The Housing and Development Board (HDB) will launch a bumper crop of 8,000 flats in Build-to-Order (BTO) and Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercises on Wednesday. The flats are in mature and non-mature estates, and cover a full range of flat types from three- to five-room flats. HDB is using the ramped-up supply of new flats to help other buyer groups, now that the queue of first-time flat applicants has...
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Housing and Development Board (HDB) upgraders are facing challenges as they look to move into the private housing market, with cash-over-valuation (COV) figures falling amid a weakening resale market. The HDB has stopped providing overall COV figures for resale flats, but data released from PropNex Realty for February shows that average COVs fell between S$3,000 and S$7,000, excluding three-room...
The new Multi-Generation Priority Scheme (MGPS) by the HDB, which gives more chances for couples to own their own flats if their parents live with them may be abused, warned some property experts. Although it aims to promote multi-generational family living, some could abuse the scheme by bidding for a popular unit in a mature estate and yet, not everyone would be living under the same roof. Moreover,...
Divorcees who get full custody of all children will no longer be subject to a five-year debarment period when buying a second subsidised flat from HDB. Neither would they have to get prior consent from their ex-spouse to give up their right to a subsidised flat, announced National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan in Parliament on Monday. However, the ex-spouse with no children will still be subjected...
The government is fully committed to providing affordable public housing options for Singaporeans. And extra grants are offered to the lower-income group to help them rent, buy their own home or monetise their flat in future. Minister of State for National Development, Tan Chuan Jin said the ministry tracks "very closely" the incomes of Singaporeans, to make sure that flats are priced and subsidised so...
As for Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's comment that Singaporeans earning S$1,000 could also own a home, Minister of State Josephine Teo said she was not surprised at the mixed reactions from netizens. "They don't necessarily know that there are grants available from the HDB that will make the actual size of the loan for purchasing these houses not very big. "With the grants, the loan...
Second timers applying for a Build-To-Order (BTO) flat, retirees looking to age-in-place, and multi-generation families have received a housing boost from the Ministry of National Development. National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced tweaks to balloting rules for second-timers during the Committee of Supply debate for his ministry in Parliament on Friday. He said these are aimed at building...
Minister for the Ministry of National Development (MND) Khaw Boon Wan is paying special attention to families facing financial difficulties because of misfortune. This includes the sudden death of a breadwinner or a major illness of a family member. He said in Parliament on Friday: "For victims of misfortune, I have impressed on my MND colleagues that our default position is to try to say "yes", to help...
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan has clarified comments made by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, that a household with a S$1,000 income can afford an HDB flat. Mr Khaw said the comment had caused a stir, as it sounded so incredible. But he said Mr Tharman was referring to a two-room Built-To-Order (BTO) flat. That's because such a flat would cost a first-time applicant - who...
The phrase "asset rich, cash poor" is a common refrain in Singapore. But property watchers said schemes aimed at helping elderly Singaporeans unlock the value of their homes, are slow to find favour. That's because the schemes are either too restrictive, or not well understood. The Lease Buyback Scheme was introduced in March 2009 to help low-income elderly living in 3-room and smaller flats unlock the...