Dawson Koo /
21 May 2011 denotes a significant milestone in Singapore’s history. Mr Mr Mah Bow Tan finally bowed out as the Minister for National Development (MND), after 12 years at the ministry. He will most likely be remembered for allowing prices of HDB flats to skyrocket in recent years, while he continued to insist on their affordability during his election campaign in April 2011. He failed to plan and anticipate demand, resulting in it outstripping supply.
Mr Mah incurred the unhappiness and dissatisfaction of many young Singaporeans whose salary didn’t keep pace with the rise in prices of flats. As a result, voters in his constituency of Tampines GRC slashed his vote share by almost 10 per cent from the 2006 elections to below the national average of 60 per cent.
Singaporeans’ unhappiness included having to resort to buying resale flats at sky-high prices, and be ladened with a 20 to 30-year debt. Balloting for a flat also became a blind stab in the dark, with many complaining that they were still unsuccessful after numerous attempts. The last proposal put up by Mr Mah before the elections, at the eleventh hour, is to increase the $8,000 income ceiling on flats to perhaps $10,000. This did not quell negative sentiments, instead he was accused of making things worse. Raising the ceiling meant that more people would join the queue, straining further the problem of insufficient supply.
One of HDB’s mottos is Providing Affordable, Quality Homes (available on their website) and it is one of the main goals for its establishment in February 1960. However, it seems that the HDB may have forgotten this goal. How can housing be affordable today when our CPF monies are almost emptied by the time we retire? With the continual rise of HDB prices, how will our current and future generations be able to afford a home?
Mr Khaw Boon Wan to the rescue?
After the elections, Mr Mah “stepped down” as MND Minister and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appointed Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan to take charge of housing.
Mr Khaw promptly got to work right from the get go. During his first few weeks in office, he introduced a number of new initiatives. He first pledged to make “housing and HDB Singaporeans’ popular icon again“. Next, he started a new blog called Housing Matters at mndsingapore.wordpress.com. He ordered HDB to build flats ahead of demand in order to keep a healthy supply of them in the market.
On Sunday, he announced what could be a significant change in mindset by promising that more rental flats would be built for the poor and needy, to the tune of “tens of thousands”.
Analysts interviewed by Channel NewsAsia are optimistic that the property market may see further major changes under Mr Khaw’s leadership.
Colin Tan, head, research and consultancy, at Chesterton Suntec International, wrote an interesting article in the Today newspaper titled “Will there be a housing market overhaul?” on 27 May.
He wrote:
“I have been asked what I hoped for in new policies under Mr Khaw. I say, put aside for the time being, our goals of elevating Singapore to hubs of excellence in the various fields. Let us get our priorities right first. The rest will follow naturally.
As I see it, our new minister has two major problems that he has to deal with urgently – the seemingly unabated robust demand for new public housing flats despite the significant rise in supply. He has to isolate those buying in advance or panic buys from those needing their flats urgently and to help this latter group first.
The second is how to deal with the excessive liquidity that is flowing into property – primarily into housing.”
Only time will tell if Mr Khaw is a game changer and if his initiatives will live up to his promise.
For now, Mr Khaw is hitting all the right notes, quite different from the dissonant tune his predecessor had been singing. But there is still more to be done in terms of the affordability of public housing flats and this remains Mr Khaw’s biggest challenge.
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KBW start to side track real issue by telling us all other nonsense.
He better get his house in order before getting his asshole burnt !!!
It is indeed an irony that in years ahead Singapore will be the only country in this planet where most of its citizens will live in HDB flats and most foreigners who will outnumber the citizens, get to live in private apartments and landed houses.
Perhaps these foreigners are not only “creating” employment opportunities for Singaporeans but reducing the chances of citizens to live by their previous comforts. When this is achieved, the ruling elite will proclaim a new motto,
FOREIGNERS NOT ONLY CREATE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR SINGAPOREANS BUT ALSO HELP IN THE ASSET ENHANCEMENT OF SINGAPOREANS.
I wonder at the number of prostitutes from China and India who are issued with permanent residency. They too get to live in comfort at the expense of the sons and daughters of this soil.
