Khaw Boon Wan: Prices of new HDB flats remain affordable

In Parliament Today - Singapore: Khaw Boon Wan: Prices of new HDB flats remain affordable

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We don't understand.  Yet another minister says HDB flats are affordable. When the pricing of HDB is increasing year-on-year and is now at an all-time high. When salaries remain near stagnant all these years.  You can't blame our incredibility for being stretched.

New flats are pegged too closely to the resale flats' prices to be able to be anything but HIGH. The price of a current resale flat of 67 sqm is anything from S$300,000 to S$400,000. And that of a 120 sqm anything from S$475,000 to S$750,000 and above! The housing grants for first-time Singaporean buyers has rather stringent rules imposed, and pales in comparison to the price increase of current years.

Compared to this, an average worker's gross pay in Singapore is a mere S$3,000 a month - if you are lucky to have a job paying this amount, that is. And with this average pay, you're hard put to keep up with the cost of daily living and monthly bills, not to mention set aside anything for housing.


Space

Expensive?  Then go for smaller, we are told.
Some families of 6-7 or more, cramp into a space of 67 sqm space. You can call that affordable as well but a human should not be deprived of proper space.


Time

A large part of the price increase is owing to the BTO (Build-to-order) system.  With pressing need for housing, it is puzzling why the BTO system is still in place.  A spot for the preferred area must be balloted first before go-ahead for the construction starts.   Goreng here, goreng there, waste of precious time in admin processing, pay a $ percentage first, and then the waiting game of another 3 to 7 years to move in starts.  All in, making life so much more stressful for Singaporeans. With such pressing need for housing, go ahead and build already!  Like in the good old past, when housing is meant to serve the needs of the people.

At the very least, the BTO should apply to some areas, not a blanket rule like it is now.  By building so slowly - and the BTO system is by it's very nature a snail-pace system - the supply of HDB flats is held back amidst high-tension bottled demands.  How could flats ever be affordable when demand still exceeds supply?

The latest proposal to cut HDB prices for new HDB flats comes with caveats.  Hopefully, it does not apply to far-flung areas only.  And hopefully, not another wait of 5-7 years.


Don't forget.  Affordability is measured in terms of money, space - and time as well.

Not many can afford to wait, and may be forced to pay the exhorbitant resale rates.