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i think it is expected tomor HDB annoucement on Q3 resale HDB info will mean another record high RESALE index haha...those silly curbing measures on 31-Aug...cant address immediate housing demands of the populations leh! :P
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SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB)
disbursed $502 million in CPF housing grants for the financial year 2009/2010.
The figure is 52 per cent higher than the previous financial
year.
The HDB also said its priority is to help first-time home-buyers
set up their first homes through both demand and supply
measures.
Speaking to the media at its Annual Report briefing, CEO Mrs
Cheong Koon Hean said HDB will raise the supply of new flats to 22,000 next year
if demand persists to achieve their aim.
She added that at this rate, HDB
would have launched enough flats in just two years to create another Toa Payoh
new town.
HDB added that all these measures have helped to ease the
resale market which remains an important option for buyers.
Mrs Cheong
explained that the Build To Order (BTO) programme is a good gauge of demand and
supply for new flats and is committed to launching one new BTO programme each
month.
"Well the BTO is a very important initiative because it enables us
to gauge the demand, the real demand for flats. So I think using the BTO
programme where people have to commit to buying a flat before we build is
helpful for us because we know it is real demand.
"I think this is one
clear benefit. And we will also know whether we are oversupplying or
undersupplying based on gauging the demand from the BTO flats."
In 2010,
HDB nearly doubled the new BTO supply to 16,000 units.
Another group of
aspiring home owners which the HDB has not forgotten are those from lower income
families.
To date, HDB has added 3,500 new rental flats through building
and conversion, increasing the rental stock to 45,500.
HDB aims to
increase this number to 50,000 by 2012.
As a result of the larger number
of rental flats available, HDB has been able to shorten the waiting time for a
rental flat to about nine months now, down from the average 21 months previously
in 2008.
Another scheme which has helped the lower income families is the
additional housing grant introduced in March 2006.
HDB said up to
September this year, close to 25,700 homes have benefited from it and $442
million have been disbursed.
Moving forward, Mrs Cheong said some of the
challenges facing the HDB include addressing the needs of a growing ageing
population in Singapore, ensuring that flats remained affordable and people
exercise financial prudence in making their housing choices.
She said:
"We have a customer base of three million people with many levels of income,
many levels of aspirations so we will have to provide for this full
range.
"Another area which we will challenge would be the ageing
population. We have to make our estates elderly friendly. And in doing all this,
we need to be more innovative, more productive and cost effective in delivering
the flats.
"And last but not least, it's not just about the hardware but
its about the software. How do we make Singapore an endearing home? How do we
preserve and build hopes and memories? I think that is a very difficult
challenge but we hope to do so.
"We want people to take ownership. We
want people to know each other as neighbours and to integrate well as
communities which are vibrant. I think that would be a major
challenge."
And with housing expected to be a keenly discussed issue
during the next general election, Mrs Cheong said that HDB always does its best
in delivering housing to the majority of Singaporeans regardless of the general
election.
"We will continue to do this. We look at how the market is
doing and already on the 30th of August (2010), and throughout this year, we
have already put in many measures.
"It's not an issue of GE or no GE but
really we always monitor the market and we do our best to make housing within
the reach of all Singaporeans. Increasing the supply is one strategy in the
recent announcement of the demand measures. We continue to do this job and to
try to meet our mission and objectives"
Another task ahead for the HDB is
to make the housing estates eco-friendly.
Mrs Cheong said Singapore's
first eco-precinct Treelodge@Punggol, will be completed this year. -
CNA/fa