The following is a letter to the Today newspaper by Mr See Leong Kit which was “rejected for publication.”
Your report “Asset that keeps growing” (TODAY Dec 30) highlighted Minister Mah Bow Tan’s simplistic and optimistic view that HDB flat values will always go up.
Home prices in Singapore have become “ridiculously-high” for private property and “sky-high” for HDB flats.
Is it financially prudent for our young couples to start their marriage saddled with huge housing debts for something as basic as a roof over their heads?
The broader issue is that land-scarce Singapore must have proper policies to promote an “orderly” property market that is sustainable by economic growth, real demand and especially rising incomes. Such a market with gradual capital appreciation will benefit many Singaporeans from successive generations.
Whereas a “speculative” property market of sky-high prices is largely driven by speculators out to make a quick buck by “flipping a property”. But when the Property Bubble finally burst, both speculators and genuine home owners will be hurt by rapidly falling property values.
During our 1994 Property Bull Run, prices of both private and HDB properties were rising at 30% per annum for three years in a row. But since when has our economy as well as our salaries grow at such a phenomenal rate?
Our 2007 Property Bull Run lasted only nine months, cut short by the US sub-prime housing bubble turning into a Global Financial Crisis that brought recession and job losses to Singapore. But during that nine months, average freehold property value in our East Coast area doubled from $700 psf to $1400 psf.
A property may be “an asset that can be monetised”, but it can also end up as a millstone around one’s neck. High property prices will affect the average Singaporean as follows:
> As a home-buyer. Is it wise to sink so much of your hard-earned monies in a brick-and-cement house with little left over for your children’s upbringing, your own healthcare and retirement needs in old age?
> As an employee. If your employer has to pay high office rent out of its operating budget, can it afford to pay you a better salary,increment and bonus?
> As a consumer. If a shopkeeper or supermarket operator has to pay high commercial rent, will it not charge you higher prices for goods and services?
Finally, two pertinent questions for HDB flat-owners:
Are there not more important things in life, such as good health, close family ties and well brought-up children than this materialistic addiction to “HDB Upgrading Carrots” and “my HDB flat is worth a lot”?
Should you die suddenly from an accident or heart attack, can you take your high-valuation upgraded HDB flat along with you to the next world?
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Read also: Higher HDB prices good for Singaporeans? by Leong Sze Hian.
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aLL MBT ‘S FAULT.
He set us up for years of shit.
Well said.
Somehow, like a biblical story or some bad sci-fi movies, I can’t help but to think that this HDB-property greed will blow up in our collective faces and causes misery to all, the involved and innocents alike.
We don’t learn the lessons of history and thus we will be doomed to repeat them again and again.
Divided, the people are all sheeps waiting to be slaughtered. United… and there will a stampede for change.
HDB will continue to build world class public housing, and upgrade older estates to make Singapore “our best home and giving the people a stake in the nation” etc.
I’m sure there will always be people who can afford these homes, so the property prices will rise with the bullish sentiment, knowing that PAP will never want to slow down their economic development to be a world class city, best infrastructure, schools, tripartite worker etc.
http://heartland.hdb.gov.sg/rohplans.html
“aLL MBT ‘S FAULT.
He set us up for years of shit.”
It is the whole system comprising old fart, Sissy Lee, Woody and the government’s fault, and not just one alone. MBT is a approved minister by you-know-who and a loser as election candidate who is been put into the system to generate exorbitant profit for the leegime and justify anything and everything with nonsense as long as it make money off the citizen. So it is not wrong to say that gov as a system that is the root cause, not MBT alone.
As time goes by Singapore will increasingly mirror Hong Kong in its property market : sky-high prices for pigeon-hole sized apartments.
Reasons are the policy of targeting 7 million residents in SG and our limited land but continuing influx of FTs.
All these translates into higher storey HDB flats, thin slivers of malnourished flats close to each other, higher population density, and increasing demand for studio and 2 bedroom apartments.
