Industry News

Singapore’s residential property market experienced a slowdown in Q4 2025, with new home sales dropping by 10.6% quarter-on-quarter to 2,940 units, according to a report by Savills. The number of property launches also saw a significant decline, falling by 37.2% to 2,632 units during the same period.

Secondary sales, which had seen growth in the previous two quarters, eased by 8.7% to 3,759 units. The report highlighted a notable decrease in non-landed residential sales by Singaporeans, which fell by 15.5% to 4,900 units. Sales to Singapore permanent residents showed a moderate contraction of 1.5%, totalling 929 units.

Despite the overall decline, prices in Savills’ basket of luxury non-landed private residential projects continued to rise, with a 0.5% increase to S$2,640 per square foot in Q4 2025. The report suggests that a broader market repricing may take one to two years, although some repricing is expected within the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Core Central Region (CCR) in 2026.

Looking ahead, Savills projects a 3% rise in private residential prices in 2026, as selected RCR launches are anticipated to see prices overlap into CCR territory. This trend indicates a potential shift in market dynamics, focusing more on these central regions.

AgileAsia and SMU Academy have announced a partnership to deliver sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) programmes in Singapore. This collaboration combines AgileAsia’s industry expertise with SMU Academy’s academic framework to offer practitioner-led courses aimed at equipping organisations and professionals with practical sustainability skills.

The partnership will see AgileAsia’s specialists and SMU Academy’s academic leaders co-develop certified courses. These programmes will focus on practical skills such as climate risk assessment, ESG reporting, and organisational change, addressing the growing demand for structured, SkillsFuture-supported sustainability training.

Sharan Mangalore, CEO of AgileAsia, highlighted the strategic fit of the partnership, stating, “SMU Academy was a natural academic partner for us due to its strong emphasis on applied learning, sustainability thought leadership, and close engagement with industry and government stakeholders.”

Two certification programmes have been launched under this partnership: the Sustainability Project Management course and the Certified Climate Resilient Officer programme. Both are aligned with SkillsFuture Singapore frameworks and aim to address execution gaps in ESG initiatives and climate resilience planning.

This collaboration reflects a commitment to developing future-ready sustainability professionals through applied education pathways. Organisations and professionals interested in enhancing their ESG capabilities can explore these new offerings through AgileAsia and SMU Academy.

Yubico, the cybersecurity firm known for its YubiKey, has inaugurated its third global headquarters in Singapore, marking a significant step in its commitment to the Asia Pacific region. This strategic move aims to enhance supply chain, operations, and sales functions, providing faster, localised support to meet the growing demand for phishing-resistant authentication solutions in the region.

The Singapore office will serve as a global centre of excellence, complementing Yubico’s existing headquarters in Stockholm and Santa Clara. Jerrod Chong, Acting CEO, highlighted the shift in Asia Pacific towards advanced multi-factor authentication due to new national regulations. “The expansion of Yubico opening its third headquarters is more than just a new office; the company is committed to supporting the enterprises and public sector leaders who are defining the future of digital trust,” Chong stated.

Alvin Toh, Director and Vice President of Supply Chain Operations in Asia Pacific, will lead the Singapore office. Toh emphasised Singapore’s unique combination of global connectivity and skilled talent, which aligns with Yubico’s mission to advance modern authentication standards and improve cyber resilience.

Yubico’s expansion is timely, given the region’s rapid AI adoption and digital economy growth. The company is also investing in local talent through its Secure it Forward programme, supporting youth-led cybersecurity initiatives and partnerships with educational institutions. This move underscores Singapore’s role as a trusted hub for technological innovation and digital security.

ISDN Holdings Limited, a leading industrial automation firm in Asia, has announced an 18.2% increase in revenue for the financial year ending 31 December 2025. The growth, attributed to strong performance across its strategic business segments, saw revenue reach S$440.2m. Core profit attributable to shareholders rose by 25.9% to S$9.7m, excluding unrealised foreign exchange losses, highlighting operational momentum and higher utilisation levels.

The industrial automation segment experienced significant growth, with a 5.4% increase in China and an 18.3% rise in Southeast Asia, driven by demand for efficiency and precision in production processes. Meanwhile, the renewable energy business, which includes three operational mini-hydropower plants, contributed 2.2% to total revenue and 8.3% to gross profit, generating S$7m in free cash flow.

