cheap is relative.. its cheap because of the insanely ridiculous
pricing of hdb flats nowadays.. but i sitll think hdb flats are way
too expensive when it was meant to be affordable for
most..
well .... the estate we selected, it's less than 300k for the
top floors .....
we conservatively estimate that it won't be neccessary to take
up a loan of more than 50k after factoring in everything and
fatumnette selling her bachelorette apartment at the price she
brought it at. If we don't go overboard with the renovations and
furnishings we may be able to own the house outright even.
but let me do the sums for you. A blue collar Singaporean
worker, couple combined take home 2.5k a month. A three room flat
at a none prime estate costs between 110k to 150k nowadays. less
low income rebate, less CPF, less AHG (additional housing grant,
which is 30-40k btw, note that this is NOT the resale grant, which
is also 30-40k), a low income couple need not take a loan of less
than 60k. about the price of a saloon car. And you can stretch it
over 20 + years mind you.
Of course .... if you want to keep up with the joneses and want
a huge flat or prime area when your earnings can't keep up, then be
prepared lor. No one can save you from buying 3/4 million dollar
flats if you like the view or the 5 minutes from city
convenience.
Most of the speaker's corner ranters don't know what they were
talking about anyways. I just demolished one of those ranters at
shrek's thread the other day. When you start looking and
calculating and reading the HDB fine prints it becomes not so bad
after all.
