The price of a four-room flat in Tampines is about $370,000 now, some $40,000 more than the price early last year – and this is largely due to the higher valuation price.Instead of helping to stabilise prices, the HDB’s spike in valuation has been instrumental in increasing resale prices.
Tan Say Yin, letter to Straits Times forum page
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Price control through higher valuation at the supply side plus easy access to huge amounts of credit; makes the prices of public housing prices inflate beyond healthy levels. Say after a 20% downpayment; the loan for this 4 room unit is $296,000. If this household makes $36k a year, the loan is about 8 times the annual income of this household. As a rule of thumb, a healthy loan is only about 3-5 times the annual income. This dangerous formula that we have in Singapore is probably what caused the sub-prime crisis that started this whole economic mess.
Helps to generate more stamp duty $ too.
Just 4 walls only, cost so much, looks like it is no more public subsidised housing. It is private apartment !!! Congratulations to PAP GOVT.
Through my house-hunting experiences, the main reason for the continued demand is… new PRs buying up resale flats. I have viewed many units that are unattractive to local buyers, who are more fussy. But these same units have been snapped up by PRs who are only happy to take up such flats.
They are able to afford cash above valuation because their funding is different from locals. Locals look at what they can pay via CPF and cash. PRs look at the total bank loan they can obtain. So it’s no surprise they’ll fork out $20K above value for something locals won’t even think about.
Minister for National Devoplement and chief of HDB, Mr. Mah Bow Tan should have been a property tycoon.
Providing cheap, affordable homes is not one of his agenda. Everyone knows when he talks about market force, it BS.
It’s not market forces, it’s GREED.
Back in the 70s and 80s, if you talk about market forces, people will smack your face. It’s peoples lives and homes you are toying with.
Long long time ago, CST has already said that the HDB flats are not subsidised. The govt of the day denied it. Now we know that they are not subsidized.
The loser to CST has moved on to other const hiding under somebody to get him into parliament and now a minister. What can you expect from this kind.
We are paying thru our nose every month to pay off the loan for the next 20 , 25 years, thats why the govt is asking us to work till we drop dead. At the end of the day, all our hard earned money goes to the govt and they gamble away in ML…etc.
We are now slaves to the servants who we have put them there.Sad hah.
Vote for them some more lah and now see how they suck your blood till you drop dead. If this is not pure profiteering through greed, then what is this? singaporeans never learn their lesson all these years.
Public ownership is a political liability.
Is all that you want someone to blame?
Yes the price of a HDB valuation is control by them and they just too happy to see it at the highest.
I have been looking for 1 but still on hold as i find it too ridiculous to buy at this sky high price.
Sad day for pure Singaporean.
Wow, kudos to the letter to ST by Tan Say Yin, I would not have known that HDB pricing is done like that wan ah.
Kind of controllable to a certain extent, would it be right to say so?
So, what is the ACTUAL Honest cost of building a HDB vs the PRICING set?
Wow, so expensive!
11) Albino Hum Junior on July 14th, 2009 2.50 pm
So, what is the ACTUAL Honest cost of building a HDB vs the PRICING set?
“HONEST” ???? something new I learned today.
I agree with #1 SotongBall …Very, very strongly…..
with #4 angry_one…..very strongly…..
with #7 tiredsingaporean…strongly….
I just don’t want to duplicate….all said and said well…..good luck to Singaporeans…..
One more thing….can HDB give an account on arrears…and with an ethnic breakdown….cos..i think some people are jumping off flats, so that they can leave at least a home to their loved ones because of insurance….
Finally, thanks to the PAP govt for driving Singaporeans to the brink of death and achieve death in just 2 generations……and of course….having a great FT replacement policy.
Can TC pay for more HDB things that can alleviate cost to HDB Lease holders? I mean no one who paid high price for his HDB is not Leasing from HDB right? Else, give me a name.
Pricing is comparative and relative.
My NS fren after hearing I paid a high price for a 3 room told me, he paid the same price for a 5 room.
mine is resale.
his is new.
he said so like he got a good deal.
see my point?
now i understand why the 154th wrote today that “assets help to cushion” singaporeans during recession
so it’s hdb that has been obligingly increasing the valuation
that’s how singapore economy is propped up when external demand falls: increase foreigners and manipulate property prices
It is all fake figures.You can value down the 4 rm flat by 20 or 30%.It is all under their control !!!!!!! HDB sucks blood just like mosquitoes.
PRs can dump their loans and go back to their own country, diificult legal recourse for banks, just like what happened in Dubai. Valuation is crap IMO for HDB, my parents 47 yr old 3 rm flat is valued at $300k, almost the same in per sq ft price against a new flat, bearing in mind that half the lease is gone. I suspect that the high valuation is to tie down CPF funds of new/resale household after you kow what happened to our investments in the American banks. So, just buy yr property, you are not getting anything after retirement.