The 2-room HDB apartments may not have enjoyed a good take-up rate recently, but as time goes by, you will see more people buy these pigeon hole apartments as more and more ordinary Singaporean couples are squeezed by lower wage increase.
Singaporeans want face and feel embarassed if they tell others they stay in 2-room flats, so even if they are mortaged to the hilt in bank loans with no retirement CPF, they will pay for bigger flats… FOR NOW.
When reality bites, and bites hard soon, more couples will be forced to take up smaller units in a shrinking world and local economy.
Bottomline : Do Singaporeans want to share their homes with 7 million people in a small island ?
In the past, statutory board or government company is set up in the name of helping citizen. But today, only few still are genuine helping and mostly are making huge profit. The key point is “Welfare” is a dirty word. It’s either in market value where speculative works in capitalise world or monopolistic market. However, HDB works on both open market and monopolise, whichever benefit profit the most. As such, Singapore will most unlikely to see housing issue like US and the price will only heading north although some small minor adjust will occur occasionally.
We can’t beat them so many are joining them. Apparently, foreigners are playing better here. While most PRs have a cheap and big houses in their own country, their HDB or Private house are mainly investment asset.
Hi some couples even if they want cannot buy a 2-room flat because there is a salary ceiling for buying 2-room flat so they will be forced to buy the 3-room or 4-room flat
well written.
no papers will dare to publish.
I think greed is what drives the prices up.
Basically HDB (or PAP to be exact) has lost it original purpose in building affordable flats and it’s would be more accurate to say that it is now entirely profit driven by greed. Our PAP leaders know that there is plenty of money to be made in the resale of HDB flats and does not want to lose out to these HDB owners by first helping themselves to a piece of the cake.
What better way is to built in part of this profit forecast from the resale of the future flat into the selling price of each HDB flat ! That will probably explain why HDB has until this very day unable to reveal the actual cost breakdown of each HDB flat they are selliing. Because revealing these actual costs will only expose a whole can of worms which nobody will dare to answer for it because they will need to manipulate or massage the figures or otherwise, it will raise more awkward questions.
The only conclusion that I can draw is that they have a whole bunch of skeletons to hide from the public. Just imagine what the citizens will think if HDB makes more money out of the public housing than private developers when it is supposed to be heavily subsidised as what our PAP leaders would prefer us to imagine!
What is so difficult in revealing the pricing for the land cost to be say, S$200 per sq ft for a 3 room flat, S$250 per sq ft for a 4 room flat or S$300 per sq ft for a execuive flat ?
Or is it the same cost per sq ft irrespective of the type of flat ?
Oops, or is it that they can reveal the figures because a lot of irregularities or inconsistencies will show up ?
What is it, can Mah Bow Yan be bothered to explain to us ?
I agree with the article’s omission from today for a variety of reasons.
(a) The author can’t count. Is it really that difficult to keep to a newspaper’s word limit esp with word count features esp with processing softwares today?
(b) Assuming that the flat price increase is due to a mere materialistic addiction reveals a serious lack of thought and an understanding of basic demand and supply. The newspaper spared the author public humiliation.
(c) The title alone assumes that the price increases are due to speculation, without any attempt to even justify it. Whilst opinions can certainly be freely expressed, publishing it can certainly be suggesting that the newspaper is agreeing with that opinion even with disclaimers.
(d) The last sentence appears to suggest that people will suffer from a heart attack or accident. Whilst the author may not have intended it as such, the last sentence alone is in bad taste and could have been rephrased a lot better from an diction usage perspective.
(e) Most importantly, the thrust of the article is actually confusing. Is the author arguing for everyone not to buy HDB flats? If so, that’s dumb. Taking a more generous reading and assuming that the author was merely complaining about flat prices, then the article serves no purpose. Without a thrust, the article is merely reduced to a meaningless rant.
Money earned by HDB goes to your PAP ministers what…
Singapore is running out of money-spinning ideas that PAP has to resort to a vice like gambling. Imagine that!
