“We must not allow our rent to shoot up like Hong Kong,” Lee, the first prime minister of modern Singapore and who remains the most powerful minister in the cabinet of his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, was quoted as saying.

Singapore’s property boom has been led by strong demand from foreigners for luxury homes. Home prices in the country rose 7.9 percent between April and June, faster than the 4.8 percent in the first quarter, an initial estimate by the government’s real estate agency showed on Monday.

From a year ago, prices are up 20.6 percent.

Lee said the government was releasing more land for new homes and offices, as well as state-owned buildings for office use to keep prices in check.

Hong Kong, where some analysts expect average apartment prices to rise by another 30 percent this year, is the world’s most expensive city in which to rent a three-bedroom apartment.