I have been married for almost 1 year and still staying with my parents. Ballot two times half yearly sales, but managed to get queue 1000 plus, leaving just 2room and 3room in Pungol, Woodlands, Yishun to choose. Almost all the resale flats are already highly priced and still require COV 15k to 30k which I cannot afford or rather don’t wanna fork up so much cash due as I want to save them for renovation later on.
I just wanna ask HDB and DUA POW TAN ==> WHAT THE F*** YOU DOING!!!!!!!
PLS MEET OUR NEEDS IF YOU WANT YOUR BABIES!!!!!!!!
WE DON”T EVEN HAVE A PLACE TO F***ING STAY, WHERE GOT THE MOOD TO MAKE BABIES!!!!
WAKE UP YOUR F****** IDEAS AND BUILT MORE FLATS!!!!!! ALL FLATS HAVE BEEN OVERSUBSCRIBED BY AT LEAST 10 TIMES SINCE TWO YEARS AGO????? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY YOU ARE NOT GOING TO MEET THE DEMAND EXACTLY. YOU CAN”T EVEN MEET 20% OF THE DEMAND OF THOSE WHO WANNA BUY FLATS!!!!!
HDB AND DUA POW TAN, YOU HAVE DONE A F****** LOUSY JOB & A DIS-SERVICE TO ALL THE YOUNG GENERATIONS OF TRUE SINGAPOREANS.
for every evaluation, you pay evaluation company and hdb for doing nothing. one visit to your house and some photos and here is the price, no breakdown on how the flat is being evaluated.
remember GCT promised of low cost public housing for everyone? this is to jacked up prices of flats, albeit new flats going to be priced above $400k to $700k.
i think they are really sick, prices are so high, cost of living world top ten, our salaries not in top 10. how can average citizens survive? are they being marginalised and replaced by PRs?
yeah wish i make millions.
The so-called free market is in fact a market controlled and set by the Papstard, and these papstards still pretend otherwise.
this minister MBT is known for money making ministry, that is why he is blue eye boy to lky.
as long as he is charge, sorry folks…just pay for it!
homeless – so vulgar hor. i dont think mbt care, as long as he gets your vote in 2010. vote for more homeless. ha ha ha
Bootlip, I’am not vulgar, I’am just freaking frustrated with the current property situation now & the gahmen’s action or rather no action.
I am not going to vote for him this time. Why would I vote for someone who is treating FT better than the voters themselves & someone who just wanna make money by pricing HDB to artificial market rate~!!!
I feel sad & frustrated.
you guys can shout and curse all you like cos these MIW just don’t give a shit as long as they keep piling up their pockets with those $millions and help themselves with all the $$$ to keep them in power, its been like that since LHL took over office, on one hand they keep trumpeting that their govt gave very heavy HDB home subsidy to the people of singapore, and now this short ass says that prices are pegged according to market value when the people start asking for the breakdown of building cost, if this is not robbing the people’s money, then what is it ? don’t even think of getting another mandate this time round, people get sick and tired of all those lies, big liars.
wow, singaporean asset value can be very high leh. the valuation magic.
so , by ‘i just bot a flat’, can it mean or does it mean ‘i just paid for a lease of a flat’ ?
yes / no?
24) Homeless – what to do, we continue to let them win so many seats every election, we “strongly support their policies” accordingly to what they say. So high prices for everything is what we voted for.
you can consider buying $700k dpss flats or maybe try the 130sqm 5 room the peak. vote for more better years!!! he he he
Gahmen own almost all the land and is the monopoly on “low cost” Housing. Some more only just 700 sq km. Excluding reservoir, catchment areas, parks etc even much less.
Sure can control price, supply and demand what. All three-in-one! Up to them to suka suka which one.
As long as after all these, still got 50% walkovers, 66% mandate and 98% seats at every election.
aiyoyo
alamak so high price!!??
do people know how much this amount of $ can be used?
(instead of put into 4 walls)
in china, friends all rent; no pressure, drive cars, enjoy life… smart
aiyoyo
i rubbing hands. i wait for my 3 rms hdb rise to $$$1M so when i old old, i can apply for buy back scheme and….retire COMFORTABLY. HAHAHAHA.
THANK U PAPA! HAHAHA
If 3 rm hdb rise to $$$1M, then 1 plate of char kuay teow will be $$$50 at hawker centre!
There will be no bubble right?
can this be controlled to the extent of preventing a bubble burst?
i not sure leh . how?
9) Looking for a flat but too expensive.! on July 14th, 2009 2.34 pm
‘Yes the price of a HDB valuation is control by them …’
excuse me, does this mean someone knows 1st before all else about valuation changes?
like this means anything or not?
