A person needs a home to live in. The cost of the home should represent a fair proportion of the earnings. It should not take an excessive proportion. If you are buying a home that will last for a lifetime, you can set aside 25% of your earnings for the house. If you are renting, you should set aside 15% of the earnings.
In the olden days, a government employee (or servant) is provided with residence (also know as "staff quarters") by the government. While the government employee earns a lower salary compared to a private sector employee, the government employee does not have to worry about paying for the home. There is another advantage - the staff quarters are usually located near the place of work.
Government employees that earned a higher salary was able to afford a house in a private estate. In the old days, the price of houses were affordable and bear a reasonable proportion to the average earnings.
This situation changed during the past 25 years, when prices of houses were allowed to appreciate excessively. Initially, people thought that they were getting wealthier. Later, they realize that they were paying too much for a home and have to slog for a lifetime to pay the inflated prices. Most of the wealth went to the land owners, of which the state is the biggest.
Unfortunately, the high price of land and housing is now being used to "enslave" people to work hard for a lifetime.
Tan Kin Lian
This is why I believe Singapore is an evil nation of evil people. But with evil comes death. This is why Singapore is dying slowly with an ultra low birth rate caused by bad policy-makers. The next big one is a Sumatran earthquake of major magnitude. It shall rock the basis of this nation's wealth and its hot property market. Maybe even rock LKY out of his grave. Academics say this is unlikely. Meaning they are saying the probability is not equal ZERO. That is, it can happen like past lost civilizations of Atlantis/Inca/Maya etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd they are unlikely to say negative stuff to arouse panic and anger the establishment. Say good things better, help me keep my job, and my boss happy too.
ANGRY MAN ...
Yup, I remember 30+ years ago my uncle was staying in staff quarters when he worked for PSA, until he got married.
ReplyDeleteDuring the 1970s, my parents generation was also able to buy properties at very reasonable prices. E.g. they could buy a freehold bungalow in Katong area for $60K.
Really, on a purchasing-power comparison, those of us below the 75th percentile are worse-off compared to our parents generation.