manufacturing, but also in sophisticated products.

Source : Business Times – Feb 2009

Singapore tops in innovation and competitiveness

Singapore is the world leader in terms of innovation and competitiveness while South Korea ranks fifth and Japan ninth, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Other countries in the top 10 of the study by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) were Sweden (2), Luxembourg (3), Denmark (4), the United States (6), Finland (7), Britain (8) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) region of Canada, Mexico and the United States (10).

Other Asia-Pacific region countries in the top 40 included Australia (19), China (33) and India (40). The 15 Western European countries in the European Union, the EU-15, ranked 18th.

The study by the ITIF, a non-partisan think-tank based in Washington, used 16 indicators in six key areas to come up with the rankings: human capital, innovation capacity, entrepreneurship, information technology infrastructure, economic policy factors and economic performance.

Measured differently, in terms of progress on the 16 indicators over the last decade, China topped the rankings, and the United States finished 40th, the ITIF said.

Singapore was second followed by Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Russia, Cyprus and Japan. India ranked 14th, South Korea 17th and Australia 32nd. The EU-15 region ranked 28th in terms of change since 1999.

“This study is based on the importance of benchmarking global competitiveness and innovation on a variety of factors, not simply policy factors or economic performance,” said ITIF president Rob Atkinson.

“In today’s global economy, it’s important to look at the competitiveness of the United States, Europe, Asia and the rest of the world based on a variety of factors – not just one.”

“We found that the United States performs well when compared to the rest of the world, leading Europe, but is not the runaway leader that some recent studies have found it to be,” Atkinson said.

The ITIF said that “if the EU-15 region as a whole continues to improve at this faster rate than the United States, it would surpass the United States in innovation-based competitiveness by 2020.”

“All of the 39 other countries and regions studied have made faster progress towards the new knowledge-based innovation economy in recent years than the United States,” it said.

The ITIF outlined “key policies that need to be pursued to turn around the decline in US innovation-based competitiveness.”

They included incentives for companies to innovate at home, being open to high-skill immigration, fostering a digital economy, supporting the kinds of institutions that are critical to innovation and ensuring that regulations and other related government policies support, not retard, innovation.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – Feb 2009

License all agents, say experts

The Consumers Association of Singapore wants an accreditation scheme to be put in place for the property industry.

Its executive director, Mr Seah Seng Choon, said that he has been in talks with various government agencies over the last six months to work on this.

‘The industry is very disorganised and it is really in need of proper regulation to ensure that buyers’ and sellers’ interests are protected,’ he said yesterday.

The accreditation scheme should hold companies responsible for their agents’ conduct. ‘Currently, many say that the agents are their associates and they are not responsible for their conduct. The scheme will put the agents’ conduct under their purview so they can’t deny responsibility.’

He hopes to put the scheme in place after talks with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras), the Housing Board, the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA) and the Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies (SAEA) are completed.

The number of complaints against property agents has been on the rise. Consumers lodged 1,113 complaints related to the property industry in 2007, up from 991 in 2006 and 672 the year before.

Currently, anyone who wants to broker a property deal need only join one of about 1,700 agencies here. No minimum qualifications are needed.

Although agencies may have some form of in-house training, some agents broker deals before they complete the course.

At present, only agencies are licensed by the Iras. Agents operating under them are not. There are an estimated 30,000 agents in the industry.

Mr Jeff Foo, president of the IEA, wants individual agents to be licensed so that they are accountable for their actions.

Errant agents fired from an agency can now simply ‘waltz into another licensed agency to continue his bad practice’, he said.

‘It’s time for a top-down approach to legislate agents so that the market will correct itself. If not, there will still be cowboys.’

Mr Seah agrees that agents should be licensed, and urged the Iras to issue individual licences.

Besides also calling for the licensing of individual agents, the SAEA wants the Common Examination for Salesperson (CES) to be made a compulsory entry qualification.

Currently, agencies have their own in-house training courses. SAEA also conducts a Common Examination for House Agents and the CES for interested agents.

