'Property price boom may blunt Singapore's edge'

---

SINGAPORE, July 8 (AFP): Soaring property prices in Singapore could erode its competitive edge, including against arch economic rival Hong Kong, the city-state's founding father said in remarks published today.
Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first premier who now serves in the cabinet of his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said the booming real estate sector must be kept under control.
"We must check this spike in rents for office and residential space or we will lose our competitiveness," Lee, 83, was quoted as saying in the Sunday Times.
He said Singapore "must not allow our rents to shoot up as in Hong Kong."
Lee's remarks came following an assurance by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the government body responsible for national land use planning, that there will be sufficient supply to meet demand.
"The government will continue to monitor the market very closely. The government will ensure that there will be sufficient supply of residential space to meet demand," the URA said last week.
The government has released new land sites for commercial and residential projects which analysts saw as a move to cool the red-hot market.
Residential property prices rose 7.9 per cent in the second quarter, faster than the 4.8 per cent rise recorded in the previous quarters, latest URA figures showed.
Lee, who was speaking Saturday night at a community event, also predicts Singapore's recent success can be sustained.
"If there are no wars or oil crises, this golden period can stretch out over many years," he said.