Today Online
Shorter waiting time and larger supply of flats, says Mah Bow Tan
05:55 AM Aug 31, 2010
by Ong Dai Lin
SINGAPORE - Three years - already a higher standard than in other cities - was the benchmark to beat. Yesterday, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan made a new commitment: First-time home buyers will get the keys to their flats in two-and-a-half years.
To get this done for projects launched from the middle of next year onwards, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) will streamline internal processes, for instance, by awarding the tender sooner and speeding up the Build-to-Order (BTO) selection exercises, Mr Mah said.
The shorter waiting period and a record number of units next year for executive condominiums and the Design, Build and Sell Scheme, in addition to BTO flats, were among the key announcements on housing policies set out by Mr Mah.
These moves, analysts said, would have the widest bearing on the current supply-and-demand imbalance in public housing that Mr Mah had previously described. HDB resale flat prices could fall from their current record high, they said.
Asked if the new housing measures were a response to ground sentiment that housing will be a hot topic in an upcoming election,
Mr Mah said: "If you ask me whether it has got anything to do with the elections, the answer is yes. Everything has got to do with the elections."
The waiting period is being shortened even though the selection exercise for BTOs is a "very time consuming process". Mr Mah explained that the HDB would check on the eligibility of every applicant.
Demand will also be met through 4,000 DBSS flats and 4,000 ECs, to be located across the island, including in Tampines, Yishun and Jurong West. This is on top of the 22,000 BTO flats HDB will offer next year and the 16,000 BTO flats this year.
Calling the numbers substantial, Mr Mah gave this analogy: "In two years, we're going to build, if the demand is there, a new Toa Payoh."
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had flagged off the changes at the National Day Rally on Sunday, when he said the income ceiling for DBSS flats would be increased to $10,000 from $8,000 for the "sandwiched" group.
Analysts told MediaCorp the upgrading dreams of homeowners would be restored to some extent. They noted that a consequence of a rising price market would be the dampening of Singaporeans' "upgrading aspirations", as an analyst put it.
Some prospective home buyers welcomed the moves but suggested the HDB go further.
Freelance trailer producer Shen Wenyuan, 27, said: "The measures are good, but I hope the Government can release the sites for balloting periodically, like the Sale of Balance Flats exercise, so that people can choose their flats earlier instead of waiting to ballot each month."
Mr Chris Koh, director of property firm Dennis Wee Group, said that despite the increased flat supply, there are groups of people, such as the growing number of singles, who are ineligible for new flats and have to buy in the resale market.
Ms Lee Bee Wah, the deputy chairperson of the Government Parliamentary Committee (National Development), welcomed the measures. She said she had about six complaints every week for the past two months at her Meet-the-People sessions about the difficulty of getting a new flat. She said she never had such numbers before.
When asked whether the completion time can be further reduced, Ms Lee said: "We do it step by step and need to monitor the quality of the flats. We don't want to speed up the construction and deal with quality issues downstream."
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