Finance

Singapore's private home price index took 14 years to regain its peak

A maximum drawdown is the largest fall from a running peak, as a percentage of that peak. We measured it on URA's private home index and HDB's resale index from data.gov.sg, and found the answer moves with the sub-index and with how often the series is read.

4 Nov 2026 · 6 min read

Finance

Duration's straight line misses most on Singapore's longest bonds

Bond duration estimates how far a price moves when yields change, as if the price followed a straight line. Measured on Singapore Government bonds and MAS's own auction prices, that estimate drifts furthest from the exact figure on the longest bonds.

3 Nov 2026 · 6 min read

Finance

DuPont analysis finds two routes to nearly the same return on equity

DuPont analysis breaks return on equity into margin, turnover and an equity multiplier. Run on Singapore and Malaysian filings, it shows how one year's close results can rest on very different ratios, and why a calculated figure can miss the annual report.

3 Nov 2026 · 6 min read

Finance

Doubling times from the rule of 72 fit interest compounded once a year

The rule of 72 estimates the years money takes to double by dividing 72 by the yearly interest rate. It works best when interest is added once a year; with an APR compounded monthly it gives 2.6% to 3.85% too many years at every rate from 0.5% to 30%.

16 Oct 2026 · 6 min read

Finance

IFRS 16 puts leased equipment on a lessee's balance sheet

Under IFRS 16 and its Singapore and Malaysian equivalents, a lessee records most equipment leases as an asset and a debt, so the lease expense runs higher in the early years and lower in the later ones. IRAS usually allows a deduction for the contractual lease payments instead, and a SaaS contract that gives only access to the software is a service contract.

7 Oct 2026 · 6 min read

Finance

Taiwan's bigger child exemption for 2026 income, and the families it leaves unchanged

From 2026 income, Taiwan's exemption for each minor child rises to NT$151,500. For a salaried couple with two school-age children on the standard deduction, the basic living expense floor absorbs that increase, so their tax does not change. Families with preschool children, renters and people who itemise can still gain.

3 Oct 2026 · 6 min read

Finance

Hong Kong salaries tax for 2026/27, with the allowances that changed this year

Hong Kong's 2026/27 salaries tax, as legislated so far, takes HK$790 more from many single taxpayers than 2025/26 did, despite a higher basic allowance. The new allowances, the newborn rule, the pending Policy Address change, the standard-rate threshold and the 16% tier.

3 Oct 2026 · 5 min read

Finance

Hong Kong has charged every flat buyer the same stamp duty rates since 2024

Since 28 February 2024 every buyer of a Hong Kong flat pays the same ad valorem stamp duty rates. The 2026 table, what an HK$8 million flat cost a buyer without permanent residency before and after, the steep relief zones, who is liable and the lease rates.

3 Oct 2026 · 8 min read

Finance

The notes that can go in an ang bao for Lunar New Year 2027

Lunar New Year 2027 falls on 6 February. Which notes you can get for an ang bao, lai see or 紅包 in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the one written set of amount rules we found, and why HK$88 needs coins.

1 Oct 2026 · 6 min read

Finance

Taiwan labour and health insurance deductions, grade by grade

What comes off a Taiwan salary for labour, employment and health insurance in 2026, why it is never salary times a rate, who pays 2.3% instead of 2.5%, what the employer pays on top, and what the pending 2027 minimum wage would change.

30 Sep 2026 · 7 min read