Daily Briefing: One in 5 sold ECs were purchased at above $1m; Grab to stop car-pooling services during late night hours

And commodities trader Zenrock Group forms JV with China's state-owned marine builder to buy fuel.

From iCompare Loan:

Executive condominium units sold at $1m and above comprised 20% or 3,132 of the total ECs sold for the past five years, OrangeTee and Tie said. This is an increase compared to the 497 units sold for the same price range from 2008 to 2012.

For the first half of this year alone, almost 40% of ECs (366 units) were sold at the million-dollar price tag. Million-dollar buys may become the norm as EC land prices have risen. Rivercove Residences, with a land cost of $355 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), sold more than half its units at over a million dollars each. The land cost of the yet-to-be launched project at Sumang Walk is even higher at $583 psf ppr.

The firm also cautioned that some buyers of ECs may be overstretching their affordability with their million-dollar purchases.

The demand for executive condominium improved with the positive sentiments in the residential property market after the government relaxed some of the market curbs in March 2017. The hunger for EC sites was evident in the 17 bids and record-breaking top bid attracted by the Sumang Walk Executive Condominium Government Land Sale site when tender closed in February 2018.

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From Deal Street Asia:

Grab will halt its car-pooling services from 1 am to 5 am starting October amidst feedback from drivers who encountered intoxicated commuters vomiting in their cars or arguing with them during the ride.

GrabHitch enables private car drivers to offer a ride to passengers heading in the same direction for a fee. GrabShare, the carpooling service offered by Grab‘s commercial drivers, has been suspended during the same overnight hours since June.

“Grab has always taken a proactive approach to ensure that our driver-partners and passengers will have a safe and positive driving/riding experience,” the company said.

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From Reuters:

Singapore-based commodities trader Zenrock Group inked deal with the marine construction unit of the state-owned China Communications Construction Company to acquire fuel.

Marine Construction & Development Co (MCD), which is involved in major infrastructure projects around the world as part of China’s Belt and Road initiative, wants to streamline its process for buying fuel, said Chief Financial Officer Jin Xinxiang.

Zenrock, an oil and petrochemicals trader with offices in China and Indonesia, hopes the deal will help its expansion outside Asia.

Zenrock president Xie Chun said the firm is looking to tap into markets including Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the United States because Asia’s growing refining capacity is expected to leave the region with an excess supply of refined products such as gasoline and diesel.

Read more here.