Daily Briefing: Singapore among most costly for business travel; Banks weather house price slump

And SLA launches free online service to access property title information.

Singapore is the fifth most expensive location in Asia Pacific for business travel, while Hong Kong is the most expensive, according to data research provider ECA International. Business travel in Singapore is 20 per cent cheaper than in Hong Kong, thanks to the comparatively lower costs of hotel accommodation, which usually accounts for the bulk of any daily allowance, ECA said in a statement on Wednesday (31 August). Read more here.

Singapore’s banks are strong enough to withstand a severe downturn in the country’s property market, according to Fitch Ratings. “We believe Singapore’s private home prices will weaken further amid an influx of new homes, having declined 9.4 percent from their peak in September 2013; signs of an oversupplied market have emerged, with (the) vacancy rate of non-landed private homes rising to its 11-year high of 10.4 percent,” it said. Find out more here.

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has launched a new online service called MyProperty, which allows homeowners to view their own title deeds and boundary plans for free. Previously, owners would have to pay a fee of between $5.25 and $16 to view such information via the SLA’s Integrated Land Information Service (INLIS), or over the counter. Read more here.