Singapore to boost public housing affordability amid million-dollar prices
- More means-tested housing grants will be introduced to help lower- and middle-income households own homes
- New rules to restrict sales and moderate prices in ‘choicer’ locations will be imposed to cope with especially high demand for flats there
The resale market for public housing flats – home to 80 per cent of Singapore residents – has remained red hot despite earlier rounds of cooling measures, in part due to disruptions caused by Covid-19 in building new flats.
Property prices have been at an elevated level across the board also as a result of an influx of overseas wealth to the republic in the aftermath of the pandemic.
In his annual policy speech, Prime Minister Lee pledged to keep public housing, built and leased by the Housing and Development Board (HDB), affordable.
“Housing has always meant much more for us than a roof over our heads,” Lee said in the National Day Rally, an address traditionally held two weeks after the republic’s August 9 independence day celebrations.
“It also gives every Singaporean a valuable asset and a powerful reason to fight for our country and our future,” Lee said.
Among the policy changes was the introduction of more means-tested housing grants to help lower- and middle-income households own homes.
To deal with especially high demand for flats in “choicer” locations – either near the city centre or close to town centres in the suburbs – new rules will be imposed to restrict sales and moderate prices.