Urban Land Rent: Singapore as a Property State

by Anne Haila

In Urban Land Rent, Anne Haila uses Singapore as a case study to develop an original theory of urban land rent with important implications for urban studies and urban theory.Provides a comprehensive analysis of land, rent theory, and the modern city Examines the question of land from a variety of as a resource, ideologies, interventions in the land market, actors in the land market, the global scope of land markets, and investments in land Details the Asian development state model, historical and contemporary land regimes, public housing models, and the development industry for Singapore and several other cities Incorporates discussion of the modern real estate market, with reference to real estate investment trusts, sovereign wealth funds investing in real estate, and the fusion between sophisticated financial instruments and real estate

Genres: Economics, Politics, Nonfiction, Cities

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 6, 2015

Reviews

[その人 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am deeply interested the subject matter of the book and agree with the author that the importance of land as a driving force of history.

That is why I picked up this book with a great interest, but I was disappointed by how poorly written it was.

This book reads more like a random collection of facts that authors feel are vaguely related to land and Singaporean land policy. It name drops a lot of scholars and theories but fails to distill any of it to a viable and instructive thesis. It is as if the author decided to show off everything she knew about the topic and honestly in 2026 it reads like an AI slop.

It is often unclear what the author even wants to say and what role each chapter is supposed to play. She goes off tangent a lot - while talking about Singapore’s existence as a financial center, she veers off to an unnecessarily long description of Nick Leeson who happened to be based in Singapore and some random factoids about Barings in Napoleonic war bank that has nothing to do with Singapore or its land policy.

Some facts are interesting, and I learned some instructive factoids on HDB policy and I see that she eventually concludes that land speculation and hoarding are to blame and (it seems as if) states should be more involved in the process but the way she builds this thesis is convoluted and is in a serious need of a proper editor. I do not recommend this book at all.

[Chris Beiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is a truly mixed bag. At some points, it offers great insights, sharp criticisms of discourse around land, and ideas and facts that have been poorly- or un-documented elsewhere. At other times, it slips into lazily defining terms, shaking its fist at the spectre of “global capitalism,” and seeming to avoid hard questions for which it can’t produce a clear answer. It suffers from a kind of scholarly meekness at times.

But again—everyone should understand Singaporean land policy, and this book brings them a lot closer.

[Colin Bruce Anthes · Rating 5 out of 5]

"…when Singapore became independent in 1965,the government owned less than half of the land area. The government could have sold land to private owners, but instead decided to increase its land assets. This decision was to prove far-reaching."

One of the most important books in the world right now.

[Brrrrr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very readable, comprehensive overview of Singapore's land regime and some lessons it can offer to other countries.