But of course, they need to keep on sustaining their ministers’ pay… and manufacturing is a sunset industry in Singapore.
What else can they do? So they let HDB and land prices go up. Money goes into your public sector to pay your multimillionaire civil servants.
A letter to the Today newspaper by Mr. See Leong Kit which was “rejected for publication”, Why ? is Today newspaper being control ? pap kiasu ?
“As time goes by Singapore will increasingly mirror Hong Kong in its property market : sky-high prices for pigeon-hole sized apartments.”
And also the squeezy commuting needs and the accompanying pollution to boot up our GDP on health care consumption. What a way for one bad area to prop up another bad area and still called it an achievement in GDP growth.
‘Life-threatening’ levels in HK
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_473487.html
I hope that we are not hearing from the IB that we are better than HK and other worst places as we can always be slightly better than the worst places.
aiyoyo
can the $ be take out & use?
if sell away current flat stay where?
think this high hdb price not logic leh…
need help FAST, else cant tahun to buy 4walls & 1rooftop liao
aiyoyo
maybe the miw are trying to get us “in the mood for gambling” to ensure the
success of their new baby,the legalised gambling dens.?
maybe they are trying to make proftis as they probably own more than one house
with their multi-million pay-packets.
and,that’s why they are trying to spice up things to validate their further pay increases?
who knows?….God knows!
who are the Speculators, that is what we should know.
Our govt is just moving along…..they do not have much plans for the future….
Their only hope is that Singaporeans will have jobs….(what jobs or pay…even they don’t know or care)
Apart from that, this housing policy and pricing is just not something to even consider for them.
Those who have jobs, paying an afforable salary for such a flat, they get it. If not let the foreigners buy them.Like my friend who just told me today that his top most floors got many Indonesian couples, who managed to get good ballot numbers to pick up the top choice units.
I wonder where we are going as a country.
By the way my friend is migrating. How nice.
A pleasant lifestyle in Perth.
Sad to say, the rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer.
The rich gets to own properties through freehold and 999yr leasehold. The average Singaporean slog his productive life away to pay mortgage on something he will never quite own.
So, stop all the BS that housing is affordable. No heartlanders own anything, only pay mortgage to rent.
I wonder how high prices affect the Ethnic Integration Policy on allocation of HDB flats. I’m not sure how EIP is managed amidst the influx of foreigners and rising mixed marriages (ethnicity and nationality).
The EIP may backfire and create zones divided by social class. The ghetto effect is already present in many areas of life, for example, neighborhood schools vs. elite schools, Normal stream secondary school students vs. Express streams, rental flat occupants vs. Duxton Plain HDB occupants.
does anyone have any idea what will happen if the price of hdb prices goes south. Just imagine a person investing in a hdb flat for 30 years and their cpf is invested in it (this is a scenario for the working class like me) , At the end day their house value will be less than their cpf invested and who will be the losers? so it is in their interest to keep hdb prices high and also tweak it so that it remains high
The more i work, i thought the more i can save to buy a flat so that i can get married.
Now, the price skyrocket from already skyrocket price.
There is no end in sight.
I have had enough.
I feel Helpless.
I feel voiceless.
I feel like i cannot breathe.
Why must i pay and pay so much more for what is said to be highly Susidised when no one in the public , as in public domain, has the info on what is the construction cost for a flat ? How can we know how much is the so-called subsidy given when we don’t know the cost? we only know the market price. And what determines the market price? What is the component COV? Who determines this? Purely by market? no one needs to enter this number?
Why 2 billion deficit? How is this accounted for?
Its time to execute my rights.
I have a different view on this.
The author is right about the speculation, and the reason why the HDB is so expensive is because of the myth of demands PAP want you to believe in and to justify their reason to increase the selling price. As a matter of fact, alot of money had went into their pocket! This might in term transform as money to fill up lost overseas investment and our elities salary!
