Hong Kong and Singapore

• Main Author: PHANG, Sock Yong
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2000
• Subjects: Housing; real estate; housing prices; Hong Kong; Singapore; land value taxation; Asian Studies; Public Economics; Real Estate
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/1805; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soe_research/article/2804/viewcontent/Phang_2000_HongKongSingapore_AJES.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

There are many similarities between Hong Kong and Singapore. They have both enjoyed high rates of economic growth over the past three decades, averaging six percent a year in real terms. The two have become known as “East Asian Tigers,” having made the transition from poverty to newly industrialized economies in a relatively short time. Both started off as British colonies, with British legal and administrative systems, and made their living as trading ports serving their respective regions. Singapore has been an independent republic since 1965; Hong Kong was returned to China on July 1, 1997. While Hong Kong and Singapore are now the busiest ports in the world in terms of throughput, they have divested from their reliance on trade since the 1960s, climbed the industrial ladder, and are now important international financial centers as well. Hong Kong and Singapore are both densely populated cities. Land is a scarce resource and land and property prices are high even when compared to prices in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries (with the exception of Japan). “Speculating” or “investing” in the property market in both cities is indeed a favorite pastime of risk-loving locals and foreigners alike.