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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Mah lash out at SG for being unrealistic</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>2:23 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>31263.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Mah Bow Tan: “Unrealistic” expectations are a reason for some unhappiness about flats
April 7, 2010 by admin
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http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/04/07/mah-bow-tan-unrealistic-expectations-are-a-reason-for-some-unhappiness-about-flats/
Written by Our Correspondent
Under-fire National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has lashed out at Singaporeans yet again for their “unrealistic” expectations of HDB flats.
The prices of HDB flats have sky-rocketed over the last few years fueled by rising demand from immigration in the face of a limited supply of new flats.
In 2009, the prices of resale flats grew by 8.2 percent to reach a record high while median Cash-Over-Valuation (COVs) doubled from $12,000 to $24,000 in the last quarter alone.
Mr Mah was widely blamed by Singaporeans for his lack of foresight in planning to build additional flats to accommodate the growing population.
The ruling party had made known its ambitious plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million via immigration as early as 2005.
However, only slightly more than 11,000 new flats were built between the years 2006 – 2008 when there were over 90,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens alone in 2008:
[Source: HDB Financial Report 2008/2009]
Below is a graph illustrating how the rise in the prices of resale flats coincides with the rise in the number of foreigners in Singapore between the years 2000 and 2008, courtesy of Kojakbt, the moderator of 3in1kopitiam:
Due to the ruling party’s liberal immigration policy, foreigners now made up 36 per cent of Singapore’s population, up from 14 per cent in 1990.
The influx of PRs also contribute to a spike in the prices of resale flats as they have higher spending prowess and are willing to spend more.
The Straits Times reported a Taiwanese couple paying a record $650,000 for a four room flat in Bras Basah lately. Another Indonesian PR forked out $653,000 for a 4 room flat in Queenstown.
During a parliamentary session last month, Mr Mah claimed that PRs who make up “only” one in five resale flat buyers and have minimal impact on resale prices.
In his latest interview with the Straits Times however, he finally backtracks and concedes that to “some extent”, PRs have contributed to housing demand.
Instead of admitting his own mistake and accept responsibility for it, Mr Mah went into a tirade against Singapore home-buyers and “attibutes the sense of unhappiness among home seekers to a combination of rising expectations and how the ‘Singapore dream’ has evolved too quickly today,” the Straits Times reported. (7 April 2010)
To substantiate his argument, Mr Mah brings up his own HDB story:
“There, eight of us in a three-room flat shared one toilet and bathroom, while my mother stayed in a one-room rental flat in Whampoa Road,’ he recounts. His family later upgraded to a four-room flat in Toa Payoh – what he calls a ‘typical Singapore story of my generation’. Many people in my generation…started off small and modestly, worked hard, then upgraded our homes later. That’s how it was…but because we progressed so fast and so far in our generation, I think people may have forgotten how we started,’ he says. Unfortunately, he notes, there are many buyers who expect the ideal flat the moment they get married, ‘in an ideal location with nice views’,” he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times.
Mr Mah is the most expensive National Development Minister in the world drawing an annual salary of nearly $2 million dollars, or 4 times more than that of U.S. President Barack Obama.
It is disappointing that Mr Mah, who is paid by taxpayers’ monies to do his job has to resort to using such grandmother stories which will make DPM Teo Chee Hean doze off to pull a wool over the eyes of Singaporeans.
Perhaps Singaporeans should consider booting Mr Mah out of Parliament and replacing him with another person more suitable for his job.
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April 7, 2010 by admin
Filed under Headlines
Leave a comment
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/04/07/mah-bow-tan-unrealistic-expectations-are-a-reason-for-some-unhappiness-about-flats/
Written by Our Correspondent
Under-fire National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has lashed out at Singaporeans yet again for their “unrealistic” expectations of HDB flats.
The prices of HDB flats have sky-rocketed over the last few years fueled by rising demand from immigration in the face of a limited supply of new flats.
In 2009, the prices of resale flats grew by 8.2 percent to reach a record high while median Cash-Over-Valuation (COVs) doubled from $12,000 to $24,000 in the last quarter alone.
Mr Mah was widely blamed by Singaporeans for his lack of foresight in planning to build additional flats to accommodate the growing population.
The ruling party had made known its ambitious plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million via immigration as early as 2005.
However, only slightly more than 11,000 new flats were built between the years 2006 – 2008 when there were over 90,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens alone in 2008:
[Source: HDB Financial Report 2008/2009]
Below is a graph illustrating how the rise in the prices of resale flats coincides with the rise in the number of foreigners in Singapore between the years 2000 and 2008, courtesy of Kojakbt, the moderator of 3in1kopitiam:
The influx of PRs also contribute to a spike in the prices of resale flats as they have higher spending prowess and are willing to spend more.
The Straits Times reported a Taiwanese couple paying a record $650,000 for a four room flat in Bras Basah lately. Another Indonesian PR forked out $653,000 for a 4 room flat in Queenstown.
During a parliamentary session last month, Mr Mah claimed that PRs who make up “only” one in five resale flat buyers and have minimal impact on resale prices.
In his latest interview with the Straits Times however, he finally backtracks and concedes that to “some extent”, PRs have contributed to housing demand.
Instead of admitting his own mistake and accept responsibility for it, Mr Mah went into a tirade against Singapore home-buyers and “attibutes the sense of unhappiness among home seekers to a combination of rising expectations and how the ‘Singapore dream’ has evolved too quickly today,” the Straits Times reported. (7 April 2010)
To substantiate his argument, Mr Mah brings up his own HDB story:
“There, eight of us in a three-room flat shared one toilet and bathroom, while my mother stayed in a one-room rental flat in Whampoa Road,’ he recounts. His family later upgraded to a four-room flat in Toa Payoh – what he calls a ‘typical Singapore story of my generation’. Many people in my generation…started off small and modestly, worked hard, then upgraded our homes later. That’s how it was…but because we progressed so fast and so far in our generation, I think people may have forgotten how we started,’ he says. Unfortunately, he notes, there are many buyers who expect the ideal flat the moment they get married, ‘in an ideal location with nice views’,” he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times.
Mr Mah is the most expensive National Development Minister in the world drawing an annual salary of nearly $2 million dollars, or 4 times more than that of U.S. President Barack Obama.
It is disappointing that Mr Mah, who is paid by taxpayers’ monies to do his job has to resort to using such grandmother stories which will make DPM Teo Chee Hean doze off to pull a wool over the eyes of Singaporeans.
Perhaps Singaporeans should consider booting Mr Mah out of Parliament and replacing him with another person more suitable for his job.
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