Best public housing programme in the world
One of Singapore’s greatest achievements as we celebrate our 50 years of independence is our much touted HDB public housing.
BTO prices delinked from resale prices
I remember more than two years ago – the National Development Minister said that HDB flats had become more affordable, as the BTO prices have been delinked from resale prices.
I made a mental note then to check a few years later.
According to the November 2014 Sengkang BTO – the average prices of 2, 3 and 4-room flats were $112,500, $186,000 and $301,000, respectively.
According to the HDB – average prices in FY2008/09 were $84,000. $141,000 and $232,500, respectively.
So, average prices increased by 34, 32 and 29 per cent, respectively.
The HDB Resale Price Index increased by 30 per cent from the second quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2014.
BTO prices increased even more than resale prices
Thus, you can see that BTO prices may have generally increased even more than the resale prices.
In fact, the increase was the highest for 2-room flats, at 34 per cent – when it is supposed to be for the lowest-income Singaporean families.
So much for the SG50 propaganda!
BTO price index
By the way – how come we do not have a BTO price index, so that we can easily compare with historical resale prices?
Win battles lose war
TRS Contributor