But industry experts said the problem is that there are too many schemes and none is mandatory.

The IEA also has a central register that displays on its website the names of more than 20,000 agents. This allows the public to verify if someone is employed by an agency he claims to represent.

The registry also alerts bosses if an agent is working for more than one company and if he had been blacklisted before.

But it is not compulsory for agents to sign up with the registry. Said Mr Peter Koh, chairman of the SAEA: ‘At this point we need the authorities to come in. If they don’t, it’s hard for the industry to self-regulate.’

Source : Sunday Times – Feb 2009

Private housing supply shrinking as prices fall

Developers delay projects’ expected completion dates to beyond 2011

DEVELOPERS appear to be turning their backs on the property market, deferring more projects as property prices keep falling.

Private residential property prices fell 4.7 per cent last year. This, after rising over 30 per cent in 2007. On a quarterly basis, prices fell 6.1 per cent.

And according to statistics from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the number of private residential homes expected to be completed between 2009 and 2011 is now also expected to be lower.

URA said that as at Q4 2008, there were 64,982 private residential units in the pipeline. Of these, about 31,000 units were expected to be completed between 2009 and 2011, lower than the pipeline supply of about 34,600 private residential units as at Q3 2008.

URA said that the decline in the pipeline supply was mainly because a number of developers had in Q4 2008, made adjustments to the expected year of completion of their private housing projects to beyond 2011.

DTZ senior director for research Chua Chor Hoon said that while developers have already been delaying completions over the last few quarters, the momentum increased in Q4 2008. She also believes that with the recent Budget announcements giving developers more leeway to delay completion of their projects, ‘there would be further adjustments to improve the supply-demand balance’.

Still, she notes that 10,448 private housing units are expected to be completed this year, which is higher than the past 10-year average of 8,700 units. ‘These projects are at the advanced stage of construction and cannot be delayed. These would add pressure on prices and rentals.’

While the property tax deferment on approved development sites is expected to cost the government $290 million over the next two years, Knight Frank director of research and development Nicholas Mak said that this will not have much impact on the supply pipeline – but only because many developers have already decided to do this. He does, however, believe that it will help developers bear the holding costs.

Barclays economist Leong Wai Ho added: ‘I don’t think these (Budget) measures per se will reverse the slide in the property market. The dominant factors in the near term are the increase in white-collar unemployment and falling household income.’

Poorer economic prospects are more likely to persuade developers to defer projects.

Already, of the 64,982 uncompleted units in the pipeline, 43,414 units were still unsold. These comprised 3,880 units that had been launched for sale by developers and 14,386 units which had the pre-requisite conditions for sale and could be launched for sale immediately. The remaining 25,148 units with planning approvals did not have the pre-requisite conditions for sale.

Prices of non-landed properties fell by 6.3 per cent in Q4 2008 compared with the decline of 2.5 per cent in the previous quarter. For the full year, prices of non-landed properties fell by 5.3 per cent.

Prices of non-landed properties in Core Central Region1 (CCR) fell by 6.5 per cent in the quarter while prices of non-landed properties in Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) fell by 6.2 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively. For the whole 2008, prices of non-landed properties in CCR, RCR and OCR fell by 5.6, 4.7 and 2.9 per cent respectively.

Mr Mak said that despite the mass market sector experiencing the slightest decline in home prices, a drop in prices in OCR reflected that buying interest for mass-market private homes has waned. ‘Prices of mass-market homes were initially thought to be able to hold better than high-end private residential properties in 2008, as some buyers settle for mass-market private homes for lower-cost alternatives. However, the cautious homebuying sentiments have become so significant that some homeseekers chose to purchase HDB resale flats,’ he added.

Rental decline accelerated, easing by 5.3 per cent in Q4 2008 quarter-on-quarter. Mr Mak noted: ‘On a yearly basis, the 2 per cent growth rate in 2008, though still positive, is a far cry from the double-digit expansion observed in the last two years.’

