8/06/2010

HDB flats are cheap and good

Kudos to HDB, said Chan Kok Wah in a letter to the Today paper forum. I agree with him completely. HDB flats are so cheap, when compare to the prices of private developers. They are extremely cheap when compare to those in HongKong and Tokyo. We should be so grateful that our public housing flats are so cheap when comparing with the two most expensive cities. Why don't we look closer and compare with what the Malaysian govt is giving to their people? You can get a 3 rm landed property for MY$120k. And this is about $50k! My god, if our $500k 5rm flat is cheap, I will go crazy trying to find a word to describe the Malaysian public housing. It all depends on what one is comparing. We are very good at using the worst to tell our people how fortunate we are. We never use the best in other countries to show how bad we are. Cheap, cheep, chip. Next please.

9 comments:

  1. Hehe,

    Redbean, you forgot that Malaysia's population is stable and the land mass is much much bigger than this pee sai so how to compare?

    But the good news is that when those jokers in the HDB takes up my suggestion to build flats below ground, things are going to be betterer and they will be lagi chipperest. So fellas, wait long long and soon you will be able to afford a road or a park above your head for a song!

    Hehe.

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  2. It is indeed cheap!

    Good? That shall depend on your neighbours, the cleaner that cleans your block and whether you have policemen patrolling your estate regularly or attending to cases often.

    Me works at HDB Upgrading Site and gets to see neighbours monitoring each others with cctvs, no interaction amongst them and policemen having to visit certain units so frequently, one just don't know what to make out of it.

    To cut it short, once my unit breahes the one million SINDollors mark, me will donate my patriotism to any charity in SIN.

    patriot

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  3. Landed properties are real stuff. Nothing beats that, not even the best 70th storey penthouse.

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  4. Hehe,

    Patriot, once your unit breaches the one million dollar I suggest you cash your chips and go to Arsie land and get a landed freehold property that can be willed to your descendants in perpetuity. I agree with Redbean that it's much more valuable than a 99 year lease penthouse.

    No need to emigrate. Go for 90 days visa free, come back for char kway teow than go back again for another 90 days.

    Matilah, am I correct?

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  5. Building underground is not going to be cheap, cheap, chip hor!

    They will probably costs well above a million and a half for each unit, but by that time those above ground would be above a million too.

    What is a million? Just cheaper than 2 peanuts for all the million hairs and billion hairs; each and every one of them

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  6. Wally, any place that provides me a little piece of land and peace of mind will do. Unfortunately such a simple need is so elusive in SINLand.

    Me had spent a few days with Orang Asli in a tiny no bigger than the Istana Island in the Riau with not even a grocery shop and felt serene and at one with nature. That was heaven.

    patriot

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  7. Wa! I like.

    When going? I wanna go there too.

    Be at one with Nature.

    No worries about high HDB prices, COE and Medical costs.

    Well, at least some respite for a couple of days huh?

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  8. Wally;

    couple of happy days per year is akin to living a happy but short life. It recharges and relieves some of the stress and frustration.

    It also gives one the opportunity to understand living is not purely material.

    patriot

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  9. I don't know what the issue is.

    Singapore: land is a severely limited resource. Population density is high.

    You can have all sorts of fancy "welfare" programs, but you still won't get rid of the scarcity which imposed by natural law in a place like Singapore.

    Thus, homes built to house the massive populations will have the reality of land scarcity reflected in the price.

    HDB's may be "cheaper" than private condos. But "cheaper" doesn't mean "cheap".

    HDB's are also shittier than private condos -- you get what you pay for...another law of nature.

    ReplyDelete