City Life: Singapore
The island state that wishes it could be towed to less murky waters
14 April 2007
Singapore’s property market is roaring. I know that because our lease will soon expire and our landlady wants 70 per cent more rent than she did in 2004. No matter that our flat leaks like Blair’s Cabinet and that its 1970s-wired electricity trips at least once a week: these are details too far for our pococurante proprietrix. But she has noticed that a private banker from Tokyo has signed, sight unseen, for a same-sized unimproved flat downstairs at 150 per cent more than the vacating lessee. It’s all very puzzling: there’s no textbook rationale to the real-estate boom. The economy is growing at an unremarkable-for-Asia 6 per cent, much the same as it has for years, save the difficult ‘Asian Contagion’ period of the late 1990s. And though Singapore is wealthy, its population of only 4.5 million leaves it 2.4 billion consumers short of being ‘Chindia,’ the Asian neologism du jour that excites so many economists in Delhi and Beijing.
More articles from: Eric Ellis | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
The Spectator Business News Update
FTSE ends modestly lower as holiday companies slump
20/11/2009FTSE turns lower midday as holiday companies tumble
20/11/2009 20/11/2009 20/11/2009sponsored links
In this section
City pay is no side issue: it’s an affront to society
Roger BootleKeep on digging: Boris’s route to recovery
Elliot Wilson Martin Vander WeyerFor whom the tolls mean tax-free profits
Neil CollinsThere’s worse to come as we all get older
Ruth Lea
GASCONY
GASCONY, SW France, near Condom-en-Armagnac 13th Century stone house, 21st Century luxury for 12 in 5 en-suites. 50 acres +
BIG SAND STEEL BAND
IF YOU ARE PLANNING A CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION and looking for some light entertainment, you can now hire London's busiest steel
BOSC LEBAT, Tarn et Garonne.
BOSC LEBAT, SW France. Only 45 minutes from Toulouse Airport with daily flights from most provincial airports avoiding the horrors
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2009 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
Be the first to comment on this article!
Back to top