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Backed by an international marketing campaign, Sentosa Cove homes are nearly sold outmore than half of the buyers are foreignersand are generating a little bit of buzz that is music to the ears of the city fathers. When Hong Kong housewife and property investor Betty Ling first saw advertisements for Sentosa Cove three years ago, her Singaporean friends warned her "only ghosts live there." But she says she chose to buy in Singapore instead of Bali or Phuket because, "It's an international city and you have all the infrastructure of city life. You can feel safe there. Bali and China are scary. You don't know whom to trust." Plus, she says, prices are relatively low, adding, "Where in Hong Kong can you moor your boat right outside your house?" Another Sentosa Cove owner is Rick Scanlon, a 37-year-old investment-fund manager who has lived with his family in Singapore since 1996. "Our lot is right on the water, sort of carved into the hillside," says Scanlon, an American expat. "It reminds me almost of living in Malibu."
Malibu? In some ways, what's happening in Singapore more closely resembles recent events in Macau, the former colonial enclave on the Chinese mainland that saw its property market and economy soar after the government in 2002 ended a longstanding gambling monopoly and touched off construction of a spate of new casinos, resorts and residential projects. Singapore's actions are having a similar effect. Development is booming and property prices have been soaring. Upscale home prices that averaged about $8,500 per sq m two years ago are expected to reach more than $21,300 per sq m this year. Developers are piling into the market. Beyond Sentosa, several new luxury residential projects have gone up around the city in the past year, and units are selling out at record prices within hours of going on the market. In one such project, St. Regis Residences, located in Singapore's shopping district, seven penthouses sold at an average price of $18 million; three-quarters of the buyers were from Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East. "Singapore has entered a new era in terms of costs," says Tay Huey Ying, Singapore research director for Colliers International property brokers. "The top tierand its pricesare here to stay."
The commercial-property sector is also buoyant, especially around Marina Bay, the western shore of which is being promoted as Singapore's answer to Wall Street, but with sailing, waterskiing and dining on your doorstep. Eight new skyscrapers are in the works that would quadruple Singapore's supply of top-quality office space by 2010. Partnering with both local and foreign developers, government planners have applied every element of its newest mantra"live, work, play"to the area. "It's definitely [the government's] vision," says Martin, the general manager of Marina Bay Financial Centre. "But they've convinced the private sector to foot the bill."
In fact, the government effort to revamp Singapore goes beyond property development. After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, bureaucrats realized the city could no longer rely upon manufacturing to fuel its economy, and began setting policies designed to create higher-paying, white-collar jobs in specific sectors: biotechnology, education, and private banking and finance. Singapore aspires to be a regional or even global center in those areas by offering incentives to corporations such as tax breaks, reasonably priced premium office space and Singapore's corruption-free business climate.
The push appears to be contributing as much to recent economic growth as property. Since 2000, production of drugs and medical devices has quadrupled to $15 billion. World-class educational institutions such as INSEAD and Johns Hopkins University have established Singapore campuses. The city-state is becoming the largest hub for private banking outside Zurich. Assets held in the Singapore offices of private banks including UBS and Citigroup have been rising 20% annually since 2003. More than 100 hedge funds have relocated to the island, up from 20 in 2004, according to the Singapore Monetary Authority. The Boston Consulting Group reckons Singapore now has more millionaire households as a percentage of total households than any other Asian economy.
Overall, an unprecedented 173,300 jobs were created in Singapore last year, and not just in high-pay professions. The construction and tourism sectors are also on the upswing. The Marina Bay Sands and Genting casino projects by themselves will add $8 billion of foreign investment. When completed, the developments are expected to create 38,000 service-sector jobs. "We have more than 450,000 citizens over 55 that are underemployed and undereducated," says Dr. Loo Choon Yong, a lawmaker and chairman of the Sentosa Development Corporation. "These are jobs they can do." Today, 68% of Singaporeans work in service industries, according to the Ministry of Manpower.
Despite this economic revitalization, many Singaporeans find the changes their city is undergoing to be bewildering and even threatening. According to public opinion polls, a majority of citizens were against the legalization of gambling, fearing casinos would result in increased crime and other social ills. Today, there's additional anxiety over ambitious efforts to boost immigration. In January, a local newspaper poll showed that 90% of Singaporeans opposed those efforts because they fear losing their jobs to foreign professionals. Nearly 43% said they believe the government is more concerned about foreigners than its own people; they also expressed doubt that Singapore's open-door policy will translate into more jobs. "The backlash comes from so-called foreign talents taking the best jobs without any obligations to maintaining the national good," says National University of Singapore sociology professor Chua Beng Huat.
There's also backlash over the potential impact that an influx of up to a million immigrants could have on society in coming years. Singapore has steadily been adding about 100,000 expats annually since 1990, census data shows. Foreigners now make up about 19% of the city's population, in contrast with Hong Kong, where expats make up less than 8% of all residents. "There are concerns over how in the world Singapore's tiny island and infrastructure will support the increased foreign population and how that will impact transportation, taxes, traffic, housing and schooling for the locals," says Singaporean Cheryl Liew, a consultant for an executive-search firm. One of those locals, Lance Lim, summed up this skepticism in a letter to the local Straits Times newspaper published in March. "We need to seriously consider whether our country is prepared to sacrifice its national identity for supposed economic growth," Lim wrote.
But not everyone is having an identity crisis. Pinchin Kwok chose to return to her native Singapore last year after living in New York for five years. The 28-year-old banker says she came home for "the good life" and that she's excited by the changes. "Many of the reasons people leave Singapore when they are young will be gone," Kwok says. "Life can only become more cosmopolitan and sophisticated. Everything will be less boring." Kwok adds that she expects Singapore will become "more of a melting pot like Manhattan, but at the core will be the heartlanders who've lived here for a long time and can pass along their values."
So maybe Lee Kuan Yew was right when he compared this new Singapore with Venice, London and New York. Those cities grew into giants not by copying blueprints of other capitals, but by being open to fresh ideas and unfamiliar DNA. "Yes, we should study best practices and features from other great cities," says Cheong Koon Hean, CEO of Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Agency. "But, ultimately, we need to seek out answers that best suit Singapore. To find our own soul." With their usual determination, Singaporeans are looking.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1624897,00.html