5/06/2011
Mah Bow Tan still insists HDB is affordable
It only takes 30 years, 2 incomes and 30% of the 2 incomes to pay for the HDB flat. This is affordable! How many of you agree that this affordable formula is fair? This formula means that for the first 30 years of one’s working life, there could be very little saving for retirement. Most could only start to save after repaying their 30 year loan. So don’t ask why you don’t have enough savings for retirement.
The other point which this formula dictates is that both husband and wife must be working to be able to afford the HDB flat. One income, forget it. And there are families that have to live on one income, by choice or by circumstances beyond their control, or by tragedies.
The people must denounce this formula as unaffordable. 30% of one income for 30 years is already too much. It was 20% of one income for 20 years for a 5 rm flat for a fresh graduate. But the goal posts have been shifted during the last decade that people have come to accept 2 incomes and 30 years as the norm. It is not, and it should not be the case.
Anyway, many daft Singaporeans will disagree with my position. Good luck to you and your high incomes to pay for the little first class flat. Go ahead and vote for this affordable housing policy.
Oh sorry, if your incomes are high enough, you are forced to buy private to make the private developers richer. You can’ t buy HDB under the current $8k/$10k ceiling.
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7 comments:
'Affordability' is far too subjective a concecpt.
I prefer to gauge by debt to income ratios.
For mortgages below 0.1 is 'alright'. i.e. the home should not be more than 10 times total household imcome. So if you have hubby and wifey total $100k per year, you are still ok if your HDB is less than 1 million.
So MBT might be correct. Personally I believe he is.
Housing should not be treated as an 'entitlement'. It is a luxury, and therefore it is reasonable to think that people should pay for it.
He insists, we resist.
Vote to change his insistence. Nothing else can do it.
I moved down to Australia and now live in a waterfront house at the Gold Coast. (Don't be jealous, OK.)
It sits on a 9,000 sq feet of freehold land and has a built in-area of 5,800 sq ft. (Yes, about the size of five 5-room HDB flats.)
It has a 10 metre long swimming pool and a jetty which I moor my sailing boat. For fun, we catch crabs (average 1.5 kg) and fish (average catching time 7 secs yes, seconds)from our front garden.
We have a garage for three cars and my wife has a 3,000cc 6-cylinder Honda Accord which she uses only once a week to drive 5 km to church. I of course, being 65+, drive a sports car.
Oh, yes, we hage a garden where we plant grapevines, papaya, longan, lychee, custard apple, kang-kong, kaffir lime, curry leaves, lemon, limes,chillies, bayleaf, corriander, garlic chives, pandan, rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano etc.
How much did I pay for this house?
Well, I sold my 5-room HDB flat in Katong and added S$ 100,000. I did say - don't be jealous OK.
Wow Raymond, this is what a good life is all about. Here everyone is a millionaire or half a millionaire on paper but would have problems owning a car, and still stuck in that little 'quality' shoe box that some people are so proud of.
The govt is about improving the quality of life, the living condition of the people, not about scrambling for more money to buy less, not about working till one drops dead.
It is about being able to step out of the rat race and still comfortable enough to smell the roses.
I am envious, sure: )
From a distance, perhaps the view is clearer. The problem of Singapore can be summed up in four letters LAND. LKY knew this and that is why he dragged Singapore into Malaysia (yes, I was there when he had the Referendum on this). However, there is another four letter word RACE which leads to problems with our Muslim neighbours eg no water, no sand or granite and NS with huge military expenses.
So you have basically two choices, to stay or to go.If you stay, you condemn yourself and your future generations to a life of misery and work - 30 years to pay for a small flat? (no wonder Singaporeans are always complaining) or if you go, a life of comfort and security for yourself and your future generations.
I really feel sorry for those people crammed into little flats and the MRT - It gets worse and worse every year. The office workers who stay late at work. The sick who have to pay huge bills (it is FREE here and I pay $ 5.90 here for medicines which cost $ 125 in Singapore).
Oh yes, I forgot to say that the Australian Government gives me a pension of # 1,300 per month for life - I did not have to contribute a cent. My wife will get the same amount when she turns 65.
Whichever government is in Singapore be it the PAP or Workers Party will not be able to overcome the problem of these two four letter word LAND and RACE. Lim Swee Say was right when he asked Singaporeans to work faster, cheaper and better. They will have to do so year after year until they perhaps drop from exhaustion.
Do you remember that LKY once said that Australia was sure to be around in 100 years but he was not sure about Singapore? This was echoed in the (laughable) video two weeks ago of an ex-general (now MP) who asked his audience "Raise your hands those of you who think that Singapore will be around in 100 years".
Our forefathers also left their ancesteral lands to seek a better life elsewhere - and that was not too long ago.
Hi Raymond,
Many senior ex govt officers said that the govt has lost its way. This is the truth that the govt refuses to accept.
Many policies were flawed, like turning a country into a hotel, like making money as the only reason to exist, and after making money, who benefits most?
The events have gone on for too long that there is no way to unwind the problems caused. It will just go down and down with the people getting into deeper and deeper debt and needing to work till their last breath.
The Aussies are not dumb and know what living is all about. Our clowns think that living is working and stuffing their pockets with money. That is their meaning of life and living.
Great delivery. Sound arguments. Keep up the good work.
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