Amid the rising prices of HDB flats, and even HDB rents, in Singapore, there may be concern that people are using flats for investment purposes.
Now, it has been revealed that about 3% of HDB owners also own private property.
Source: John T on Unsplash
However, this proportion has fallen over the last three years.
The figures were given by Minister for National Development Desmond Lee in Parliament on Monday (7 Nov).
He was responding to queries from Aljunied MP Gerald Giam and Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai.
They had asked for the number of HDB owners who weren’t living in their flats and own private residential properties.
As of October 2022, about 3% of HDB owners owned at least one private property, Mr Lee said.
Source: MCI Singapore on YouTube
This proportion has fallen in the last three years, by about 0.3 percentage points.
In this group, about 45% don’t live in their flats.
That’s because they have rented out the entire unit, the minister said.
Mr Lee also gave another statistic: 4% of the HDB owners who also own private property are renting out the bedrooms in their flat, even as they also live in the flat.
These proportions have remained stable over the last three years, he added.
Of the 97% of HDB owners who don’t own private property, about 13% are also taking part in the rental market.
They are either renting out their whole flat or one or more bedrooms in the flat.
Another question Mr Giam asked is if the Government would consider not allowing HDB owners to keep their flats after buying private property.
Mr Lee said that Singaporeans who’ve fulfilled a minimum occupation period of their HDB flat may buy private residential property without needing to sell their flat.
However, they would have to pay an Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) of at least 17% when they buy a second residential property and more.
Source: Danist Soh on Unsplash
The minister said the Government has been gathering feedback from Singaporeans over the current policy, and will study the findings.
In Parliament, Mr Giam also shared his concern over the rising prices of resale flats.
He noted that more than 266 flats had sold for at least S$1 million between January and September 2022, and prices have risen by about 28% over the last two years.
Source: MCI Singapore on YouTube
This has caused resale flats to become “beyond the reach” of many Singaporeans, he said, adding,
So the purpose of my question was to discuss ways to moderate resale flat prices so they’re more affordable for lower and middle income Singaporeans and one way to… achieve this is to increase the supply of resale flats.
Mr Lee replied that the so-called million-dollar flats made up about 1% of all resale transactions over the last two years.
Their “headline-grabbing prices” had caused concern and “fuelled market psychology”, which prompted people to enter the housing market, in turn affecting the resale market, he added.
He pointed out that the Government undertook property-cooling measures in December 2021 and September.
Nevertheless, they aim to ensure the market stays in line with economic fundamentals and will “act decisively but carefully” to do so.
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Featured image adapted from Danist Soh on Unsplash.
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