So… should Mr. Mah go scot-free?
according to KBW, you want one of this high quality rental flat at taxpayers money?
this is how…
be a divorcee, single parent, get into debts or just come up with a sob story because…LHL wants to please everyone…haha
sell your current home..live in tent..soon gov will offer you poor thing a rental unit…haha
and he is upping the supply of flats..selling it to a new generation of idiots who should have rented…hahaha
this KBW is better than MBT…MBT is tough on opportunistic home seekers and F mostly these people…KBW is..wow…reverse…he F homeowners ….people who voted for his party haha…and for opportunistic cheapskates..he please them now but F them later with more rental units…hahaha.
The truth is:
More than 85% of private condos are owned by and mostly occupied by Singaporeans.
Countless Singaporeans own both an HDB flat and a condo.
Countles Singaporeas own more than 1 propety.
Almost 100% of landed properties are owned and owner-occupied by Singaporeans. Very few PRs are allowed to buy landed properties.
Almost 100% of NEW HDB flats are owned and owner-occupied by Singaporeans.
Other than Singaporeans, only PRs can buy resale HDB flats.
Overall, more than 85% of Singaporeans are housed in HDB flats, and 15% in private dwellings. No Singaporeans are homeless. HDB flats are very comfortable and comparable with condos. As mentioned above many HDB flat owners own more than one propery in Singapore.
Therefore, foreigners are NOT the cause of demand on housing or prices. Singaporeans themselves are the cause, and rightly so. They own this place.
So don’t blame the foreigners.
Nice that Mr Khaw is making the right moves. Wondering if Mr Mah will be held to account for the bad decisions of the last 4-8 years of his 12 year tenure. Or do we just move on? Yet again.
The most important point that Khaw failed to assure is “how the government going to stop using HDB as cash cow to milk Singaporean” Building more rental flats is a permanent or temporary solution? Because if it temporary, what are we going to do with those empty rental units where a permanent housing is out? These are also tax payer money.
Moral of the story: Why pay and pay when you could let someone else pay and pay?
And the smart Malays are enjoying the kampong life.
Still too early to decide whether KBW is better than MBT in fixing HDB issue. Time will tell…
I can’t sleep with this pain,
that I am compelled to come and comment again.
I enjoyed reading the innocent comment of Ng Jit Chew a warning and a brilliant piece of advice which will never be heeded, in today’s context.
My friends, what is happening is more then the eyes can meet,
it has already started.
The Jalan Bersah phenomenon,
as i have named it.
The Jalan Bersah phenomenon is such that people are naturally poor in that part of town.
They are living a life of servitude, obtained residence in early Singapore and are just living, a day of their life, amongst us,even without us knowing who they are, or where they live on a day to day basis.
This same people,
have always come, rain or shine
have voted for the PAP and they always will.
Why? & why you may ask?
It is the ingrained lifestyle in them,
‘having enough for me, for today and
I am blessed because…. I may not be good enough to be in the mainstream which has set upon me’.
The servitude mentality.
This is the Jalan Bersah phenomenon.
This link between these people and those who are going to be placed in such a situation,
the rise of the rental ghetto’s, which KBW & his people call for,
Is going to bring about the same
Jalan Besah phenomenon in Singapore and at every locale.
I am afraid, for these people.
I am afraid, for their mentality.
I fear for their natural courage,
to be drawn into this cesspit,
which they might never recover from. Their children caught up with this grappling township.
It might never bring them forward ever.
I recommended a friend to watch the movie, District 9,…. however,
it would never make,
no sense,…. if one have never seen the inner parts of South Africa.
Are we heading somewhere close,
can KBW give us a remedy,
to those who occupy such flats,
to build them a new life,
where Home Ownership is the goal.
A targeted goal, where he & his kings men can show us a result
with which we can be proud of?
I want an assurance,
that such people will not be left behind,
their needs & minds will be taken care off,
their sons & daughters will own a place, their lifes will be brighter then where the family started,
to have a life where they can call themselves
A Proud Singaporean.
I do not want a District 9,
a District, where my nephews & nieces dread to go, built by this man KBW.
Will he assure me?
@ B E NEO
You are too far away from factual stats, stop this nonsense.
If you play humble the wall you sit on is solid.
If you play dumb you will have a great fall for ignoring the groundswell and the basic needs of the People; the belittled masters.
