Abstract
For many Asian countries facing rapid urbanization and land scarcity problems, providing large-scale affordable housing for urban poor is a challenging task. Singapore has turned itself against the odds since independence by transforming itself from a nation of home seeker to home owner. As in 2011, public housing constitutes 82.65 % of the total housing stocks, and nearly 90 % of Singapore’s households own the houses they live in. The Singapore’s success story of public housing is built on an efficient centralized planning system. The government assumes a wide range of public housing activities from alienating state lands, building flats, allocating tenure to eligible citizens and financing purchase, to enhancing asset wealth. Housing and Development Board (HDB) and CPF (Central Provident Fund) Board are two main public agencies that have been instrumental in implementing various public housing policies in the island-state. This chapter documents key policies and strategies that have helped shaped Singapore’s public housing landscape over the last 50 years.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Since 2001, the government has shifted from cost-based pricing to market-based pricing. The new approach uses open market resale flat prices in the same neighborhood as comparable to set the base price, and deducts housing subsidies from it to derive the new flat price.
- 3.
Lee (2000).
- 4.
The sales of DBSS sites have been suspended by the government since 2011. Source: Lim, Linette, “DBSS land sales halted,” Channel News Asia, 4 July 2011.
- 5.
These two housing types are subjected to the same eligibility rules and resale restrictions imposed on public housing built by HDB.
- 6.
Mah, Bow Tan, Minister for National Development, “Housing Supply: Allocating Scarce Resources,” TODAY, 1 October 2010, pB7.
- 7.
Ditto.
- 8.
Lim, Allison, “First applicants to pick flats under queuing system are all praise,” Straits Times, 19 July 1995.
- 9.
“Khaw tells HDB to build ahead of demand”, Channelnewsasia.com, 27 May 2011.
- 10.
Launched in August 1995, SERS is an estate renewal program involving the demolition and redevelopment of older flats in selected precincts. Displaced residents are compensated financially and given priority to buy new replacement flats in nearby locations or other locations at subsidized prices.
- 11.
All the value terms in the paper are quoted in Singapore dollar term
- 12.
The previous income ceiling for EC was S$10,000 before 15 August 2011.
- 13.
The measures were announced by the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during the National Day Rally on 29 August 2011.
- 14.
Shankari, Uma, “HDB revises policies to stamp out speculation,” The Business Times, March 6, 2010.
- 15.
The Housing & Urban Development Company Pte Ltd (HUDC) was set up in 1974 to build affordable “condominium” styled public housing for middle-income households, but the HUDC scheme was terminated in 1987. In 1995, the privatization of HUDC estates was introduced in phases to transfer the ownership rights (strata-titles) of HUDC units to residents. Chin, Daryl, “12 of 18 HUDC estates already privatized - 5 more in the process of privatisation,” The Straits Times, September 17, 2012.
- 16.
A new SPR quota capping non-Malaysian PR at 5 % and 8 % at the neighborhood and block levels, respectively, was introduced with effect from 5 March 2010.
- 17.
The Minimum Sum Deficiency is the Minimum Sum applicable when a member turns 55 less the balance in his/her Retirement Account (excluding interest earned).
- 18.
A Retirement Account (RA) is set up when CPF members reach the age of 55 years. The Minimum Sum (MS) set aside in the RA can be made up of savings in OAs and SAs and/or property pledge of up to 50 % of the MS. For members who are unable to set aside the full MS in cash, their property bought with their CPF savings will be automatically pledged, for up to half of their MS.
- 19.
“Something for Everyone,” The Straits Times, 19 February 2005.
- 20.
See Deng et al. (2012) for a discussion on the rising of private residential housing prices in recent years in Singapore.
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Deng, Y., Sing, T.F., Ren, C. (2013). The Story of Singapore’s Public Housing: From a Nation of Home-Seekers to a Nation of Homeowners. In: Chen, J., Stephens, M., Man, Y. (eds) The Future of Public Housing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41622-4_7
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