Singapore Property Fortunes May Turn on an Election
Housing wealth depends mainly on demand, which depends mainly on people. Will the island’s next leader relax immigration curbs?
Marina Bay Sands: An emblem of transformation.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergSingapore is getting ready for polls. Because a single party has ruled uninterrupted since 1959, the real importance of the next election lies in the rare leadership transition that will take place afterwards.
Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat’s well-choreographed elevation as the city-state’s fourth prime minister is expected to signal policy continuity, though immigration is one area where the status quo is starting to look like stagnation. Any change Heng introduces here will be controversial, but it will have a strong bearing on Singapore’s most coveted asset class: property.