Daily Briefing: Construction demand still strong; Sembcorp needn’t suffer SembMarine issues

And here are factors which could boost housing demand.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) expects this years construction demand to reach between $27 billion and $34 billion, of which 65 percent will come from the public sector or the highest proportion of construction demand since 2002. Find out more here.

If you can’t short the real thing, maybe you shouldn’t bother. That could be the case with Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine , an oil rig builder whose major customer, Brazil’s Petrobras , is embroiled in a corruption probe. Short interest is so intense, the cost to borrow shares was as high as 16% recently. So investors have turned instead to Sembcorp Industries , the parent company, which owns 61% of Sembcorp Marine. Read more here.

Firstly, the country could review its long-term population target established in 2013, where growth was capped in response to the infrastructure shortfall seen in recent years. Recall that population growth was capped in response to Singapores infrastructure shortfall in recent years. As Singapore continues its build infrastructure aggressively, including housing, there could be room for a review of the target, noted Maybank Kim Eng. Find out more here.