National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan has written about the importance for owners of public flats to take up mortgage reducing insurance (MRI). In his blog post published on Friday, he said such insurance can help pay off the outstanding loan on a flat, should tragedy happen to the breadwinner. He cited the case of a couple who died suddenly, leaving their only child behind. The teenager was...
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A bigger grant for Singaporeans hoping to buy three- and four-room flats from the Housing and Development Board (HDB). That's one of the calls from the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for National Development. It says a bigger grant will make public housing more affordable and bring down homebuyers' monthly mortgage and years spent servicing a loan. 24-year-old Kelvin Goh and his wife...
Property market watchers said the HDB resale market is showing signs of cooling. Median cash premiums (cash-over-valuation) for HDB resale flats hit a two and a half year low in July at S$20,000. This is down from a peak of S$35,000 in January 2013. Resale flat prices also recorded a 0.5 per cent rise in the second quarter, the lowest growth since 2009. Analysts said this could be the result of...
Land prices of executive condominium (EC) sites have grown at a faster pace compared with private residential plots in the last three years. SLP International Property Consultants says the cost of 99-year leasehold mass-market sites rose 40 percent, slower than the 50 percent increase in land prices EC sites sold under the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme. EVIA Real Estate, one of the consortium...
The overall cash premium, or Cash-Over-Valuation (COV), that buyers pay for HDB resale flats has dropped to its lowest in about two and a half years. This is according to data from major property agencies compiled by the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) released today (Aug 7). Overall HDB COV dropped S$4,000 in July from June to reach S$20,000 — the lowest since January 2011. This is compared...
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said new ground has been broken with the Housing & Development Board's (HDB) July's Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise where eligible singles can buy new two-room HDB flats in non-mature estates. In a blog post, Mr Khaw said the policy change was initially met with scepticism, with many predicting a lukewarm response. Mr Khaw said HDB expects to receive more...
Demand from singles for two-room Build-To-Order (BTO) flats continues to climb in the third day since the Housing and Development Board's sales launch. This is the first time that singles are able to apply for a flat directly from the government. Overall, as of 5pm on Thursday, there were 29.8 single applicants for each two-room unit available. There are 519 new two-room flats in Sengkang and...
The demand for Build-To-Order (BTO) two-room flats for eligible singles launched on Tuesday is high, with the number of applicants being much more than the number of flats available. As at 9am on Wednesday, the application rate is 15.1 for two-room flats in Sengkang and Fernvale Riverwalk. There were 1225 applicants for 231 units. As for two-room flats in the non-mature towns of Yishun and Vine...
The tender for three executive condominium housing development sites closed on Tuesday with the land parcel at Yuan Ching Road drawing a whopping 16 bids. This is the highest number of bids for an executive condominium site in 16 years. Meanwhile, the land parcels at Punggol Central and Punggol Drive drew eight and six bids respectively. The top bid for the Yuan Ching Road site came from a...
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan is assured that Singapore is on the right track for its public housing programme. He said this in a posting on his Facebook page on Tuesday evening. Mr Khaw noted that as the Housing and Development Board (HDB) launched its latest Build-To-Order exercise on Tuesday. HDB also announced housing grants of up to S$60,000 for two-room flats. With the...