Mr Choy Chan Pong of URA with Mr Kawee Keereepart of Thailand's GHB completing the signing of the MOU. Withnessing the ceremony were Thailand's Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Suchart Jaavisidha and Singapore's Minister of State for National Development, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

URA signed a Memorandum of Understand (MOU) with the Government Housing Bank of Thailand (GHB) on 19 February 2002 to provide technical assistance to the GHB in establishing Thailand's National Real Estate Information Centre.

Under the MOU, URA will be providing technical advice on system development and staff training and other assistance over a period of one year from May 2002. The GHB has been tasked to build up a real estate information system in Thailand to improve the efficiency and transparency of the property market in Thailand.

"We are happy to share our experience and provide the necessary technical advice to the GHB. In a way, this is an endorsement of the usefulness and quality of the property information services that URA is providing in Singapore to help promote an efficient and transparent property market," said Mr Choy Chan Pong, URA's Director of Land Administration, who is also the Project Director for the NREIC project on Singapore's end.

URA property information services

"A good real estate information system is essential to level the playing field and increase market transparency and efficiency," said Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of State for National Development, in his opening address at the signing ceremony.

URA has been collecting and publishing property information since the 1970s. Information like property price indices, supply in the pipeline, stock and occupancy rates of all types of properties are published quarterly. Such information are also available on URA's website, URA-Online.

URA's latest innovation is an internet-based Real Estate Information System (REALIS) which provides users with more timely and vast range of information on projects in the private residential, commercial and industrial property sectors round the clock.