If you choose not to REPENT IN 5 YEARS when your policies can be easily passed in 5s, mins, days or weeks, you will receive the same fate as the legendary Humpty-Dumpty.
No amount of insurance can cover your self-destructive acts. Dont blame the People. They are not Dafts. It’s you who are playing deaf. All the people’s horses could not put you together again.
By then it’s much too late. You already had a Great Fall.
And the whole world laughs upon your Death.
5 promising years or 5 years of promises, People wont care less anymore.
Rental homes won’t turn to a ghetto. They have too much money and pride to let that happen. However, the way property has been managed by the incumbent, it is now subjected to abuses by everyone and anyone who has a stake in it or milk it for all that it is worth. Whether you are an existing homeowner, a aspiring home owner, downgrader, upgrader, cashing out, cashing in, getting out, getting in,tenant,landlord and hoping to live off state coffers, you are the everyone and anyone here who is part of the mess.
Mah was realistic and managed property as an asset.
Khaw, however, manages property as needs and want.
But without building up the asset, will there be money to satisfy the needs let alone the want?
Mah builds it up, Khaw expenses it. Mah is hated, Khaw is full of heart?
This is the reason why we have been cursed by the time we reaches the third and fourth generation.
To say HDB flats are unaffordable is rubbish. The median income for a couple is easily above $100k per annum. I see many couples earning $200-250k per annum. So for a resale flat of $700k is still very affordable, as it’s only 3 times annual household income. Other developed countries is 4-5 times annual household income. I don’t see what all the stupid noise here is all about.
In the past week, LHL made a start of trying to redress the problems created by the PAP’s ill-guided policies in the past. While the measures announced were small and tentative, we should still give him the time and space to show his sincerity.
Unfortunately, statements that “Slower growth = lower starting pay for Singaporeans” from a supposedly matured minister, KBW is unequivocally reversing LHL’s efforts to show he is indeed listening to the voices of the people. Without a shred of proof, KBW is regurgitating the PAP’s failed dogma of pro-foreigner and ultra-liberal immigration policies. We recalled LHL saying, right after the elections that there were no sacred cows that could not be challenged. KBW is, in effect, now saying the continued importing of foreigners is a sacred cow and sacrosanct. High growth is obviously another sacred cow. If he wants to insist such views, show us irrefutable statistics to prove the case, rather than parroting groundless dogma.
I honestly fear the PAP is currently bankrupt of new ideas and devoid of a vision where they want to lead Singapore. The lack of a coherent world view and strategy is making them recite the old formula of the past. Directionless and rudderless, they are boxed in by their obstinate refusal to recognize the reality on the ground. Blind and dogmatic insistence on pursuing such a course is moving the PAP now into a slow motion end game. It is, however, we, the ordinary citizens that will eventually suffer, while the likes of KBW, with their million dollar compensation packages, are well insured against the disastrous consequences of their moribund polices.
KBW is reacting to circumstances to gain some respite from the deafening voices of the criticisms. The expedient measures that he is pursuing will buy him someshort time popularity and hopefully time to seriously rethink what is the PAP’s long term vision for Singapore and how are they going to get there. Rehashing the flawed rhetoric of the past is a sign that they are clueless at the moment.
When the parents pander to the whims and fancies of their kids, they naturally grow up to be spoilt brats. These young adults, enjoyed a life of luxury, now expected no less or they will threaten their parents and even fly the coop if their demands are not met generously.
Olden days were unlike younger parents these days. Olden generation parents are disciplinarian and authoritative. They gained respect, the children were better behaved, there was order and general prosperity for all. But in the demise of the old came the new parenting methods. Plagued by pangs of insecurity, these new feathers unravel the foundation of the old and…..butt kissed their way to the top!
Yes, like pedophiles, they shamelessly planted kisses on their children asses as other parents watched approvingly.
How long will the abuses continue?
As long as the parents remain …. shameless.!
KBW has probably caused the ever-rising medical costs to go up further and further by merely tweaking and gerrymandering of existing taxing and privatizing all government services treating people like money shaking trees to hoard monies.
What he actually did was to repeat the fundamental policies mistakes of MBT by following the past no-free-lunch control paradigm without changing anything to the wrongful policy assumptions like foreigners will create jobs which will not give rise to any unfair competitions to citizens.
