I only ask you a simple question. How much do you think a HDB
flat, say 4 room flat SHOULD cost to you, and not how much does a
HDB flat cost. Yet you asked me in return with something else.
As a fellow citizen, I too am concerned about such prices,
because if it becomes too high, families cannot get started,
overcrowding will occur or our young indebted to the hilt.
One way to ensure that this does not happen is to ensure:-
a. The maximum ceiling for citizens purchasing public housing be
capped below $8,000 monthly salary to ensure the well off do not
expliot public housing whereby they can afford private property.
HDB is and must be keep affordable for the less afluent in our
society.
b. Loans must be extended to the new couples formed to start
families, and its repayments must not be such that it takes up more
than their combine salary, leaving nothing to live on,let alone
have savings.
c. For those who have lower income, must have access to cheaper
varieties such as 4 room units or if necessary, return to 3 room
units.
d. And for those who are really down and out, cannot afford even
the cheapest flat type, they must at least have access to cheap
rental small unit flats.
This is and had always been HDB's as well as our society's
policy for years and more years to come. No one is to be left
homeless in our egalitarian society.
So far, none had ever been marginalised. I too want a big and
cheap flat, with more money balanced to my account for my own
spending, but that would be at the expense of my other less afluent
citizens as well as future generations.
Next, if govt should sell flats at cheaper prices way
below market values, I am sure you will see what will happen to the
older flats owners and banks. Disaster awaits.
And dont expect those new owners who got it cheap from the govt
will sell cheap after 5 years. They will demand high prices too, or
market prices. Someone will have to pay, and it will be our next
generation greatly burdened.
They only pay back what they owed to CPF, which in the end is
their money. But the profits from the sale lines the owners
wallets, not to society.
There is only so much space our country can build flats, and the
demand is high daily. The solution now is to spend on researching
advance technology to build even higher but safe storeyed flat
units to maximise space.
Whatever 'profits' there are goes back to our treasury, and not
to HDB as it is not a private agency but a stat board to serve the
PEOPLE. Those money belongs to our next generations to assist them
in owning homes - either for research, better service, building
more flats or subsidies, and serves as a common pool for social
spending.
Whomever that you had heard profits from sale of HDB flats
lining the wallets of ministers, please ask him/her to show
evidence, or you are being made a fool of and you dont even realize
it.
I am not from HDB. They would be the better ones to explain to
you. I can only offer you a brief insight to its policies, which is
in line with what our society fairly needs in the interest of all,
of which you and I are its equal members by birthright.
Can one who is not from the HDB give any accurate insight to its
policies that will give any answers to the primary concern of
this thread about how much a HDB flat should cost to
Singaporeans ?
Or has the bankrupt mind of a X-rat simply plagiarized PAPa's
strategy of answering simple question by leading us through a tour
of all its policies to simply obfuscate the issue and leave
everyone none the wiser ?
Has the answer been given by the X-rated effort made in a
plagiarized "Wall of Text" format that is void of any relevant
substance to the question asked ?
A more honest effort would have been to refer to the previous
thread in this Speaker's Corner - titled : Cost
of building HDB flats – finally an answer ?
(*1)
In this thread, it had referred to a surprise
ChannelnewsAsia Report
(*2) that would have provide some relevant
information to this thread:
SGX mainboard-listed BBR secures S$104.2m HDB
contract
By Jonathan Peeris, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 17 August 2009 1511
hrs
Singapore Exchange’s mainboard-listed BBR
Holdings has secured a S$104.2-million contract from the Housing
& Development Board (HDB) to build seven blocks of flats in
Yishun Neighbourhood 4.
The work comprises 864 homes, a Child Care
Centre, a roof garden, communal amenities and site works, as well
as contingency works.
Since there will be 864 HDB flats, the average
cost per flat, inclusive of communal amenities, site works and
contingency works, is about $120,602
($104.2 million divided by 864 flats).
With the latest HDB new 4-room flats at Punggol
(Punggol Residences BTO) selling at an average price of
$293,000 (price range
of $264,000 to $322,000 divided by 2), does it mean that the HDB
stands to make a profit of
about $172,398 per
flat, or a profit margin of about
143 per cent
?
The
project will be carried out in 10 phases and is expected to be
completed by 2012.
One should consider that the government had utilised CPF funds
borrowed at low interest rate of 2.5 per cent per annum to build
these HDB flats.
Selling these flats to Singaporeans at such high profit margins,
will mean that the money is borrowed at no cost.
Selling these flats at such high profit margins to the HDB can
only result in the entire CPF savings being used to purchase the
HDB unit, with nothing left for retirement.
Is Singapore "asset rich and cash poor" - when the "asset" is an
artificially high priced HDB unit that transfer the CPF savings to
the Government Treasury ?
This is day-light robbery, which CASE cannot even dare to
represent the interests of all Singaporeans.
