The effects of redlining in Singapore’s red-light district
Abstract
There are cities or regions with legal red-light districts in both developed and developing countries, but there are also regions or countries with no clear rules regarding prostitution. Financing issues in red-light districts represent another aspect rarely examined in the academic world. Most research studies about redlining are focused on racial or poverty levels, but this paper investigates it in relation to moral issues concerning vice activities. The objectives of this paper are to firstly analyse the red-light phenomenon in relation to sales prices and rent prices, secondly to test the redlining effect on property markets. This paper contributes to the current academic literature. The research setting of this paper is Geylang, Singapore, a place known for its centralized location, 24/7 stores, historic locales and prostitution-related business. The results indicate that the existence of Singapore’s red-light district has a negative effect on both residential purchase prices and rent levels. The results also indicate that there exists a redlining effect since the home prices have a much higher dis-count than rents.
Keyword : redlining, housing market, hedonic regression, mortgage financing, empirical analysis
How to Cite
Zheng, M. (2018). The effects of redlining in Singapore’s red-light district. International Journal of Strategic Property Management, 22(4), 337-347. https://doi.org/10.3846/ijspm.2018.5368
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Nesiba, R. F. (1996). Racial discrimination in residential lending markets: why empirical researchers always see it and economic theorists never do. Journal of Economic Issues, 30(1), 51-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.1996.11505766
Phang, S.-Y. (2001). Housing Policy, wealth formation and the Singapore economy. Housing Studies, 16(4), 443-459. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673030120066545
Phang, S.-Y., & Wong, W.-K. (1997). Government policies and private housing prices in Singapore. Urban Studies, 34(11), 1819-1829. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098975268
Ross, S. L., & Tootell, G. M. B. (2004). Redlining, the community reinvestment act, and private mortgage insurance. Journal of Urban Economics, 55(2), 278-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0094-1190(02)00508-9
Ryder, A. (2004). The changing nature of adult entertainment districts: between a rock and a hard place or going from strength to strength?. Urban Studies, 41(9), 1659-1686. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098042000243093
Sibley, D. (1995). Geographies of exclusion: society and difference in the west. London: Routledge.
Tu, Y. (2004). The dynamics of the Singapore private housing market. Urban Studies, 41(3), 605-619. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098042000178708
URA. (2015). Proposed change in land use zoning of Lorongs 4-22 Geylang to better manage issues arising from conflicting uses. Urban redevelopment authority, Singapore government, Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.ura.gov.sg/uol/media-room/news/2015/jan/pr15-02
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Winchester, H. P. M., & White, P. E. (1988). The location of marginalised groups in the inner city. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 6(1), 37-54. https://doi.org/10.1068/d060037
Yea, S. (2013). Mobilising the child victim: the localisation of human trafficking in Singapore through global activism. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 31(6), 988-1003. https://doi.org/10.1068/d15411
Aalbers, M. B. (2005b). Who’s afraid of red, yellow and green?: Redlining in Rotterdam. Geoforum, 36(5), 562-580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2004.11.002
Aalbers, M. B. (2009). Why the community reinvestment act cannot be blamed for the subprime crisis. City & Community, 8(3), 346-350. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6040.2009.01292_2.x
Aalbers, M. B., & Deinema, M. (2012). Placing prostitution. City, 16(1-2), 129-145. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2012.662370
Agarwal, S., Koo, K. M., & Sing, T. F. (2015). Impact of electronic road pricing on real estate prices in Singapore. Journal of Ur-ban Economics, 90, 50-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2015.09.004
Ashworth, G. J., White, P. E., & Winchester, H. P. M. (1988). The red-light district in the West European city: a neglected aspect of the urban landscape. Geoforum, 19(2), 201-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7185(88)80029-0
Bardhan, D. A., Datta, R., Edelstein, R. H., & Sau Kim, L. (2003). A tale of two sectors: upward mobility and the private housing market in Singapore. Journal of Housing Economics, 12(2), 83-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1051-1377(03)00016-0
Chin, C. B. (2013). Cosmopolitan sex workers: women and migration in a global city. Oxford University Press.
Chua, B. H. (2000). Public housing residents as clients of the state. Housing Studies, 15(1), 45-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673030082469
Del Casino Jr., V. J., & Hanna, S. P. (2003). Mapping identities, reading maps: the politics of representation in Bangkok’s sex tourism industry. In S. P. Hanna & V. J. Del Casino Jr. (Eds.), Mapping Tourism (pp. 161-185). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Deng, Y., Li, Z., & Quigley, J. M. (2012). Economic returns to energy-efficient investments in the housing market: evidence from Singapore. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 42(3), 506-515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2011.04.004
Fahrländer, S. (2006). Semiparametric construction of spatial generalized hedonic models for private properties. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Statistik, 142(4), 501-528.