He appears confident that he could just do the same as he has done in transfering the problems of rising medical costs to be paid out of CPF medishield and all problems will be taken care of. (not admitting so far such transfer of charge to CPF does not solve problems only reduce balance in CPF for retirement)
Now, it looks like he is merely making the high market-priced HDB charges will not look too bad by merely expediting the BTO programs. He keeps quiet on tackling the so-called affordable public housing hoping the astronomical costs in housing caused by insurgence of 800,000 foreign labor will eventually drop or be forgotten.
LHL said there is no sacred cows but is he ignorant or he is merely allowing KBW the same tweaking and gerrymandering of fundamental errors in all the policy assumptions that already cause so much problems at the ground.
The crux of the matter is HDB has to be affordable not to MBT parameters.
It is nonsensical to be in debt for 30 years for a flat you do not own. For a flat that would start depreciating after 30 years and has zero value after 99 years. The land and the house goes back to the government after the lease has expired.
In essence this cannot be treated like any other asset because it is not an asset. It is a public home that is what it is. This point has to be distinguished by KBW.
I understand those who comment that a drop in prices would affect their property value. I really sympathize with these folks. Due to reasons only known to those buying their property on the crest property boom would definitely be affected because like any other economic cycle there is bound to be rise and falls. We cannot sustain the highs forever it is not possible with all the economic might in the world, look at Japan, Dubai and USA. They could not do it, we definitely will not be able to do it.
It is easy to say we cannot let the price fall but it would just we would have to face a bigger meltdown later down the road like the 1997 crisis or even Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae crisis. If you ask me it is better to do smaller corrections now then face a credit crunch later which is going to be even more painful.
So what is the solution? I am not too sure but KBS has huge pile of turd to clear in his ministry.
MBT played his part to jack up the price!
KBW playing nice conducting the sales now!
We have to remember the PM also deserves some “credit” for the housing prices. The PM cannot plead ignorance of escalating public housing prices over so many years.
Ant, for sure, you are not a thinking strategist. You think in extreme terms. Moderation is the key therefore, controlled growth. Prices need not fall nor rise unnecessarily. Economic parameters may swing, a small nation can remain calm.
That said, Mah is honest, Khaw is cunning
I am not too sure how both men are as KBW only took the job at MND so his performance is yet to be seen but MBT is totally incompetent and had totally lost sight of role of HDB after heeding the call of the great(sarcastically) Emeritus GCT.
Like I said in my post it is high time moderation comes and adjustment are done now. Looking at the alternative to that is a much more scarier scenario.
Price falling or rising is not in our hands. I can only read the situation as it is right now, we are very close to the situation many countries were just before their respective meltdown like USA, Ireland or Dubai. We have to learn from these lessons that is what i was pointing out in my post.
As a strategist it is always good to look at the worst case scenario as any other alternative would be better. I am not saying it is going to happen because we still do not have access to data like defaulters of home loans or foreclosures but it is better to start from there then a rosier picture.
What is autocracy? Will all the orders and instructions be traced or traceable to an autocratic ruler? The way of autocracy is non-transparent. Many wishes and controls will be made known in an unwritten manner to fulfill the wishes and controls of the autocracy.
The autocratic ruler can use proxies to carry out his hidden wishes and controls.
He can use the unwritten and unspoken wishes to exert control on all to ensure they are toeing the line.
This control by proxy system is widely practised in the existing laws and regulations especially the company laws where many decisions are made by defacto powerful bosses from behind and someone else like the Manager, accountant, CEO, audit and other committees will take the rap for wrongs and be made legally liable.
A telephone call, a verbal instruction will do. Power can be exercised from behind the scene and wrongs can never be traced to the power that be.
The financial crises which cause the whole systems to collapse or melt down driving millions out of livelihood are not caused by direct infringements of laws and regulations but mostly traceable to loopholes in the laws where unspoken instructions are carried out by manipulations of the proxies which may include the managers, and staff and committees of all kinds.
The actual wrongful persons are seldom captured by the laws.
Yet we keep hearing of rule of law, justice and equity when the rule of law is compromised easly by hidden statements between the lines in policy pronouncements.
We hear of another round of amendments to the Company Act as if such amendments will solve problems. Far from it, it will cause the power that be to be more determined to use proxies to get his ways without the real culprit being made to face consequence of his wrong doings.