Last year saw the total number of homes sold fall to 13,593 units, down from a record high of 40,654 units in 2007.

CBRE Research executive director Li Hiaw Ho notes that the fall in sales volume was seen in both the primary and secondary markets, with only 419 new homes, 965 resale homes and 203 sub-sales registered in the fourth quarter. ‘The decline in sales momentum was indeed significant as both home-buyers and developers retreated from the market,’ noted Mr Li.

For the whole year, the 4,264 new private homes sold was a record low, and made up only 29 per cent of the 14,811 new homes sold in 2007. Similarly, a total of 7,701 resale homes were transacted last year, compared with 20,980 sold in 2007. Sub-sales fell to 1,628 in 2008 from 4,097 in 2007.

Source : Business Times – Jan 2009

Property investment sales slow to a trickle

Players wary of big bang deals amid weaker sentiment, tighter financing

THE weak property market sentiment and tight financing have combined to compress the total investment sales of Singapore real estate to just $17.8 billion, year-to-date. This is a third of the record $54 billion achieved for the whole of last year, according to CB Richard Ellis data.

Just $290 million of investment sales have taken place in Q4 this year (up to Dec 9).

Investment sales are a gauge of developers’ and investors’ medium- to long-term confidence in the property sector.

CBRE defines such deals as transactions with a value of at least $5 million, comprising government and private sales of land and buildings (both strata and en bloc). It also includes change of ownership of real estate via share sales.

Market watchers are not upbeat about the investment sales climate in the near future. CBRE forecasts the tally for next year could come in at a modest $5-10 billion, a level last seen in 2004.

CBRE executive director Jeremy Lake says: ‘With market uncertainty and economic risks appearing to be on the downside, many investors will remain on the sidelines of the property market, waiting for signs of price stabilisation before investing. With the global economy likely to enter a protracted downturn on the back of the deepening financial crisis, transaction volumes in property are expected to remain low over the next few quarters.’

Agreeing, DTZ senior director Shaun Poh says: ‘I would not be surprised if we don’t see any major transactions for the next three to six months. Potential investors are waiting for property prices to come down. Even property funds that have raised money can’t make acquisitions because of the difficulty of raising the debt component to pay for the purchase – despite trying to source for financing in overseas markets like Hong Kong and London in some instances.’

CBRE’s Mr Lake too notes that ‘as credit market conditions worsen and lenders further reduce their risk appetite, capital available for property investment would become even scarcer’.

‘In addition, cheap investment opportunities may arise in other asset classes, diverting capital away from property,’ he added.

The property consultancy group’s quarterly breakdown of investment sales shows that they have been sliding since Q3 last year, when a whopping $16.5 billion of deals were sealed. The performance in each quarter of this year has been lower than the corresponding periods of 2007, sliding to $290 million this quarter.

While the residential sector still accounted for the lion’s share or 35 per cent of total investment sales deals so far this year, this was lower than the 61 per cent share last year. Also, the $6.25 billion transacted value of residential investment sales year-to-date (as of Dec 9) was 81 per cent below the full-year 2007 figure.

The collective sales market was dormant as developers remained mindful of the lukewarm response to new residential launches, rising construction costs and tighter credit measures, CBRE observed. Only seven collective sales worth a total $371 million have been sealed so far this year, against the record $12.4 billion from 111 transactions in 2007.

The Good Class Bungalow (GCB) market has also slowed considerably in 2008. A total of 48 GCB transactions worth $763.7 million have been done this year, down from $1.2 billion from 90 deals in 2007.

Office investment sales of $5.4 billion so far this year are 62 per cent below the $14.3 billion for full-year 2007. Ongoing turmoil in the global economy contributed to further deterioration in business sentiment, which subsequently had an impact on the office leasing market and capital flows in the local office sector.

‘This resulted in no major en bloc office transactions in the second half of 2008. Hence, the office investment market is expected to remain quiet in the next few months,’ CBRE said.