Ask yourself this question, by measurement, our LTA, HDB should have accumulated a lot of money into our country treasury. If so, it should be translated into more subsidies for our people education and medical. However, this is not the case, our CPF every year construct layers and layers of obstacles for us to reach it in full. Ever increasing GST, consumer product etc.
I have a friend who is a chef told me that presently in Singapore, it is difficult to buy good grade shark fins as compared to the 80s. That’s because, our average consumption is not longer as strong as in the past. Nowsaday, the demand went to China. They receive all the good grade materials. Yet Singapore despite selling the low grade materials, it still come with a very high price. Not difficult to understand why, rent are high, GST, utility, workers etc etc…
In short, we have been short change by our government and outside suppliers. Just look at our car, compared to the 90s, a average pricing vehicle would come with descent interior. Now? When you look into a average car, you can see plastic all over the interior. See the what I mean?
Singapore simply do not have that kind of spending power at national level. The only reason why our economy has not collasped yet is because of saving. Once these saving is slowly suck off to the GST, consuming product and others. We will proceeds to the next stage where majority will use future money. Everything is instalment. That will be the day Singapore near to it end!
I have many collegues and friends making 20K + living in HDB. They also bought a condo and rent out for income.
My household income is 10K+ and i can’t qualify for HDB but do not have enough $ for condo. I am very bitter about this. I am almost 30, ready to get married and make babies for the nation. However, i have no home. I am not sure how long i have to wait. Contrary to many reports on singles unable to get hitched, it seems easier to get my Mr Right than afford a home in Singapore.
I do not understand why the 8K cap on HDB is imposed on point of application. We should have hybrid conditions. Eg. If you are below 35, the condition does not apply. If you are above 35, the income cap conditon applies. Also if your household income exceed certain level, eg. 20K and above, you have 1 year’s notice to vacate your flat.
In my humble opinion, the government should allow all Singaporeans whom are trying to set up their homes a chance to own their flats (regardless of income). Its like an entitlement of a Singaporean. And those who made it big (eg. earn 20K) will have to vacate their flats and make way for those whom need an affordable flat.
As my biological clock continues ticking, I seriously hope the government can come up with policies to help young Singaporeans with combined income more than 10K but less than 16K but less than 100K of savings, to have ownership of an afforable HDB flat. Maybe just for 5 years as an interim.
Meanwhile, setting up a home with children remains a dream for me, us,.. and the nation…
We are an Installment Nation!!!
“At the end day their house value will be less than their cpf invested and who will be the losers? so it is in their interest to keep hdb prices high and also tweak it so that it remains high ”
The logic is perfectly understandable, ant.
The next question to ask is, can this be sustained? What gonna happen to your CPF money which is tied to your flat when everything goes BOOMZ?
I agree with what the writer wrote. Most of our money has gone into replayment of our pigeon-holes & we dont have much left for other things. Yes, having a roof over our heads is really important & I dont think anyone would wanna live in a slump or something. However, I dont see why HDB is affordable when we need to pay it off in 25 to 30yrs & by that time, we probably dont have much left for retirement!!
No wonder Old Man keep asking us to work cos there will be too many old folks in the next 10 to 20 years & I doubt with the recent big losses by Temasek/GIC, the Singapore government will have enough money to take care of us!!
Therefore, they came up with a Quick-Fix solution & import hordes of FTs to boost the population & hopefully these FTs wil breed like rabbits! And when these FTs come in, they need a place to stay & thus it’s driving up the property prices & making the PAP rich! Mind you, they DO have a very big hole to fill after those losses & who knows, maybe it’s even worse than we think cos many things are wept under a giant Persian carpet.
//Utopia
Completely agree with you.
but we have to get rid of these pigs quickly.
Actually we dont need speculators to push up the prices of HDB.
The theory of Supply & Demand may also not be the only factor as in the case of HDB. In Singapore, there is an ‘Invisible Hand’ that is benchmarking the HDB prices indirectly. If Government can stop land sales or stop building or limit the building of new HDB flats, the prices of HDB flats are of course more or less under their control.
