Almost half of total flats built in 2013 and 2014 are private condominium units

Almost half of total flats built in 2013 and 2014 are private condominium units.

This was revealed by the written reply of Ministry of National Development (MND) to the question of the total number of HDB flats and private condominium units built in 2013 and 2014.

Member of Parliament of Aljunied GRC, Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap asked the Minister for National Development in his written question on the total number of HDB flats and private condominium units built in 2013 and 2014; and how many of the total number of HDB flats built are meant for rental and sale.

MND in its written reply answered that a total of 31,644 non-landed private residential units were completed in 2013 and 2014. Over the same period, 44,488 public housing units were completed: 43,307 units for sale and 1,181, for rental.

This gives us 58% (44,488 ) of the total number of buildings built for public housing and 42% (31,644) for Private condominium.

Public housing includes Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) and Executive Condominium (EC) flats, both of which are sold at a premium price because they are built by private developers.

So it is possible that build-to-order (BTO) flats may even be less that half of the total flat supply. Because BTO flat supply is limited, so they put in place BTO eligibility requirements. For those who exceeded the income ceiling for BTO flats, forking out more than half a million dollars for DBSS and EC (public housing by the way) is the remaining option, or go for private property.

Even BTO is not cheap.

With Singaporeans spending so much on their property, no wonder they are worried about resale value. And the vicious cycle continues. Future generations may even have to borrow from their parents to buy a house, or is that already happening?

On the other hand, in an extreme example, the flat supply cannot be 100% public housing. Otherwise there will be no place for foreigners to stay.

Therefore a fine balance has to be maintained by the MND in order not to run into the problems that are being highlighted here.