9/22/2009

Petition on high HDB prices

There is an online petition seeking support and signatures at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/lower-hdb-valuations-or-build-more-affordable-hdb-housing-for-singaporeans More than 850 signatures have been collected over the last few days.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have signed the petition although I do not think the proposal will solve the issue of high prices.

Instead, HDB should ensure that only citizens and genuine young couples get to buy HDB flats. They can do so by tweaking their policies of citizenship, nuclear family, number of years of holding and resale penalties.

The prices will automatically come down when speculators and opportunists are shifted out of the demand equation.

If they do not control/be selective of demand, building more flats will not help.

HDB should reflect on their original mission of providing affordable housing for those in need, not those who punt.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i think they have lost their way. but they didn't think so. they believe they are on the right path.

Anonymous said...

I think there are two camps with different perspective on the HDB prices.

Those who are single and already owned HDB flats and PRs who bought HDB flats, who would want the prices to keep on going up so they could go in for the kill when the prices rocket.

On the other side are those with children, or younger couples waiting to buy HDB flats, and who are geniunely afraid that the HDB flats will be priced beyond the reach of their children when it is their time to buy them. It is a scenario already playing out and seems to be getting more serious.

What is the solution? Whatever way it is headed, the ending will be ugly, with all the CPF money tied to it.

Anonymous said...

'Redbean said...
i think they have lost their way. but they didn't think so. they believe they are on the right path'.

They plan and design the path and will be please to have lost their way. Why? Well, whilst they were lost, they made money and since they are lost, they will make new paths which will generate more money and the cycle keeps repeating for them to fatten their bottomline. See?

patriot

Anonymous said...

Anon September 22, 2009 4:29 PM has generalized too much.

I am a single and has signed the petition. Not all of us are money crazy. Even if we are, put in our shoes, who would not want to protect his hard-earned money and want it to grow instead of shrink?

As for younger couples, again, not all of them are genuine and those that reject chances given to them should not complain. They are choosy, no doubt about it. Excuses such as living near parents are lame. Suddenly, our young folks are so filial.

As for parents who worry for their children, they have themselves to blame for raising children so accustomed to having a everything done for them they can't even be trusted to earn their own keeps and take care of themselves in the future.

Anonymous said...

Right, nobody else is to blame but the parents. Not the Government policies, not the foreign immigrants, not the speculators.

Which parent does not worry for their kids? The Government seems not to care about escalating home prices. Society is imbued with this 'greed is good' mentality.

No wonder more and more are staying single and choosing not to have children. It is a loose loose situation.

Anonymous said...

To be very frank, I spent time reading more than 500 of the entries in the petition to find good reasons to fault the government.

Sadly, I cannot find any. My conclusion is, yes, there are those who really need a flat but cannot afford it, but those who complain are asking for good location without wanting to pay the price. To my surprise, many young couples are looking for resale even after being offered choice of units in BTOs. Of course they will not say it outright.

Of course, there are genuine cases, but they are more reasonable and do not demand to scrap COV, more rebates, good locations etc.

No wonder there were more parents (married couples by the way) signing the anti-Aware CSE petition than this HDB housing petition, which is a bread-and-butter issue.

Truth is, many there are the bad apples that really makes it difficult for those in genuine need to be seriously taken by the government.

Anonymous said...

Would like to add...surprisingly, many also supposedly want to have kids, some even want 4 kids.

A couple with one kid said a 3-room flat is not big enough.

Others are divorced, remarrying, sold their flats, taken their share of rebates and goodies, but still want more.

We even have foreigners blaming the government for short-changing them because it is not as rosy a picture as they had expected. Singapore is supposed to give them a better living which their own country - is unable to offer!

In short, I am beginning to regret signing the petition in its early days.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

there are people who are unhappy for all kinds of reasons. but for sure, the runaway hdb prices will be unaffordable for young people buying their first flat unless they have parents who earns millions and buying properties for them in advance.