Despite these gains, ISDN’s reported net income to shareholders fell by 20.7%, primarily due to non-recurring, non-cash revaluation of long-dated receivables in the renewable energy sector. The company remains focused on core profits as its primary metric for shareholder value growth.

Looking ahead, ISDN anticipates continued demand for industrial automation and positive prospects for its renewable energy business. The company plans to expand its geographical presence in Asia and enhance its technological capabilities to capture emerging market opportunities. Additionally, two new mini-hydropower plants are expected to commence operations in 2026, increasing total capacity by 81.3% and contributing to recurring profits.

Elite UK REIT Management Pte. Ltd. has announced that from 16 March 2026, units of Elite UK REIT will be available for trading in Singapore dollars (SGD) in addition to the existing pound sterling (GBP) on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST). This move aims to enhance trading flexibility and reduce transaction costs for investors.

Currently, Elite UK REIT units are traded exclusively in GBP. The introduction of a dual currency trading system will allow investors to trade in either SGD or GBP, with trades settled in the respective currency through SGX-ST. The units in both currency counters will remain identical, providing investors the option to buy in one currency and sell in another.

The Manager of Elite UK REIT believes that this dual currency trading will improve fungibility, offering investors more flexibility. Additionally, unitholders will continue to have the choice of receiving their distributions in either GBP or SGD, ensuring no change in the total number of units issued.

The trading name and stock code for the SGD counter will be announced once available from SGX-ST. This development marks a significant step in accommodating investor preferences and enhancing market accessibility for Elite UK REIT.

Savills Singapore has projected a 3% increase in private residential prices for 2026, with the Rest of Central Region (RCR) potentially seeing prices overlap with the Core Central Region (CCR). This forecast comes despite a moderation in transaction volumes in the fourth quarter of 2025. The narrowing price differentials between city-fringe and prime areas are attributed to resilient market fundamentals and selective repricing.

In 2025, new home sales reached 10,815 units, marking a second consecutive year of growth and surpassing the 10,000-unit threshold for the first time since 2021. Developers launched 11,482 units, the highest annual volume since 2013, reflecting confidence in demand. Although new sales dipped by 10.6% quarter-on-quarter to 2,940 units in Q4 2025, the RCR accounted for over half of these sales, driven by strong absorption at projects like Penrith and Zyon Grand.

Looking ahead, Savills anticipates that sales activity will concentrate in the RCR and CCR segments in 2026. Upcoming launches such as River Modern in River Valley and Newport Residences along Anson Road are expected to set pricing benchmarks in prime districts. Alan Cheong, Executive Director of Research & Consultancy at Savills Singapore, noted that “selected RCR launches begin to test price points traditionally associated with the CCR.”

The Urban Redevelopment Authority’s price index showed a 0.6% quarter-on-quarter increase in Q4 2025, with a full-year growth of 3.3%. This was supported by owner-occupier demand and healthy absorption of new launches. Savills expects continued buyer interest in well-located projects across city-fringe and prime districts to underpin the projected price rise in 2026.

Sheng Siong Group, one of Singapore’s largest supermarket chains, reported an 8.5% increase in net profit for the financial year 2025, reaching S$149.2m. This growth was driven by a 9.9% rise in revenue, which totalled S$1.57b, attributed to the opening of 12 new stores and enhanced performance at existing locations.

The group’s gross profit also saw a significant increase of 12.9%, amounting to S$491.6m, with a gross profit margin improvement of 0.8 percentage points to 31.3%. This was largely due to a better sales mix amidst rising operational costs. However, other income decreased by 16.5% to S$16m, primarily due to reduced grants and exchange gains.

Administrative expenses rose by 5.1% to S$61.5m, whilst selling and distribution costs increased by 14.3% to S$270.4m, reflecting higher staff costs and professional fees. Despite these expenses, the company generated S$236.6 million in cash flow from operations, marking an 8.1% year-on-year increase.

Looking ahead, Sheng Siong plans to open a new store at Rivervale Crescent in Q3 2026 and is awaiting tender results for additional locations. The company remains focused on expanding its store network and enhancing its product offerings. CEO Lim Hock Chee stated, “Our commitment to provide quality products at affordable prices has continued to resonate with consumers.” The proposed final dividend for FY2025 is 3.80 cents per share, bringing the total dividend to 7.00 cents per share.

