The newly appointed Minister for National Development, Desmond Lee, made a Facebook post yesterday (21 Feb) reminding Singaporeans that the government has disbursed close to $500 million to some 15,600 first-time buyers of HDB flats since 2019.
“We first introduced the EHG in September 2019 to help more Singaporeans buy their HDB homes. Since then, about 15,600 first-time buyers of new and resale flats have received the EHG, with close to $500 million disbursed,” Minister Lee said.
“The EHG is one of our key strategies to support first-time buyers purchase their new homes. Eligible buyers can use it to purchase a new or resale flat, and there is no restriction on choice of flat type or location.”
In 2019, MND and HDB announced the new Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG), which replaces the older schemes – the Additional CPF Housing Grant (AHG) and Special CPF Housing Grant (SHG). Under the EHG, eligible first-timer applicants for new or resale HDB flats can get up to $80,000, while eligible first-timer singles up to $40,000 in housing grants.
To qualify for EHG, the monthly household income for first-timer families should not exceed $9,000. Eligible first-timer singles must be aged 35 and above, with a monthly income of up to $4,500. The amount of grants obtained depends on income:
Desmond Lee: Young couple receives full EHG of $80,000
In his Facebook post, Minister Lee also described how a young couple has received the full EHG amount of $80,000 from the government.
“Jin Ann and Jaslin are a young couple who bought a 5-room BTO flat in Tengah to live near both of their parents. They received the full Enhanced Housing Grant (EHG) amount of $80,000,” he proudly revealed.
“Home buyers who wish to check their eligibility for the grants can utilise the customised financial calculators on the new HDB Flat Portal (https://homes.hdb.gov.sg), which we just launched last month.”
Desmond Lee is the son of former Cabinet member Lee Yock Suan. He contested at West Coast GRC in last year’s GE. His PAP team nearly lost to a new opposition party PSP contesting against them, which featured Dr Tan Cheng Bock, Mr Leong Mun Wai and Ms Hazel Poa. At West Coast, PAP garnered 71,658 votes vs PSP’s 66,996. PAP won by a whisker with a majority of 4,662 votes out of 140,299 votes cast.
With regard to Minister Lee’s mentioning of the young couple, Jin Ann and Jaslin getting the full EHG amount of $80,000, it can only mean that Jin Ann and Jaslin’s combined monthly household income would be less than $1,500, according to the EHG table from HDB.
That being the case, it’s not known how Jin Ann and Jaslin can survive in Singapore and start a family with a combined salary of less than $1,500 a month.
