The Big Story: Who stands to benefit and lose from S'pore's latest property cooling measures?

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Catch the latest news video reports on The Big Story, The Straits Times' weekday online news programme.

Spikes in private housing prices and Housing Board resale flat prices in Singapore have prompted the authorities to introduce a new round of cooling measures.

The move, announced at close to midnight on Wednesday (Dec 15), will affect the buoyant property market, which has been thriving despite the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Lee Nai Jia, deputy director from the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies at the National University of Singapore weighs in on who would stand to benefit and lose from these new measures.

In Covid-19 news, travellers staying in hotels who have tested positive for Covid-19, or have been identified as a close contact of a Covid-19 case and received a health risk warning, should recover or isolate in their rooms by default from next Monday (Dec 20). Those who have tested positive with a polymerase chain reaction test are required to recover in their rooms and will be issued an isolation order.

According to the Singapore Tourism Board, this will more closely align recovery protocols for visitors staying in hotels who test positive for Covid-19 with the protocols for local community cases.

And don't miss this week's Life Picks. Travel correspondent Clara Lock explains why couples are looking for unique places in Singapore to pop the question.

Film correspondent John Lui reviews Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is out in cinemas.

And music correspondent Eddino Abdul Hadi shares more about three upcoming Christmas concerts by local musicians.

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