Dyna.Ai, a Singapore-based AI solutions company, has announced the completion of an undisclosed eight-figure multimillion-dollar Series A funding round, led by Lion X Ventures, a venture capital fund advised by OCBC Bank’s Mezzanine Capital Unit. The funding round also saw participation from ADATA, a Taiwan-listed technology company, a Korean financial institution, and several finance veterans. This investment aims to expedite the deployment of Dyna.Ai’s Agentic AI solutions, transforming AI pilots into fully operational systems that deliver measurable business outcomes.

The company’s Results-as-a-Service approach, which focuses on measurable revenue outcomes, has already been validated in regulated financial services and enterprise environments. Dyna.Ai’s solutions are designed to streamline operations, enhance customer experience, and optimise employee workflows across global and regional banks and financial institutions in Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East.

The investment underscores confidence in Dyna.Ai’s execution-led strategy, supporting its continued delivery and long-term platform development. This comes as Southeast Asia’s AI market is projected to exceed $16 billion (US$16 billion) by 2033, highlighting the growing opportunity for AI capabilities in the region. Singapore remains a leader in AI development, with plans to invest over S$1b in public AI research over the next five years.

Tomas Skoumal, Chairman and Co-Founder of Dyna.Ai, emphasised the company’s focus on solving operational challenges with innovation-driven solutions. Irene Guo, CEO of Lion X Ventures, noted Dyna.Ai’s strong domain expertise and operational discipline as key differentiators in deploying AI within complex enterprise environments. Cynthia Siantar, Head of Investor Relations, highlighted the shift in enterprise AI focus from experimentation to real-world application, with Dyna.Ai leading the charge in delivering tangible outcomes.

Manulife Investments has announced the launch of the Manulife Singapore Opportunities Income Strategy, a new equity income and growth strategy focused on Singapore-listed equities. Developed under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP), the strategy aims to capture opportunities in under-researched small and mid-cap companies.

The strategy aligns with EQDP’s efforts to deepen research coverage, improve liquidity, and broaden investor participation in Singapore’s equity market. HuiJian Koh, CEO of Manulife Investments Singapore, stated, “Being selected for MAS’s EQDP is a meaningful endorsement of our deep understanding of Singapore’s equity market and our on-the-ground investment capabilities.”

The strategy employs a disciplined, bottom-up approach to stock selection, focusing on companies with strong growth prospects, cash flow generation, and management quality. It seeks to balance income stability with capital appreciation, primarily through dividends and profit-taking as stocks approach fair value.

Hock Fai Chan, Head of Equities at Manulife Investment Management Singapore, highlighted the unique opportunities in Singapore’s small and mid-cap segment, noting the limited research coverage and pricing inefficiencies. The strategy will typically hold 30 to 50 high-conviction positions, emphasising risk discipline and diversification.

Singapore’s equity market has shown strong performance, with equities returning nearly 36.1% in the past year. The market’s high dividend yields and structural reforms, including MAS’s EQDP, are attracting increased investor attention. As companies focus on restructuring and efficient balance sheet deployment, opportunities in digital infrastructure and energy transition are expected to support a positive outlook for Singapore equities.

SynaXG, a Singapore-based technology company, has unveiled a significant advancement in AI-native radio access networks (AI-RAN) at the Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona. The company demonstrated the concurrent operation of 5G FR1 and FR2 with AI workloads on the NVIDIA AI Aerial platform, showcasing a fully software-defined AI-RAN architecture that delivers carrier-grade performance without the need for separate hardware.

The demonstration highlighted several key achievements. SynaXG achieved over 36Gbps throughput across 20 x 100 MHz 5G cells with sub-10 millisecond latency on a single NVIDIA GH200, matching top commercial 5G deployments. This marks the first-ever carrier-grade FR2 virtualised RAN running alongside FR1 and AI workloads on a shared GPU, crucial for dense urban and enterprise 5G applications.

SynaXG’s system operated continuously under sustained load, proving its stability and readiness for commercial deployment. The real-time orchestration software dynamically balanced GPU resources between RAN and AI workloads, ensuring uninterrupted service and optimising infrastructure use. “With the recent industry-leading breakthroughs, SynaXG has demonstrated that AI-RAN can deliver carrier-grade FR1 and FR2 performance with continuous 24×7 operation on shared NVIDIA AI infrastructure,” said Xin Huang, CEO of SynaXG.

Looking forward, SynaXG plans to extend its AI-RAN platform to additional NVIDIA platforms, including NVIDIA DGX Spark, to further enhance its software-defined architecture. This innovation promises to accelerate deployment and improve network optimisation, energy efficiency, and operational simplicity in AI-native networks.