Sizeable office investment deals in the first half of this year included One George Street ($1.7 billion or $2,600 per square foot of net lettable area), Singapore Power Building ($1.01 billion or $1,836 psf), The Atrium @ Orchard ($839.8 million or $2,249 psf), Hitachi Tower ($811 million or $2,901 psf) and 71 Robinson Road ($743.75 million or $3,125 psf).

Bucking the trend was the industrial property sector which contributed $3.32 billion of investment sales deals this year, 66 per cent higher than last year and also the best showing since 2002. About half of the tally for this year was accounted for by JTC Corporation’s $1.7 billion divestment of its industrial portfolio to a joint venture involving Mapletree Investments, Arcapita and Mapletree Industrial Fund.

Source : Business Times – Dec 2008

Limits to what govt can do, says Mah

It cannot dictate to banks on loans or work against market forces on property

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan told developers yesterday ‘there are limits to what the Government can and should do’ to ensure the long-term stability and smooth functioning of the property market.

‘For instance, we cannot dictate to banks that they should extend loans to companies or individuals with weak financial standing,’ he said.

‘We also cannot work against market forces and try to prop up property prices artificially. Such efforts are not sustainable and will not be beneficial to the health of the property market in the long run.’

Speaking at the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore’s 49th anniversary dinner at the Shangri-La Hotel, Mr Mah said any action the Government takes must be carefully calibrated.

‘Any measure seen to be knee-jerk or excessive might even weigh market sentiment down further,’ he said. ‘It is in our interest to ensure that property prices move in line with economic fundamentals, as this affects home ownership, asset values, retirement savings and other sectors of the economy.’

But he gave the assurance that the Government will keep a close watch on the situation and will not hesitate to take further measures if necessary.

Last month, the Ministry of National Development (MND) suspended Government Land Sales through the confirmed list until the end of first-half 2009.

Since then, MND has received various suggestions from Redas and other stakeholders on how to help the property sector. ‘We will study these suggestions as we continue to monitor the property market closely,’ Mr Mah said yesterday.

He also told developers that with slower economic growth ‘it is inevitable that demand will be lower and (property) prices will soften’. The official private home price index slipped 2.4 per cent in the third quarter from Q2.

On a more upbeat note, Mr Mah said the committed pipeline of major projects secured in the past few years will create a steady stream of job opportunities and sustain capital spending in the economy in the next few years.

‘At Marina Bay alone, we have invested close to $5.7 billion in infrastructure and we will continue to invest to support the future growth of Marina Bay and to enhance connectivity with the existing city,’ he said.

The Government will also continue with several key infrastructure and housing projects to support medium to long-term economic growth and social needs, as well as to rejuvenate older estates. Mr Mah stressed the importance of the real estate sector.

First, real estate services and construction together accounted for about 9.6 per cent of overall GDP and 13 per cent of total employment in Singapore in 2007.

Second, the health of the property market affects other major sectors of the economy. ‘Third, as a country with the highest rate of home ownership of more than 90 per cent, the property sector is where most of us have invested our hard-earned lifelong savings,’ Mr Mah said.

‘Our economic prospects in the medium term and our fundamentals remain strong. I urge you to continue building up capabilities within the industry and use this period to strengthen your competitive advantages so you are well prepared to capitalise on opportunities that may emerge when the current economic uncertainties subside.’

Business Times – Nov 2008

Asian property markets on investors’ radar

 

Top picks are Japan, Australia, China, HK and Singapore

Asia’s battered property markets are starting to attract strong interest from investors, with Japan, Australia, China, Hong Kong and Singapore among their top picks in the region.

Property fund manager LaSalle Investment Management, which raised a US$3 billion fund in August, expects Hong Kong and Singapore to recover first from the financial turmoil.

Said regional director David Edwards: ‘We are seeing a decline in values throughout the region. There are properties that are being sold at much lower prices than the market’s perception of their values.’

ING Real Estate plans to double its investments in Asia to US$1 billion, with most of its investors in Europe wanting to diversity into the region, said the firm’s Asia-Pacific managing director, Nicholas Wong.

