Is property development in Singapore becoming an unsustainable business?

FOLLOWING comments by top government officials and analysts this past week about the resurgent property market, some investors will understandably be bracing themselves for another round of cooling measures.

They should perhaps also begin asking whether the standard business model of residential property developers is becoming unsustainable because of the negative externalities they create for society.

For their part, the local property developers ought to explain how they plan to adapt to seemingly persistent and prescriptive government intervention in the property market, and whether this will permanently depress their profitability.