The drug law is the same, designed to punish the proxies or fall guys. Drug lords are walking freely in our streets from Myanmar doing businesses with us but their proxies die for them. (read yeocheowtong.com)
Malaysian PM Najib Razak said during a talk in UK that subsidies were ‘like opium’ and kicking the habit was hard but necessary.
In a free market economy why are people will addicted to cheap housing when after 5 year they can sell for a hugh profit? — GREED, SEER GREED of the ungrateful Singaporeans!
25K is nos which can sack an employee or minister.MBT needs to have his salary cut and asked to return all the bonuses he got being a failed MND Minister to have balloned a huge housing shortage on our population. This in not excusable and punished by termination if in any company.PAP listening
The addiction to power may be the worse of all addictions.
This is only anecdotal, I live in a HDB and my neighbors almost 70% moved into the flat at about the same time as us. And that was more then 35 years ago. Parents may have passed away but their children continue to stay here.
If like some claim a vast majority are selling and buying to make money I have not seen that around me.
Is 30% greed, justifiable to punish the remaining 70% who see their houses as home then a investment. And just for the record, our parents bought this place when it cost only 20K today it is worth many times more but not many are selling to make a buck so greed is not a reason for selling houses.
Again anecdotal, as far as I know people have sold their house because they could not service the loan due to retrenchment, credit card debt, and even had a friend who downgraded so that he can send his daughter to study overseas so where is the greed?
As Health Minister, Khaw Boon Wan relaxed Medisave withdrawals for Singaporeans to go overseas (eg, JB, Malacca) for “elective surgery” whilst he geared-up our limited medical resources (eg, John Hopkins facility, Specialist Clinics, Class A wards) for rich Arabs, Americans, Chinese nationals and Indonesians to come to Singapore for “elective surgery”.
As Natl Dev Minister, maybe Khaw Boon Wan will relax CPF withdrawals for us to buy condos in Penang, Port Dickson, Labuan.
Just as Khaw Boon Wan wanted to pack our old Singaporeans to JB Nursing Homes, I wonder when will Singaporeans pack Khaw Boon Wan back to Penang (where he can BALIK KAMPONG to his original hometown), eh?
Khaw Boon Wan said that SINGAPOREANS WANT LOWER GDP GROWTH. So he warned us to expect LESS JOBS, LOWER PAY.
Is Khaw Boon Wan an idiot???
Does he not know that employers are playing with numbers? Their “foreign talent” quota is pegged to TOTAL “Singaporeans”, NOT to COMPARABLE “Singaporeans”.
So Company A can employ, say XX Singaporeans as Janitors, Clerks or Operator and then employ 1 Foreign Talent as Manager. Out of total number of Managers in that Company A, the majority are Foreigners, NOT Singaporeans.
The prized jobs are going to Foreigners.
Singaporeans in their 40s and older are DISPLACED to be high-class Taxi Drivers, re-skilled Chamber Maids, up-skilled Hospital Attendants!
Well, NOT PAP’s FAULT!!! It’s the choice of 60% Singaporeans who voted for 81 PAP MPs out of 87. We must respect that!
Here’s a story on how to create a shortage to leverage on increasing profits:
Many years ago, my friends and business associates from Japan were buying up toilet rolls before they return home.
I was surprised and asked them why they are buying toilet tissue papers and bringing them back to Japan.
Aha good question. We are facing an acute shortage of toilet tissue paper in Japan. The stock seemed to have dried up!
It appeared a big trading company was buying up all the stocks directly the factories and stocking them up in warehouses. The objective was to “monopolies” the market and to make big bucks by creating a false shortage.
The reverse is true with our housing shortage. The shortage was created by a failure to plan ahead in keeping with supply and demand .This failure in professional marketing strategy resulted in the price of flats shooting upwards and to maintain the appreciation of the value of public housing probably motivated by the policy of asset enhancement policy of the government to make Singaporeans feel rich.
It also achieves better bottom lines for HDB to sell new and resale flats at a higher price; at same time increasing our national reverse in pricing higher prices for state land for building new flats..
It appeared that the new minister for national development is feverishly working to put things right. He has a monumental task ahead of him. Judging from his previous performance record as Health Minister, he is competent in addressing the problem created by his predecessor and will successfully achieved his mission.
