There were 5 of us in total. 2 from NUS real estate, 1 from NUS biz, and 1 guy who studied business in washington.
We had to be present at 2:30 and the interview or group discussion began at 3:15 proper. Before the discussion, we were given 20mins to read an article. So I expected something like this, but I didnt prepare adequately for it. I fumbled around before reading it twice. As I began reading, I noticed my compatriots started to furiously scribble on the sheet of paper. Not wanting to feel left out, I took out my pen and started underlining important facts and numbers, and summarizing statements. Of course it didn't add much value except to make me feel more secure.
We headed up to the 14th level to enter the interview room where there were a panel of 3 people, including 2 from HR. We started off by giving a short introduction to ourselves as we sat around the conference table. After that began the start of the discussion, which was led by a supposedly senior staff.
The discussion began with one of us giving a brief summary of the article. And each person had to take the opportunity to speak up on how we felt about the issue. the main point of the absd was to curb demand from investors. I can't really recall what other people mentioned but I remember the interviewer saying that another aspect of the ABSD was to allow a trickle down effect to other sectors of the society. So I casually commented that it may not be a very effective measure as this substitution effect remains to be seen. just because private properties become cheaper does not mean that locals will start snapping up units due to income differences.
Another issue was on whether the government should have a consultation process with the private sector on what measures to include to curb demand. Some mentioned that it should have, and some was against it. I said that the consultation process would require a call for white papers which could be a long drawn out process which might take a long time to come into effect. This could lead to speculation in the market which might make it more difficult to control the growth of demand in the future.
So his next point was that if we were the management of Keppel invited to consult on this issue, What would be a suggested measure? Someone mentioned that the developer could have the ability to limit how many units were bought by locals versus foreigners so as to allow the locals to ahve a more level playing field in terms of pricing. While I agreed that such a measure could possibly work, the market segmentation policy might be difficult to implement in future as the issue of whether foreigners can sell to locals and vice versa.
We then went on to the topic of what the business strategy keppel shoudl take in the view of such changes in the real estate market imposed by the government. Someone said that keppel has the branding and should leverage on that to develop luxurious properties in the suburban areas. I also mentioned that with its ability to charge a price premium due to product differentiation keppel should not expand to cater for the mass market as this might lead to dilution of its image. Instead they should also consider expanding to ermerging markets where the branding of keppel and singapore could play to its advantages. Someone else said that keppel should diversify its portfolio of real estate to industrial etc.
Finally, we had to mention why we would be good candidates for keppel land and what we can contribute. I mentioned my engineering degree will add to to the diversity and i spoke about my internship and some of my attributes. To top it off, we had to suggest ways to improve the keppel land website to make it more attractive. Before we go, we also had to complete a simple peer evaluation form.
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