Another area of concern is the health of the property market in Singapore. An unstable property market will not only affect the property value of homeowners, but also has repercussions on the financial and economic system.

In November, the Government announced adjustments to the private residential policies to avoid aggravating the excess supply in the market. The sale of sites for some 2,000 units from the 1997 Government Land Sales (GLS) programme was deferred to the first half of 1998. The 1998 GLS programme was postponed until the second half of 1998, and the original sale quantum of 5,000 units was to be reviewed.

But the situation has altered considerably since November. The Government has decided on further adjustments to its land sales in 1998 as follows: