Daily Briefing: 7 ex-HUDC estates already sold en-bloc; SkillsFuture initiative could be helping IT workers

And here's why you should look deeper into industrial REITs.

From PropertyGuru via Yahoo!:

Four former Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC) estates have changed hands so far this year via en bloc sale — the highest in any year, reported Channel NewsAsia.

These are Rio Casa, Eunosville, Serangoon Ville and Tampines Court.

This brought the overall number of ex- HUDC estates sold through collective sale to 11, but the seven remaining ones are already at some point in the en bloc process as of Monday (3 October).

Read more here.

From Human Resources Online:

In recent years, the Singapore government has been a strong advocate of lifelong learning, pushing forward various SkillsFuture programmes and frameworks over time. But, do these programmes actually work?

Thankfully, according to an independent research commissioned by Robert Half, more than six in 10 (61%) Singaporean CIOs felt the government’s SkillsFuture initiative has helped IT staff within their organisation to upgrade essential skillsets. At the same time, 43% believed it has helped alleviate the crucial skills shortage in the city-state’s IT sector.

The research also found that almost one in three (31%) CIOs felt the initiative has helped promote Singapore as an attractive place to work for IT professionals.

Read more here.

From The Motley Fool:

In its latest quarterly filing, it said that the overall industrial property market was soft despite improvement in the manufacturing sector. Global trade uncertainties, higher operating costs and increased supply coming on-stream continued to weigh down on occupancy rates, rental rates and prices of industrial space.

However, it added that it is “encouraging to note that new supply forecast is expected to fall off after 2017 amidst improving macroeconomic indicators”.

Read more here.