ING invested mostly in China and Japan, he said, and was now marketing a US$750 million fund to build Chinese housing. Several Asian markets were already 30-40 per cent off their peaks, he said.

And a Reuters poll last week found that analysts believe that Hong Kong and Singapore prices are set to fall by at least a fifth in the next year.

‘Most of our clients are from the UK and Europe and traditionally, they invest only at home,’ Mr Wong said. ‘Now, they want global exposure and most of them want to go to Asia for diversification.’

With Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore in recession, Asian developers are battling falling demand and tighter credit, even after efforts by central banks to encourage lending by slashing key rates.

In Hong Kong, the de facto central bank has lowered its base rate twice in the last month, while in China, monetary authorities have cut borrowing costs three times since mid-September.

‘The risk of bankruptcies are still higher throughout Asia and most financial institutions are not out of the woods yet,’ said Kelvin Lau, economist at Standard Chartered Bank. ‘That’s why overall lending conditions have not yet returned to normal.’

In Japan, more than 400 small and medium-sized developers have gone out of business this year as the residential market slowed and as credit dried up. But the tough environment is not stopping property investors from prowling the region for bargains.

‘The present environment is incredibly difficult. As a business, we are taking a cautious approach. But we are still looking,’ said LaSalle’s Mr Edwards.

LaSalle has so far invested US$10 billion in Asia and nearly half the amount is in Japan, he said. The company is also keen on Australia and China, he added.

Other investors were optimistic that some property segments would recover soon. China’s ailing housing market, for instance, may stabilise in about six months and recover in two years, before most other Asian countries, said Cheng Soon Lau, managing director at Invesco Real Estate Asia.

Invesco is planning to invest directly in China, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, buying office blocks and building housing.

Managers of securities funds are becoming less worried that investors will withdraw money, according to Chris Reilly, director of property for Asia at Henderson Global Investors. ‘Right now, there is really not much redemption,’ he said. ‘The cycle of redemption was more severe in the last 2007 and early 2008, the period when retail investors are quite scared.’

Business Times -  Nov 2008

Going concern doubts removed: Sands

Completion of stock and warrant offering provides it US$1.2b

Las Vegas Sands Corp said yesterday that doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern have been removed after the completion of an offering of common stock, preferred stock and warrants provided about US$2.1 billion of additional capital.

The Las Vegas-based casino operator’s independent accountants, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the actions taken on Friday have helped to erase worries about the company’s ability to continue to operate.

Las Vegas Sands also said it reissued 2007 financials and now feels it has enough liquidity and capital resources to fund ongoing operations and fulfil its new development plans.

On Friday, Las Vegas Sands said it sold 200 million common shares for US$5.50 apiece for US$1.1 billion, which included 18.2 million shares purchased by the underwriters. The company also sold 5.2 million units consisting of one share of preferred stock plus a warrant to buy stock at US$6 a share. The units sold for US$100 each.

Founder and chief executive Sheldon Adelson and his wife also purchased roughly 5.25 million shares of preferred stock and warrants at the same terms as the public offering. The warrants included in the public offering and sale to the Adelsons could raise an additional US$1.04 billion.

In addition, the couple converted US$475 million in notes they purchased last month into 86.4 million common shares at a conversion price of US$5.50 apiece.

Las Vegas Sands did not seek shareholder approval for its financing plan, claiming an exception in New York Stock Exchange rules, even though it more than doubles the number of outstanding shares and significantly dilutes shareholder value.

The company warned that any delay caused by getting shareholder approval ‘would seriously jeopardise the ability to complete the offerings as well as the financial viability of the company’.

Las Vegas Sands said it planned to use proceeds to help fund construction and development projects, which it said would be significantly slowed down.

On Nov 10, the company said it would suspend construction at its US$600 million St. Regis condominium tower in Las Vegas and two sites on the Cotai Strip in Macau.

Several other casino operators have scaled back or abandoned development plans due to economic and credit conditions.

