Since the last round of property cooling measures, in 2013, the market has remained benign at best. Although there is an increase in caveats lodged, the market may be in a standoff.

This is why developers are waiting for cooling measures to be scrapped, albeit quietly, when compared with their previous assertions at their annual gatherings (“No reason for govt to remove curbs, says Capitaland boss”; Feb 16).

A number of first-time citizen home buyers who are ineligible to buy new public flats are still adopting a wait-and-see attitude.

I would recommend making the cooling measures more potent than they have been since they were first introduced in 2009, this time with new measures focused on developers and lenders.

Developers with a large land bank and high percentage of unsold homes should not be allowed to bid for 99-year leasehold land from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

This would make these developers reduce their landholdings or unsold homes so that they can buy more land to be in the business of building homes and, at the same time, create a cascade effect where home prices come down.

Similarly, banks and finance houses should be debarred from exposing a high percentage — say, more than a quarter to a third of their assets to housing developers.

This would ensure that when a correction occurs in an economic downturn, banks would not be unduly exposed to market turmoil, like in the oil and marine industries recently.

The twin effects of a lending cap and a bank recall of developers’ borrowings would set the tone for an affordable housing market, which should cheer first-time home buyers.