Urban Land Rent

Anne Haila is Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She was previously Professor at the Agricultural University of Norway and Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore.  She is the author of many peer-reviewed journal articles on urban land rent theory and other topics in urban economics.

Series Editors’ Preface ix

Acknowledgements xi

List of Figures xiii

List of Tables xv

List of Abbreviations xvii

Glossary xix

Preface xxi

1 Introduction: Singapore as a Case and Comparison 1

European Classics and Western Theories 6

Asian Studies: A Focus on Villages 8

Urban Studies 10

The Developmental State, Asian Values and Rent-seeking 12

Singapore as a Property State 15

The Chapters 21

Notes 24

2 Ideologies of Land 26

Land Regimes 27

Debates on Genealogies 33

Philosophies of Property 36

Myths of Frontier and Homeownership 38

The Economic, Moral and Political Land Question 43

Notes 45

3 Economic Arguments: Rent Theory and Property Rights Theory 46

Concepts and Forms of Rent 46

Rent and Social Problems 48

Extending the Rent Concept 51

Property Rights Theory 53

Ambiguous Property Rights and the Market for Development Rights 56

Rent as a Social Relation 57

Urban Land Rent 59

Notes 61

4 Land Reforms: Practical Solutions and Politics of Land 63

Radicals and Moralists 64

Two Chinese Models of Land Reform 69

Modern Land Reform 72

Land Value Tax 78

Neoliberal Land Reforms 80

From Revolutions to Pragmatism 82

Notes 85

5 Land Institutions and Housing 86

Land Institutions and the Second Round of Land Acquisitions 87

National and Urban Development 94

Housing the Nation 98

Housing Welfare 105

Private, Expatriate and Migrant Housing 107

Challenges 109

The Value of Public Land and Fiscalisation of Rent 113

Notes 119

6 Property Tycoons and Speculation 120

Rent-seeking 121

Property is a Hot Topic in Singapore 123

Rumours in Hong Kong 127

Conglomerates, Dynasties and Pension Funds 130

Private and Government-linked Companies in Singapore 134

Industrial Landscape and the Jurong Town Corporation 137

Private and Government Companies Sharing the Market 139

Transnational Property Companies 146

Capricious Landlords and Mean Developers: Absolute Rent 148

Land Without Speculation 152

Notes 156

7 Diversification of a Real Estate Portfolio: The World is Singapore’s Hinterland 158

Safe Haven for Global Real Estate Flows 160

Real Estate Investment Trusts 164

Singapore Colonising the World: Sovereign Wealth Funds 167

Real Estate Investment into Singapore 170

Property-minded People 172

Casinos and Singapore as the World’s Wealth Management Centre 176

Global Rent and Racism in the Real Estate Market 178

Notes 182

8 Financial Crises and Real Estate 183

Financial Centres 186

Singapore and Hong Kong as Financial Centres 187

Nick Leeson and the Collapse of Barings 192

The IMF in Singapore 195

The Asian Crisis 197

Bangkok and Real Estate Speculation 200

Singapore and the Financial Crisis 204

The Financialisation of Land and Derivative Rent 209

Notes 213

9 Conclusion: The Land, Urban and Rent Question 215

The Regime of Regulating Public Land 215

The Land Question 217

The Urban Question 221

The Rent Question 223

Annex: Note on Data 227

References 229

Index 261