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Over 85% of Singapore’s population lives in public housing built by the Housing Development Board (HDB) of Singapore.
Originally built to provide cheap and affordable housing for Singaporeans, the prices of HDB flats have ballooned in the last decade, with HDB resale prices rising 1.4 per cent in the second quarter to a record high.
According to National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, the flat prices will probably continue to go up, but they will remain affordable to Singaporeans.
While the prices of private properties had dropped by as much as 40% at the beginning of year due to the global financial turmoil, HDB prices remain strong on the whole and even pick up after the first quarter.
How is possible to have a inflationary public housing market in the midst of an economic recession?
One reason lies in the fact that HDB has a complete monopoly over the building of public housing in Singapore. By controlling the supply of new flats, HDB is able to keep the demand constantly high and therefore popping up the prices.
The second reason is because a HDB flat is a basic necessity in land-scarce Singapore. Unlike in larger countries like Malaysia and Thailand where one can go off to live in the rural areas, there is literally nowhere to turn to in Singapore. Therefore there will always be a demand for HDB flats.
Read rest of article here:
http://temasekreview.com/?p=12967
Originally built to provide cheap and affordable housing for Singaporeans, the prices of HDB flats have ballooned in the last decade, with HDB resale prices rising 1.4 per cent in the second quarter to a record high.
According to National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, the flat prices will probably continue to go up, but they will remain affordable to Singaporeans.
While the prices of private properties had dropped by as much as 40% at the beginning of year due to the global financial turmoil, HDB prices remain strong on the whole and even pick up after the first quarter.
How is possible to have a inflationary public housing market in the midst of an economic recession?
One reason lies in the fact that HDB has a complete monopoly over the building of public housing in Singapore. By controlling the supply of new flats, HDB is able to keep the demand constantly high and therefore popping up the prices.
The second reason is because a HDB flat is a basic necessity in land-scarce Singapore. Unlike in larger countries like Malaysia and Thailand where one can go off to live in the rural areas, there is literally nowhere to turn to in Singapore. Therefore there will always be a demand for HDB flats.
Read rest of article here:
http://temasekreview.com/?p=12967