Halvorsen, R., & Palmquist, R. (1980). The Interpretation of dummy variables in semilogarithmic equations. The American Economic Review, 70(3), 474-475.
HDB. (2017). About us. Housing & Development Board, Singapore Government, Singapore. Retrieved from http://www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/about-us
Holloway, S. R. (1998). Exploring the neighborhood contingency of race discrimination in mortgage lending in Columbus, Ohio. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 88(2), 252-276. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8306.00093
Hubbard, P. (2004). Revenge and injustice in the neoliberal city: uncovering masculinist agendas. Antipode, 36(4), 665-686. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2004.00442.x
Hubbard, P., & Whowell, M. (2008). Revisiting the red light district: still neglected, immoral and marginal?. Geoforum, 39(5), 1743-1755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2008.05.003
Jakobsson, N., & Kotsadam, A. (2013). The law and economics of international sex slavery: prostitution laws and trafficking for sexual exploitation. European Journal of Law and Economics, 35(1), 87-107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-011-9232-0
Kantor, A. C., & Nystuen, J. D. (1982). De facto redlining a geographic view. Economic Geography, 58(4), 309-328. https://doi.org/10.2307/143457
Kasinitz, P. (1999). Red Hook: The paradoxes of poverty and place in Brooklyn. Research in Urban Sociology, 5, 253-274. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1047-0042(00)80029-X
Kitiarsa, P. (2008). Thai migrants in Singapore: state, intimacy and desire. Gender, Place & Culture, 15(6), 595-610. https://doi.org/10.1080/09663690802518495
Lee, S. L. (1996). Urban conservation policy and the preservation of historical and cultural heritage: the case of Singapore. Cities, 13(6), 399-409. https://doi.org/10.1016/0264-2751(96)00027-3
Lim, G. (2004). Invisible trade: high-class sex for sale in Singapore. Singapore: Monsoon Books.
Lum, S. K. (2002). Market fundamentals, public policy and private gain: house price dynamics in Singapore. Journal of Property Research, 19(2), 121-143. https://doi.org/10.1080/09599910210125232
Marttila, A.-M. (2008). Desiring the ‘Other’: prostitution clients on a transnational red-light district in the border area of Finland, Estonia and Russia. Gender, Technology and Development, 12(1), 31-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/097185240701200104
McCarthy, D., Mitchell, O. S., & Piggott, J. (2002). Asset rich and cash poor: retirement provision and housing policy in Singapore. Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, 1(3), 197-222. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474747202001130
Mercer. (2016). 2016 Quality of living rankings, Top 5 by Regions. Mercer LLC. Retrieved from https://www.mercer.com/newsroom/2016-quality-of-living-survey.html
Neave, M. (1988). The failure of prostitution law reform. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 21(4), 202-213. https://doi.org/10.1177/000486588802100403
Nesiba, R. F. (1996). Racial discrimination in residential lending markets: why empirical researchers always see it and economic theorists never do. Journal of Economic Issues, 30(1), 51-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.1996.11505766
Phang, S.-Y. (2001). Housing Policy, wealth formation and the Singapore economy. Housing Studies, 16(4), 443-459. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673030120066545
Phang, S.-Y., & Wong, W.-K. (1997). Government policies and private housing prices in Singapore. Urban Studies, 34(11), 1819-1829. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098975268
Ross, S. L., & Tootell, G. M. B. (2004). Redlining, the community reinvestment act, and private mortgage insurance. Journal of Urban Economics, 55(2), 278-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0094-1190(02)00508-9
Ryder, A. (2004). The changing nature of adult entertainment districts: between a rock and a hard place or going from strength to strength?. Urban Studies, 41(9), 1659-1686. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098042000243093
Sibley, D. (1995). Geographies of exclusion: society and difference in the west. London: Routledge.
Tu, Y. (2004). The dynamics of the Singapore private housing market. Urban Studies, 41(3), 605-619. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098042000178708
URA. (2015). Proposed change in land use zoning of Lorongs 4-22 Geylang to better manage issues arising from conflicting uses. Urban redevelopment authority, Singapore government, Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.ura.gov.sg/uol/media-room/news/2015/jan/pr15-02
Wagenaar, M. (1989). Postcode-uitsluiting is geen nieuw verschijnsel en ook geen incident [Zip code exclusion is not a new phenomenon and not an incident]. Het Parool, March 8.Wilhelmsson, M. (2002). Spatial models in real estate economics. Housing, Theory and Society, 19(2), 92-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/140360902760385646
Winchester, H. P. M., & White, P. E. (1988). The location of marginalised groups in the inner city. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 6(1), 37-54. https://doi.org/10.1068/d060037
Yea, S. (2013). Mobilising the child victim: the localisation of human trafficking in Singapore through global activism. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 31(6), 988-1003. https://doi.org/10.1068/d15411