Would the HDB give us [1] a breakkdown of the cost of building a new flat [3, 4 and 5 rooms] say, 20 years ago, 10 years ago and now [2] its profit margin in selling a newly built flat [3, 4 and 5 rooms] to the public with [a] subsidies [b] without subsidies, say 20 years ago, 10 years ago and now, and [3] the reasons for selling, currently, at prices that have evidently sky-rocketed when compared to what they were 2 decades or 1 decade ago.
HDB? Would a flat selling at say #200,000 to $300,000 be considered affordable to an average person from the public, taking into account only those wage earners who are earning less than $50,000 pa?
Price is always dependent on supply and demand equilibrium.
We know who control supply.
If demand falls, open the flood gates to FT and issue cheapo PR cert.
This must be the greatest con in asset bubble history.Why did not Obama use the same tactic to prop up US housing prices—well maybe they have some pride as a nation.
What happen when this little shit hole that we call a nation reaches 6.5 million and we cannot use cheapo PR to prop up prices—who cares—HDB would have made their gazillions using something called MARKET PRICE SUBSIDY PRICING.
Checked all dictionaries and encyclopaedias—no such thing as market price subsidy..Subsidy is always compared to cost.
The resale HDB price spike is similar to the one caused by the Hongkongers’ invasion pre-1997. They came, bought, stayed a while, sold at profit, balek to HK. Ngiam Tong Dow, with his 100% perfect hindsight like all retired senior civil servants, spoke about it.
Like Ms Tan ,you all are seeing from the buyer’s view.I dun see anything bad about a higher valuation and a higher selling priice .If you are the seller facing some difficulty and intend to downgrade to get a smaller flat for some profit to tide over or to settle some debt,how many are willing to sacrifice our 4 room flat at S$370K and pay S$300 K for a 3 room flat.This is a free market.If one feel that the price is too expensive,then do not buy it. Apply for a new flat if eligible.Think of the advantages of buying a resale flat.If one is not choosy,you can still get something below 370K..
If Ms Tan is the seller,I would doubt she will complain about the price.
When private properties can fetch a higher price,why can’t HDB fetch a higher price?
so 3 rms hdb come down to $10k then 1 plate of charkway teow will fall to 1 cent? HAHAHA
31) haha on July 14th, 2009 8.52 pm
//i rubbing hands. i wait for my 3 rms hdb rise to $$$1M so when i old old, i can apply for buy back scheme and….retire COMFORTABLY. HAHAHAHA.
THANK U PAPA! HAHAHA//
Hahaha. You think PAP is going to spend $1mil to buy back from you? Go and ask those that in the buy back scheme! See how much they get? I am afraid not only they going buy back at low price, they are going rent back to you at high price! And guess what you can do after that? Buy another house with your killing? By then, your surrounding HDB would become $1.5mil!
Guess who has the last laugh?
39) haha on July 14th, 2009 10.50 pm
//so 3 rms hdb come down to $10k then 1 plate of charkway teow will fall to 1 cent? HAHAHA//
when the HDB come down to $10k, char kway teow would fall to 1 cents of course! That’s because the country has collasped when the bubbles burst! Everyone jobless and no one can afford! It seems your brain cannot think logically at all!
Singapore now is like the American, we are living in a big bubble. There is no urgent demand in housing that jack the price up. When the people is in debt, the country will soon in debt. Unless the American, they can cheat the whole world and sell them craps to substain their bubble! Because of their country influences!
Singapore bubble will just burst into air… I would like to look at the faces of those people who had sang praises to PAP at that time.
correction: Unless = unlike
you go do your maths before you come and talk cok lah. you so good in calculate, you take over PAP and bring down the assets of singaporeans and see whether you see another daylight or not. HAHAHA
44) haha on July 14th, 2009 11.21 pm
//you go do your maths before you come and talk cok lah. you so good in calculate, you take over PAP and bring down the assets of singaporeans and see whether you see another daylight or not. HAHAHA//
obviously, you did not even pass you 1 + 1! period
cao chee bye
lim pei
dog gan u
some pleasant words for DUA POW TAN.
I think this post would be deleted as usual.
hello, if no1 see my post before this, then it is deleted due to hokkien vulgarities.
Anyway, the last thing politicians want to do is to make people feel that their assets are worthless. So usually properties goes up, up , and away.
If no1 likes them, then kick them out in the next coming election. I am sure many people likes to earn million $ salary.
47) doctorwho on July 14th, 2009 11.32 pm:
he is not Dua Pow, I think he mean every words he say when he setup ERP when he is transport minister. He also admit that he has price the New HDB in according to the nearby resale value, and give Singaporean discount some more! How to say he Dua Pow. Only can say his heart long time ago already eaten by the dogs.
i can only say that politicians, if left unchecked, can also be evil.
HDB flats are simply a rip-off. You pay way more than what you should. It’s like paying $20 for a plate of mee goreng. Would you get that if you have a more reasonably-priced alternative, say, a plate of char kway tiao for $3? Sadly, there are no cheaper alternatives to housing here. Screw this predicament.