Housing A Nation: Holistic Policies For Affordable Homes

06 August 2015

The Problem

While the HDB has indeed provided physical housing for the majority of Singaporeans, its system has generated three very grave and urgent problems:

1. HDB-flat prices have risen so fast that they have become unaffordable.

2. Singaporeans are spending their CPF savings on their flats leaving them with little to retire on.

3. The current escalation of property prices has created a dangerous economic bubble.

 

SDP’s Solution

The SDP proposes a new Non-Open Market (NOM) scheme to help reduce the prices of HDB flats. Under this scheme a segment of new HDB flats will be priced at cost (including labour, material and administrative costs) minus the land “cost” that is currently factored into HDB prices. 
Flat prices will hence be substantially lower, ranging from $70,000 for 2-room flats to $240,000 for 5-room flats.

As the name implies, however, flats bought under the NOM scheme cannot be re-sold in the open market. Owners wishing to dispose of their NOM flats will have to sell them back to the HDB.

Singaporeans who purchase NOM flats will take an estimated 9 to 15 years to pay off their housing loans compared to about 30 years under the present PAP system. This drop in housing expenditure will free up capital for homeowners to invest or save for retirement.

Current owners of HDB flats can continue selling their flats in the open market (OM). Policies regulating OM flats will remain relatively unchanged.

Current flat owners can also choose to convert their OM flats into NOM flats. The Government will return them the difference between the original price of their flats (as purchased from the HDB) and the price of an equivalent NOM flat, subject to a cap.

This money will be credited back to the owner’s CPF account or used to pay any outstanding housing loan taken. The converted flat will then be subjected to the rules governing NOM flats.

First-time HDB buyers can choose to buy an OM or NOM flat.

The rationale behind this scheme is that the Government should not profit from Singaporeans when it comes to public housing. Public housing is a social good and should be used to meet the housing needs of the population instead of being a vehicle for profit – whether the Government’s or citizens’.

Read the full paper Housing A Nation:  Holistic Policies For Affordable Homes here.

Housing A Nation: Holistic Policies For Affordable Homes

01 December 2012

The SDP has proposed a new Non-Open Market, or NOM, scheme in public housing to help reduce prices of HDB flats. Under the scheme a segment of new HDB flats will be priced at cost minus the land "cost" that is currently factored into HDB prices.

 

SDP's alternative housing policy to address declining birthrate

31 May 2012

Singapore faces a grave and urgent problem of a low birthrate. With a record low fertility rate of 1.16 births per female, the percentage of persons aged 65 years and older will reach 19 percent of the population by 2030 compared to 8.7 percent in 2008.

Lowering HDB Prices

23 April 2011

In the recent years, Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat prices have skyrocketed by an astounding 40 percent in two years between 2007 and 2009.

For younger Singaporeans this hyperinflation of housing prices means that you have been priced out of a home.

Foe those who have made the commitment and brought the flats at these sky-high prices, you are staring at a lifetime of high mortgage payments.