Market-calming moves, then and now

Singapore

TWO decades ago, policymakers introduced Singapore's first "anti-speculation measures" - a comprehensive package of curbs that analysts thought would surely bring the property market to a standstill.

But when the market did stall later, these more-stringent loan conditions and new taxes and regulations weren't the reason for it; instead, it was an event that no one foresaw at the time - the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

As Asean currencies plunged and Singapore slipped into recession the following year, private home prices fell more than 40 per cent between 1996 and 1998. This prompted the government to quickly unwind and relax most of the anti-speculation measures.

An equivalent of such an external shock in today's context would be an abrupt spike in interest rates, or the tanking of the US or Chinese economies, in…