SINGAPORE - Wendy Cheng, 32, has been trying to buy a home for over
two years but without success.
Cheng and her American teacher husband cannot afford property on
the open market where a government-built apartment can fetch as
much as S$700,000, and they have been unsuccessful in balloting for
flats available from the state at a cheaper price.
At her last attempt to buy an apartment directly from
Singapore's Housing Development Board (HDB), she was given a queue
number of 1,983 for the 200 units offered, which meant she could
get a unit only if 1,783 of the people before her dropped out.
"It's like trying to win the lottery," she said of her efforts
to buy her own place, a predicament shared by an increasing number
of young Singaporeans who feel they can no longer afford homes,
unlike their parents' generation.
With general elections likely to be called soon, soaring
property prices in Singapore pose not just an economic risk but a
political issue that could erode support for Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong's ruling People's Action Party (PAP).
Singapore private home prices rose 17.6 per cent last year
despite government attempts to cool the market in February and
August. Resale prices of HDB apartments that house over 80 per cent
of the population gained 14 per cent.
The city-state's median household income rose a much smaller 3.1
per cent, or 0.3 per cent after adjusting for inflation, to S$5,000
a month last year.
