Young couples must be realistic, says Mah AMID concern that young couples are being priced out of the public housing resale market, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said the Government spent, on average, $1.4 billion a year over the last five years on its commitment to keep housing affordable - and has allocated a further $1.6 billion this coming financial year. Last year, demand for public...
ONE tenant of a public rental flat installed a split-airconditioner in her flat, thanks to her children. Another asked for a season car-parking label. Still other tenants of such heavily-subsidised rental flats - meant as a “final safety net” for the needy with no other options - have been known to sublet their units. The Housing and Development Board (HDB) will not hesitate to clamp down on such...
Lease Buyback Scheme to benefit the elderly Some 25,000 households - or 70 per cent of elderly two and three-room flat owners - will qualify for the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) new Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS) that kicks off next year. The HDB will buy back the tail end of the flat’s lease from elderly owners at market value, so that they can “unlock” the value of their flat. The lessee...
Those who apply to update their addresses on their identity cards will be required to furnish proof that they are indeed living at the addresses stated. The move is to protect innocent victims from being harassed by loansharks. Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee announced this in Parliament on Thursday when responding to concerns raised by MPs over illegal...
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan assured Singaporeans in Parliament on Thursday that compulsory acquisition of a HDB flat is the "absolute last resort" – a serious decision carried out only after all other measures have been exhausted. Mr Mah said this when he gave what he called "the full picture of Madam Judy Mitchell" – whose plight was highlighted by her MP Ong Kian Min of Tampines GRC...
Hong Leong Asia's foray into China is paying off for the company. Its China operations and building materials unit both helped to boost its full-year net profit to S$95.4 million, up 56 percent on year. Revenue rose 30 percent to S$3.2 billion. Hong Long's share of profit from associates increased to S$25.4 million in 2007, a turnaround from the loss in 2006 of S$500,000. Most of the contribution come...
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has launched the sale of two transitional office sites at Scotts and Anthony Roads in the Newton area. The sites are being released under a government programme to meet the near-term demand for office space. The two parcels are located next to the Newton MRT station. The first site has an area of some 0.86 hectares and can yield a maximum gross floor area of about...
Some 25,000 households, or 70 per cent, of two- and three-room flat owners will benefit from HDB's new Lease Buyback Scheme. Under this scheme, the Housing Board will buy back the tail end of the flat lease from elderly owners, to help them unlock the value from their flat. Details were announced by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan in his speech Low income elderly households can sign up for the...
All 14 town councils run by the People's Action Party (PAP) will not be increasing their Service and Conservancy (S&C) charges this year. The freeze applies to both residential and commercial properties, and is aimed at lessening the financial burden of the residents due to inflation. The town councils announced their decision on Thursday in response to the government's call for town councils to hold...
Qingdao Construction Group Corporation has won a Housing and Development Board (HDB) tender to build public housing flats at a site in Bishan Street 24. It submitted a tender price of S$135,888,777. The site is the fourth to be offered under HDB's Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) where the developer bids for the land, designs, builds and sells the flats as public housing. The flats have a 99-year...