Monday, January 22, 2018

Is HDB flat a good investment?

Hi Kin,

Here is an article about Singapore's public housing woes: https://international.thenewslens.com/article/69969

It reminds me that LKY said before the 2011 GE that subsidised BTO flats are: "to give the man an asset which he will value, which will grow in price as the country develops, as his surroundings become better.”

But Lawrence Wong, minister for National Development, said that: “the leases will eventually run out, and the flats will be returned to HDB... As the leases run down, especially towards the tail-end, the flat prices will come down correspondingly (towards zero).”
Someone must be LYING right?

My comment:
Both LKY and Lawrence Wong are right. They are referring to different time periods.

If someone buy a new HDB flat (referred to as BTO flat) with government grant, he does get it at a price that is much lower than the resale price for many years. The value of the flat will appreciate for about 50 years.

After 50 years, the value will remain stagnant for about 20 years and will start to decline thereafter.

LKY was talking about the first 50 years. Lawrence Wong was talking about the last 30 years.


Sadly, most Singaporeans do not think deep enough to understand this fact.




No comments:

Post a Comment