We are a greying nation, not an impotent nation. Why only start to build new HDB flats when the spike in HDB prices had already caused so much anxiety in our people?
MBT is lousy, get him out. Current system of Build-To-Order is simply flawed for a free market Singapore so to speak.
Hi zefly
I concur this cannot be sustained and our future generation may have to pay for our mistake.
The question is will this cycle ever break, I believe I will not see it in my lifetime and I am in my late 30s.
Then the other end of the spectrum if a hdb matures 99 yrs what will happen next will we get market rate or discrection rate set by hdb?
You can see private developers are emulating hdb with 104 year lease so will a small group of ppl (hdb and private developers) hold on to land ownership in the long?
What are the consequnce of this oligarchy? Will land prices be forever high?
This are unanswered question that need to be throughly explored
the main problem is we are treating essentially public housing like private housing why?
Public housing is just that public house to provide a home for the working class why the shift to personal asset?
It is basically to give value to your asset but it is not really paying you in cash but in terms of value you will gain when you cash out but the problem is when you do cash out where are you going to stay? Will you be able to buy a new house?
Will you be able to rent a flat? If you buy another house will you be have enough to be worth your while? With minimum sum in place I have known some ppl to even top after retirment and a large portion has to be retained?
When you sell your flat you have to pay CPF with interest so if we pay with interest that would make cpf our creditor and not custodian of our nest egg
So the system is really confining to say the least
I get so vexed when somebody asks if I’ve gotten a place of my own since I’ve gotten married last year. I can’t!
Under HDB regulations – my husband cannot apply for a flat because his name was used with his parents 10 years ago to get a HDB flat. This was done for obvious reasons where his parents’ income was too low to apply for a loan. POINT 1 – is the son penalised for filial piety because his parents are not well-off?
POINT 2 – the market average of a private property has increased from 900++ to 1300++ for new condo in the last 10 months. Where we can afford a puny 31 sqm, on the condition that we can’t have any children because there isn’t enough money for its existence and the debts would kill both of us.
POINT 3 – isn’t HDB AFFORDABLE housing for the MASSES??
If the government wants LOYALTY, wants a YOUNGER population, THEN! Look after your people if you want them to help the country to become profitable in the future. This is our home. But if life is so strangling, then I will BAT NO EYE LID to migrate to another land where life can be more sustainable.
Good luck Singapore.
I think I understand why PAP allow so many PRs and foreigners in.
MIW want their in-numerous luxury properties to appreciate in value so they have more money to run away and live like kings overseas, when Singapore is in deep shit?
Conflict of interest???
The whole thing resembles NS where out of nothing, you suddenly have to serve 3 to 2 long years of enforced labour.
MM Lee encourage speculator actually. To prove it, let me quote it for u, is not becos of the high construction costs or the dirt cheap materials.
In response to the possibility of young couples lamenting rising property prices, Mr Lee said: ‘Well, they have got to decide if the country is going to go up or go down. If the country is going to go down, then the economy will go down and their incomes will be down – unemployment will go up and property values will come down. (It is based on the economy and the GDP)
‘If they have confidence in Singapore, in working with the government, then it must go up as it has gone up every year since 1959 or since 1965.’ (HDB will up it every year for sure. People wants it to increase moderately but they decided to up it super fast)
Mr Lee also made it clear that young couples will receive government assistance in fulfilling their dream of home ownership. (Loan and pay the gov interests, thank you for your money, yipee. No need to encourage banks to lend, everyone in debt already to the gov)
Look at Pinnacle, in 2004 and 2008.
The 50-storey Pinnacle@Duxton was first launched in May 2004. Some of the remaining units were re-launched in September 2008.