Careful of this s who has alternative solution. Maybe one day, our hard earn money be siphoned to Malaysia and let them all enjoy cos of lose control in Singapore.
So get lost Malaysia. F back to your home town.
Aftermah bullsheet in the housing, macaw clears the mess.
Hurray! Looks like it’s back on track towards ‘Housing the Mass’ with greater Affordability by making the costs available for public scrutiny.
That’s what Transparency and Accountability is about. This is but one critical area of concern.
MBT was found sleeping, KBW Slap-Slap!
KBW was found sleeping, GKY Slap-Slap!
LHL was found sleeping, LTK Slap-Slap!
Thats when u get idoits to run the countries. Just look at the measures they can think of? Increase housing for rental??? Thats wat my 10 year old nephew said b4 the election?! And i told him that it will cause more future problems as it only solves short term shortage!
Now u get Scholars ministers who is paid millions to come out ideas that a 10 year old can come out with? Why do we need a minister?
just thinking :
‘buy’ the hdb for 99-year lease,
compared to rental units which is hot-topic now,
any difference?
i think end of the story – still lease mah.
and the price we ‘buy’ is super highhh lor.
kuku
Dear Sirs/Madams,
The government was doing very well. It had achieved record breaking growth rates for Singapore despite a slump in the world economy.
The PAP had read the message from the 40% voters wrongly. They must understand that there are no mass hardships in Singapore. Everyone has food. Everyone has a job. Everyone has a beautiful home. Most homes are air-conditioned. Most families have a shiny new car. Most of them travel every year. In fact, everyone is living in heaven, if that is the word to use.
The 40% who voted against the PAP are simply suffering from a disease called “jealousy”. It is not that they are wanting. They are simply envious of people who earn higher salaries; more so if they are foreign talents. They are even more envious of people who made money from investment in properties.
What they want is to be paid more than foreigners irrespective of talents, and have a chance to make money from properties like the other 60% of the people of Singapore.
The government is now trying to please these 40% by building more HDB flats faster and cheaper, and by increasing the number of rental flats by tens of thousands so that these people can “cash out” and spend the rest of their lives playing with their navels, i.e. retire. It is an effort in futility to please ungrateful people because they will never be satisfied.
Mr Khaw should not be too fast in making dramatic changes to Mr Mah’s policies which are largely correct. He should improve on Mr Mah’s policies instead, e.g. by increasing subsidies for first timers and the poor. That is all he should do for now. Tinkering with sound policies is counter-productive and can only fuel self fulfilling prophecies.
The government should not read too much into the 40% anti-PAP votes and turn cold feet. It has 81 out of 87 seats in Parliament. It should continue with what is right; and to rule fairly and firmly and pursue the best options for Singapore with the full support of the 60%, who incidentally are the overwhelming majority who put them in power.
cleanup? lickin’ mah’s asshole after he shit!!!
MBT for the past 12 years had caused HDB flats so expensive to please PRs that he neglected Singaporeans.
Just think of the poor performance of third generation PAP Government with minister like MBT and you will feel sad that over 85% excluding foreigners and PRs Singaporeans can only afford HDB fats and not private housing.
How much can KBW do to revert the trend and set new rules to curb PRs and FTs buying up HDB flats?
HDB flats should cater for the young while more Singaporeans with improved economic growth should be able to afford private houses.
If KBW can achieve this he may do a better job. But building more flats at high prices is no difference to MBT.
If everything is so perfect why must PM Lee apologize?
Lucky he apologized so many times manage to look humble. If not for this last-minute saving grace, just think can he still trade this jealousy insult to keep to status quo.
Mah has been exposed for using fear tactics and falsehood to charge HDB flats at exorbitant market price.
If KBW carries on such tactics, and pretend to do some side-kicks to make people forget these tactics, and falsehood, let him.
Go on TV now and look citizens in their eyes and say to them MBT was right in his asset enhancement ruse. Tell them.