Las Vegas Sands is also looking to address some in-house concerns, disclosing in an SEC filing last week that its board created a committee to evaluate the company’s decision-making and resolve disputes between Mr Adelson and other senior managers.

The filing said the committee was formed to address ‘a loss of confidence’ by managers in how the company is being run.

Source : Business Times – 18 Nov 2008

Singapore in ‘better shape’ to face crisis

 

Measures put in place after 1997 Asian financial crisis will help S’pore fare better now: Iswaran

SINGAPORE is in a better shape to weather the current downturn, thanks to lessons learnt during the Asian financial crisis.

This is the view of Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Mr S. Iswaran, who spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the Global Indian Diaspora Conference at Suntec City yesterday.

Last Friday, figures from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) indicated that the economy shrank in the third quarter, declining by 0.5 per cent from a year ago.

The local economy has contracted quarter-on-quarter in three of the last four quarters, making this the first technical recession in Singapore since 2002.

MTI also lowered its forecast for full-year growth to ‘around 3 per cent’, down from 4 to 5 per cent.

But Mr Iswaran reckons that Singapore is prepared to deal with the downturn.

‘If you look at our economic numbers, there are particular sectors that have been affected by the general economic malaise in developed economies, particularly in manufacturing,’ he said.

‘But at the same time, other sectors are holding up. The services sector is doing reasonably well; there are also business services, transport…and so on.’

He cited measures that were put in place to tighten Asia’s financial systems after the Asian financial crisis in 1997, as a critical catalyst that has helped reinforce Asia.

‘And it’s not just the financial systems but also our corporate sector in terms of the level of debt it took on and how it structured its balance sheets. So from that point of view, (we are) more robust,’ he added.

But he also cautioned that Singapore will not be immune and moderation of growth is expected.

‘When there is a downturn in developed markets like the US, Europe and Japan…we cannot be immune,’ he added.

‘The real economic effect will affect us in Singapore, but yes, I think we are in a better position to withstand it, compared to the period of 1997.’

He said MTI will continue to work with other agencies to monitor the situation.

‘We want to keep our hand on the pulse, and make sure that appropriate steps are in place, or taken in good time to facilitate and help the industries where it is needed.’

Sunday Times – 12 Oct 2008

S’pore is 4th cheapest place to raise expat kids

 

40% of foreigners polled say it is cheaper here than in their countries

A GLOBAL survey has found Singapore to be among the countries where it is cheapest for expatriates to raise their children.

Singapore emerged fourth cheapest, after Spain, India and China, in a survey by HSBC Bank International of 870 expatriate parents across 14 places. In the poll, the cost of raising a child included – but was not restricted to – the cost of education.

Almost four in 10 of those in Singapore who were polled said it was cheaper raising junior here than in their home countries.

Another 25 per cent said the cost was ‘about the same’.

At the other end of the spectrum, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong are the most expensive places to raise children.

The survey also asked these expatriate parents to rate the countries they are living in, in areas such as the amount of time their children spend studying and being outdoors, and whether they think their children will remain in their adopted country upon growing up.

Using these criteria, Singapore came out tops in Asia and fifth on the list of 14 places for expatriates to raise children. It lost out to Spain, France, Germany and Canada in the ranking of the 14 places. Within Asia, India was second but eighth on the list of 14; China was third in Asia and ninth on the list.

Australian publisher Katrina Bingham-Hall, 43, who arrived in Singapore five years ago, is bringing up five children aged between four and 14.

With the older four attending government schools here, she spends less than $1,000 a year on their school fees, and is all praise for how little the ‘brilliant’ education system here costs.

Back home, it would cost her about $700 a year to put just one child through public school.

She added: ‘Singapore’s education system is streets ahead of Australia’s. The teachers here are far more dedicated and the education standards are far better.’

As for American Tracy Waychoff, 46, she chose Singapore when her husband was offered a choice of postings here and in Brazil, China and Mexico.

The mother of two teenagers said: ‘I know my children will be safe in Singapore and drugs are not a concern.’

Straits Times – 11 Oct 2008