Then, 111 five-room flats were put up for sale at $545,000 to $645,800
four-room flats started at $289,200 while five-room flats were offered for up to $439,400.
fast forward to 2010, 4rm is almost 100% increase and 80% increase for something that is built in 2004. It not the land, it not the material cost, it is the STRONG DEMAND lol…crazy this gov
I am a true-blue Singaporean who joined the workforce in the Asian Financial Crisis of 1998. Times were very bad; I began with a starting pay of $1,200 even as a diploma holder. I married, had a kid in 2000 (no baby bonus either) and wanted my own home. We could not rent directly from the HDB, so we rented a flat from its owner before we finally bought ours. Together with my spouse, we worked more than 5 years before the amounts in our combined CPF were enough to pay the then 20% deposit for our flat (there was no 10% option then, but even after this was introduced, why are young couples still unhappy when couples like us didn’t have that privilege?).
My salary did not rise beyond $2K; my husband’s did not exceed $2.3K. But that is the reality of life here. We gave our vote to the opposition, but what more could we do?
I’m now shocked that the average monthly repayment for a 4-room flat in somewhere like Punggol is around $1,200-$1,500.
I do think the HDB should go back to its original mission and provide affordable housing for the common citizen. Realistically speaking, any outfit, even if it is government run, needs to be commercially viable and sustainable. As the main supplier of public housing, the HDB need not worry about its financial future, as demand will always be present. As such, it should cease to act like a lean, mean, money-making machine. The price of new BTO flats are now pegged with resale figures as a benchmark; yes, they may be cheaper but not significantly so.
Perhaps the HDB should revert to its pricing formula during the early 2000s. That’s not even a decade ago. Other Singaporeans may not feel the same, but I feel the HDB did help me secure my first [and current] home back then:
- First-timer priority during balloting in a mature estate
- A $40,000 housing grant
- The price was reasonable in the year 2002. My 4-room flat in Farrer Park, above the 20th floor, cost about $220,000. After the grant, the amount was reduced to about $180,000. My spouse and I took a 30-year HDB loan pegged at 2.6% interest per annum. We paid 20% of the purchase price upfront. Our monthly repayments are slightly less than $600 for this flat and thus we pay close to $300 each from our Ordinary Accounts.
Since then, the housing landscape has changed drastically. The resale price for a 4-roomer in Farrer Park is about $400,000 now. I would not have been able to afford this based on the HDB’s current system of pricing (I imagine my flat would cost around $350,000 if it had been built now and not 6 years ago).
And that is why, while I am grateful to the HDB for securing this property, I am also bewildered why prices have spiked so suddenly.
Perhaps Singaporeans can help themselves and the situation by cooling off the demand for hotspots such as Tiong Bahru, Toa Payoh, Marine Parade. Once the bees stop flocking to these pots of honey, the resale prices will adjust to more affordable levels. During the 1960s, my maternal grandparents reluctantly traded in kampung living for a flat in Henderson Crescent, not far from the current Tiong Bahru Plaza and MRT. The demand for flats in that area was practically non-existent. Sadly, through the years, it is Singaporeans themselves who have helped create insane prices for flats in this estate simply because they want to live there. Their personal preference drove prices up as flat supply in any area will be limited as long as there is excess demand. We have to be sensible too: there is only so many blocks the HDB can build in ANY area because of land scarcity. We can’t blame them 100% for every single unmet expectation. This generation is far too impatient. They seek instant gratification. Perhaps a change of attitudes/mindset is needed too.
So maybe Singaporeans should give outlying estates a chance and accordingly, prices will bottom out gradually. After all, Tiong Bahru was once a new town. In a few decades, Punggol will be a mature estate. That is just one of the solutions I can think of now…
An aside… is PAP giving out large land parcels to developers lately so that there won’t be anymore decent rally grounds for opposition parties to hold their rallies?
PAP is capable of anything come election. This could be one of the dirty tricks in the bag -> depriving opposition parties of large gathering places during election period.
Remember how PM said he had to think of how to “fix” the opposition?
Of course, when PAP does this (giving out land parcels), people may think PAP is trying to help lower housing prices. Don’t be fooled!
aiyoyo
if after buy at high $,
then the price drop southwards,
how to retire then?
aiyoyo
aiyoyo
see CNA got the news below :
“Consumer confidence in Singapore rebounds to 2008 levels
Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 07 January 2010 1448 hrs”
blur liao, high price $ again?
aiyoyo
why is a one room call a 2rm flat and why is a 4 rm flat call a 5rm flat?