HDB started with the altruistic goal of home ownership. Somewhere along the way contribution to reserves may have been added, and a bubble began to form. Now the bubble is getting bigger and bigger as time goes by. As household incomes increase, the danger zone gets pushed out. One day when the affordability limit is reached, the bubble will burst, and many will suffer…
Imagine a unit that cost $25K in 1960, compounded at 3.5% inflation rate, should cost $145K in 2011…
No matter how much sugar-coating PAP employs, if the fact remains that Singaporeans have emptied out their CPF accounts to service HDB loans at the point of retirement, public housing (or more appropriately, leasing) is UNAFFORDABLE.
It is ridiculous to have to slave away your entire live just to pay for a 99 year LEASE to a public housing flat.
The price of property is set by the marginal buyers. Even a few % of foreigners buying Singapore condos is enough to spark a significant price rise. We all know that the condo market affects HDB and vice versa.
So it is not irrational to say that the foreigners buying condos in Singapore are negatively impacting the purchasing power of Singaporeans.
MBT can be said to be worst minister ever in the Singapore cabinet.
Not only a worthless minister, but a shameless,inconsiderate, insensitive pariah.
How many endless Singaporeans’ sufferings has he caused?
Hope KBW offers HDB Grant of 100K for all Singaporean sons who have served NS.
That would be a good, appeasing, helpful start.
@B E Neo, if you are not Singaporean, we can understand your remark. But if you are Singaporean, you are not doing yourself and Singaporeans a favor. E
“Everyone has a job” and “Everyone has a beautiful home”. You must be kidding. Many of us are leaving in a “pressure cooker”. We want to be realistic and practical. If you check around with age group between 45 to 60 years, you will know many of them have difficulty finding a job. Some have been unemployed for more than a year. Some has no choice but to go oversea and find a job. Have a heart for Singaporeans please.
@Bad Singaporean, i pitied you. You seems to have negative view on Singaporeans at large. You kept thinking Singaporeans are greedy. Perhaps people around you gave you this feeling. If so i feel sad for you. There are many Singaporeans who are not greedy. They merely wanted a truly affordable home. Affordable means you do not have to pay for it the whole life. Again, please have a heart for your fellow Singaporeans.
Both from the same party and I would presume they might have the same beliefs and similiar way to doing things. Therefore, I doubt so things will changed drastically.
Lets see.
Tragic in our Land
——————
The land in SG belongs to Singaporeans, not the government.
There’s no way private property prices will go down and be affordable (not having to slog to the extend of having a nice house but no life to enjoy). Why? The gov keeps selling the land at high prices. How can prices go down?
We worked hard thinking we share in the prosperity of our country. We are wrong. SG has been treated like a company.
Let the uncountable rich foreigners live like kings in our land while we see our dreams shattered. (No) Thanks to the government.
If this act does not stop, PAP will be history overnight soon.
I can’t believe a brand new HDB flat can cost over $800k now!!!! When will it breach the $1m benchmark? Wow that is a lot of profit for HDB. No wonder Mah is paid millions.
The fact remains- the price is really high now (and i personally resent that). But if we deflate the price now, we will screw over 90% of singaporeans who have already bought their flats.
The only logical thing anyone (govt/opposition) can propose is to moderate the growth rate of price (i.e. stop it from climbing so fast). That means ramping up supply to meet the current high demand, but take the foot off the pedal once it stabalize (and not crash the market).
Another thing that the govt should do to break the catch-22 (i.e. make housing affordable while not screwing over the home buyers) is to give bigger housing grants targeted specifically for first-time home owners (even for resale flats). So resale price will not plummet, but yet it is affordable for the entrant home-buyers.
Hope the Minister will consider this seriously!
1)Gahmen keep tendering land for property, wonder how much land left in the land bank, by the time this gahmen is no longer in power, would we have anymore land for S’porean’s housing? They should let us know what is the build-up ratio currently.
2) KBW showing some traits of MBT? What does he mean b saying “if you think DBSS price is too high, “you can walk away”. Today newspaper put it as “you can give them a miss”. Is he saying, take it or leave it? Further, KBW said DBSS is not HDB, what does he mean, is it private property or EC or ????. Whatever, it is still housing and he is supposed to make it affordable, is it affordable now???
3) My feeling a the moment is that not only is the gahmen not solving the problem but adding to the fact that some Sporean are digging their own hole in the ground, thinking that property will continue to go up and it is a good opportunity to make money. When the bubble burst, good luck. If they have gone down this route 10 years ago, they would have alrady made their fortune but now?????