We have the highest per capita GDP in the world. We also have the highest savings rate in the world. Obviously there is something not right.
There is a host of problems. Housing is one of them. There is more than 90% home-ownership and huge amount of CPF money is invested. So it affects everybody and in a very big way.
All these decades, the government has been selling us the idea that an HDB flat is an asset promising capital gains and a good hedge against inflation. People did not hesitate to use tens/hundreds of thousand dollars for COV in addition to hundreds of thousand of CPF money to purchase HDB flats. People then spent tens/hundreds of thousand dollars on renovation. The government further sold us the idea of asset enhancement. There were MUP, IUP, HIP where homeowners coughed out thousands of CPF money.
All these decades, we had no idea that the Minimum Sum would be raised again and again and by so much.
To appease the people, the government came out with three monetisation schemes. Now, it appears that the government is rescinding on two out of the three schemes - the two that pay $20,000 cash bonus. Rescind in the sense that they start at 65 instead of 55, and do not make any financial sense anymore.
The Silver Support Scheme should not be a replacement of the $20,000 Silver Housing Bonus. We should have the option to take up SHB at 55 and forgo SSS at 65 onwards. The gap between 55 and 65 is very critical to the baby-boomers. So please make monetisation more convenient as promised, not more difficult.
We have reached 3 generations of home-ownership. The government has been saying that Singaporeans are asset rich cash poor. We cannot run away from monetisation now or in the future. Selling and downgrading are inescapable despite many misleading opinions that hungry Singaporeans prefer the luxury of familiarity of surroundings. How the hell to explain the tents for homeless at the beaches?
Six 400 sqf. flats @ 30-yr lease = one 800 sqf. flat @ 99-yr lease. We can save a lot on land/construction as well as free up many bigger flats. The no. of singles and single-member households are growing. Bequest does not make any sense to them. Cluster retirement homes can function as hospices too. Again, saving on resources.
