Despite growing public perception that the prices of new HDB flats are becoming exorbitant for first-time home buyers, PAP Housing Minister is adamant that they are still ‘affordable’ to the majority of Singaporeans.
He also lavished generous self-praise on the PAP regime’s efforts to keep housing ‘affordable’ to young couples.
“Most buyers of new flats need to fork out little or no cash to pay for their homes. Eight in 10 couples who bought new flats last year used only a quarter or less of their salaries to service their home loans, which means their Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions can cover almost all their monthly mortgage payments,” he proclaimed at a press conference at Tampines East Community Club.
Though buyers of new flats may fork out little cash, most have to take up thirty year bank loans to finance their HDB flats.
While the median income of an average Singapore worker has remained stagnant at $2,500 monthly, the prices of HDB flats have almost doubled since 2006.
“With all this in place, you would get a flat with zero deposit. Now how many housing ministers in the world can say what I’ve just said?’ On top of that, a new HDB flat is not ‘any ordinary, low-quality flat’, but ‘a good-quality flat, a flat in a good environment”,added Mr Mah.
Mr Mah forgot to add that HDB flats are merely 99-year leasehold flats owned ultimately by the PAP regime and that buyers are merely ‘leasing’ them from HDB for a period of 99 years.
On the issue of Singapore PRs being responsible for jacking up the prices of HDB flats, Mr Mah insisted that their impact is ‘small’ though PRs make up some 40 percent of the buyers in the resale market, according to some housing agencies.
PAP strongman Lee Kuan Yew announced lately that Singapore still needs 900,000 foreign workers on work permits and the number does not include those on S and E passes who are potential Singapore PRs and citizens in the making.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/04/26/mah-bow-tan-new-hdb-flats-affordable-to-most-singaporeans/
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I just did alittle maths with the help of financial calculators found in HDB website, assuming flats nowadays cost 350K for a 4 room(ave)
assuming no AHG (capped at 5K combined income)
deduct 50K from Ordinary CPF (ave)
=300K(payable over 30yrs)
=around 1.2K/mth for CPF installment
=>5K/mth combined pay needed
so it means bf and I need to earn >2.5k/mth EACH to afford a midlevel flat in a non-matured estate comfortably WITHOUT using cash at all to pay for the housing installment
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Calculators that I used
HDB website
CPF website
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