My 3room apartment oversea is 50% bigger than a 5rm flat lol…even though it have just three rooms. Still, it is small to me.
The higher the resale price, the higher the amount you have to spend every month to service the loan.
If you use the upper limit of the cpf contributions from employer and assuming you have that amount at 25, and a cpf with drawal limit at 150 K 30 years from now, you will end up with not much monies at withdrawal time.
36) Mr Lee is just a politician and spin stories so people can suck up to them.
Sometimes I really wonder if people here are really stupid or blind to the HDB situation here.
On the radio talkback show this week, a housing agent mentioned that more and more people who down graded cannot afford to buy a smaller flat on the open market, reduced income, lost of jobs. Rentals have also hit the roof or very short supply.
It will get to this. Children will continue to pay for their parents flats or condos once they start working because money from their CPF have run out. To add to 41) fpc.
The could be the archilles heel for the PAP, not the economic downturn.
My neighbour works in the construction industry, building condo and previously his companies tendered for HBD flats.
The cost of each flat from the 4 rooms to 5 rooms even at today’s raw material prices is only between 60 to 90K, not counting the land cost which is from the Land Authority. ( right hand to left hand ) If a construction company tenders for a HDB project for 1000 flats at 60 to 90 million, you do the sums, its not difficult.
This is only the cost to the HDB which also includes the carpark, walkways, a “small” playground. We pay 15 to 19 K for a lift upgrading and extra room, the cost is not more than 2 to 3K! The government is making more than the private developers of the condos. He laughs at us but what to do. Well if we are smart enough ,we all should know what to do, so he says!!!
With the prices these days, a downturn will hit them harder. The defaulters who bought at these high prices will be in for a very hard time, 230 – 350 K for a new HDB flat is just too high. I an concern for the ordinary folks who earn earn a combine of not more than 4 to 5 K a month. How are they going to afford a flat.
One way to take advantage of the high property prices is to cash out of your HDB / condo and migrate to Oz or even JB!
Young people without a roof too bad!
Everyone has their opinion to the current housing issue. But be it from TOC or Temasekreview, the consensus has been quite the same … the government has indeed not looked into the interest of fellow singaporeans.
Their counter arguments have been far and refutable. Bringing out statistics to claim affordability and measures down to increase supply and roll out assistance to the needy. But no one heard of measures to bring down the cost of buying one.
In addition to this property ‘crisis’, we have other issues…FT, employment, poor productivity…etc..
My point is this… I have many conservations with my friends, and these are people with the brains and money. Everyone has contemplated about migration. It’s better off a second class citizen elsewhere than to be treated like a second class citizen here.
I hope everyone would know, in ten to twenty years time, it will not be the poor reproduction rate that would ruin singapore, it would be the efflux of talents.
Why push your most valuable resources to such a limit? Why make it so hard to have a decent living here? Why make houses, cars and even simple amentities so out of reach? Why has the income never meet up with the current inflation? Why try so hard to be number one in the eyes of other countries but zero in the eyes of a true singaporean?
Thank you so much for your insight, Mr Leong.
May I ask have you sent this letter to The Straits Times also, did it get published?
I totally agree with you about the rising property markets affecting the general public and businesses, and that it is true we worked our heads off and yet we can’t secure a decent living quarter nowadays, be it a rented or bought one.
The problem with HDB flats seems to be those people who use their properties as investments instead to live. Having lived in a HDB flat for one year now, every week I received flyers asking me to sell my flat!
Coming from a middle income (= “neither-here-nor-there”) family, we could not afford a private estate nor a HDB (due to over the income restriction set forth by HDB board previously). So I had been living in rented house for many years, until the property market shot up and our rental suddenly increased 30%. Luckily that was when HDB board increased the maximum income level.