Well, so it's happened. The penny finally dropped. The Singapore government has started imposing measures to curb property speculation. We'll see whether those measures have any impact when the VIP preview for The Interlace (the 1000-unit redevelopment of Gillman Heights estate by Capitaland) launches tomorrow.

Capitaland has come out to say that it won't affect their launch prices. But the question is, will it affect potential buyers? Will people start holding back now in anticipation of prices dropping further once the speculative element is removed?

It can be argued that the response tomorrow will be a good indication of whether the demand so far is more from speculators, or real demand by people looking for homes for themselves, or long-term investors.

We'll see.