TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent

With more and more young couples missing out on the homes of their choice due to sky-rocketing prices of public housing, the state media is spinning stories to lay the blame squarely on Singaporeans instead of the government.

The prices of HDB flats have reached a record high in June this year caused partly by the continuous inflow of foreigners into Singapore and limited supply of new flats.

According to a report by real estate agency ERA, 40 per cent of the buyers of resale flats are PRs. An Indonesian PR “spoilt” the market of late by forking out $653,000 for a 4-room HDB flat in Queenstown.

Despite rising resentment on the ground, HDB is adamant that public housing remains affordable in Singapore. National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan castigated first-time home buyers for being “fussy”.

Now, PAP MP Dr Muhammad Faisal has an another explanation and as usual the government is absolved of all responsibilities for its ill-thought polic.y

Dr Muhammad, an assistant professor of real estate at the National University of Singapore, feels that couples who run into trouble with housing often fail to plan ahead.

‘I’ve met residents who are often in distress and can’t get a flat because they apply six months or a year before their wedding date, without thinking it takes three years to build the flat,’ he noted.

The HDB scheme, which was started in the 1960s, carries with it the risk of a couple’s relationship turning sour while they wait for the flat to be built. They will also have to forgo the downpayment – 5 per cent of the flat’s selling price – if they give up the unit, as is the case with married applicants.

The Sunday Times quoted the example of a young Singapore couple who paid the downpayment for a 5-room flat in Punggol when they are planning to get married 4 years later in 2013.

The government should ensure that HDB flats are readily available for young Singapore couples in the first place rather than to ask them to plan well ahead when nobody can guarantee that their relationships will stay intact for the next few years.

Singaporeans should not be asked to pay the price for poor government planning. It is HDB which should plan ahead and increase the supply of flats in the last two years when the rate of immigration is at the highest.

According to Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, there are over 20,000 new citizens and 90,000 PRs last year. A quick check on HDB infoweb reveals that the number of new flats built between 2006 – 2008 annually numbered less than 20,000 which is grossly inadequate to meet the housing needs of the population.

It is deplorable that the state media chooses to ignore the truth and deliberately distort the facts to deflect attention away from the role of the government.

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