Saturday, April 08, 2006
HDB to spend S$110m to upgrade rental blocks
SINGAPORE : The Housing and Development Board will be spending S$110 million in the next three years to upgrade rental blocks.
It will also build more studio apartments for the elderly.
Alfonso Goh is one of the first senior citizens in Singapore to stay in an integrated studio apartment; homes like his occupy the same floor as three-, four-, and five-room flats.
Alfonso made a tidy sum for his retirement by downgrading from his three-room flat to his apartment at Eunos Crescent, priced at S$75,000 for 45 square metres.
He said, "I don't need to do any renovation. The bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, everything is ready, even the lighting -- all are ready. Last time, for studio apartments, the whole block would be studio apartments. But here the layout is just like a condo, mix around with three-, four-, five-room flats. So I feel quite happy. I can mix around with other people."
Nearly all the integrated studio apartments offered for sale at this block have been taken up, and HDB says it will build another 400 studio apartments at Queenstown, Jurong West and Bishan to cater to the needs of an aging population.
Those renting can also look forward to better living conditions.
Eight-thousand households in 40 rental blocks have already benefited from the Rental Flat Upgrading Programme.
Residents are not required to pay for improvement works within their flats and at their blocks.
Another 6,500 households are expected to benefit from this programme over the next three years, at a cost of S$110 million to the government.
The income ceiling for residents to qualify for a rental flat is S$1,500 per household.
Families who make S$800 or less pay rent of about S$30 a month, while families who make between S$800 and S$1,500 a month pay about S$60.
HDB is also rolling out incentives to help low-income families become home owners.
It is building more two-room flats, which will be priced at about S$70,000.
And it is also undertaking what it calls a special project to convert 180 executive and five-room flats into two- and three-room flats.
Block 302 B Anchorvale Link at Sengkang has been earmarked to undergo this conversion; there are 80 executive flats there and some have already been sold.
HDB is currently discussing the buy-back of these units with their owners for the purpose of conversion.
Three vacant blocks at Jurong West Blocks 990 A-C are also scheduled to be converted into 100 two-room units, from 50 five-room units.
The converted units at Jurong will be available for sale by the fourth quarter of this year, while the units at Sengkang will be ready for sale next year.
Said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, "The two-room flats that we have at the moment are all for rental. The stock of two-room flats is actually almost non-existent. When I announced in Parliament that we are going to rebuild two-room flats, we received quite a lot of requests asking where can we buy it, when can we buy it.
"Even if you start building tomorrow, you can't get the first flat ready for occupation and sale. Minimum is two years. So this is the reason why we wanted to find a way to speed it up, and these special projects achieve that objective."
He added, "It also kills two birds with one stone because some of these converted flats, the larger flats have also not been sold. They are part of our stock of about 8,000 unsold flats at the moment."
Mr Mah said the HDB would exercise maximum flexibility when existing flat owners have difficulty servicing their loan instalments.
HDB will evaluate each case and allow them to reduce or defer loan instalments, or extend the loan repayment period.
HDB may also grant another concessionary loan for the purchase of a smaller flat if the household is unable to obtain a bank loan.
Mr Mah says that some Singaporeans may be cash poor but most are definitely asset rich.
National statistics show that the average Singaporean owns a house worth S$154,000, after deducting the cost of mortgage. - CNA /ct
It will also build more studio apartments for the elderly.
Alfonso Goh is one of the first senior citizens in Singapore to stay in an integrated studio apartment; homes like his occupy the same floor as three-, four-, and five-room flats.
Alfonso made a tidy sum for his retirement by downgrading from his three-room flat to his apartment at Eunos Crescent, priced at S$75,000 for 45 square metres.
He said, "I don't need to do any renovation. The bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, everything is ready, even the lighting -- all are ready. Last time, for studio apartments, the whole block would be studio apartments. But here the layout is just like a condo, mix around with three-, four-, five-room flats. So I feel quite happy. I can mix around with other people."
Nearly all the integrated studio apartments offered for sale at this block have been taken up, and HDB says it will build another 400 studio apartments at Queenstown, Jurong West and Bishan to cater to the needs of an aging population.
Those renting can also look forward to better living conditions.
Eight-thousand households in 40 rental blocks have already benefited from the Rental Flat Upgrading Programme.
Residents are not required to pay for improvement works within their flats and at their blocks.
Another 6,500 households are expected to benefit from this programme over the next three years, at a cost of S$110 million to the government.
The income ceiling for residents to qualify for a rental flat is S$1,500 per household.
Families who make S$800 or less pay rent of about S$30 a month, while families who make between S$800 and S$1,500 a month pay about S$60.
HDB is also rolling out incentives to help low-income families become home owners.
It is building more two-room flats, which will be priced at about S$70,000.
And it is also undertaking what it calls a special project to convert 180 executive and five-room flats into two- and three-room flats.
Block 302 B Anchorvale Link at Sengkang has been earmarked to undergo this conversion; there are 80 executive flats there and some have already been sold.
HDB is currently discussing the buy-back of these units with their owners for the purpose of conversion.
Three vacant blocks at Jurong West Blocks 990 A-C are also scheduled to be converted into 100 two-room units, from 50 five-room units.
The converted units at Jurong will be available for sale by the fourth quarter of this year, while the units at Sengkang will be ready for sale next year.
Said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, "The two-room flats that we have at the moment are all for rental. The stock of two-room flats is actually almost non-existent. When I announced in Parliament that we are going to rebuild two-room flats, we received quite a lot of requests asking where can we buy it, when can we buy it.
"Even if you start building tomorrow, you can't get the first flat ready for occupation and sale. Minimum is two years. So this is the reason why we wanted to find a way to speed it up, and these special projects achieve that objective."
He added, "It also kills two birds with one stone because some of these converted flats, the larger flats have also not been sold. They are part of our stock of about 8,000 unsold flats at the moment."
Mr Mah said the HDB would exercise maximum flexibility when existing flat owners have difficulty servicing their loan instalments.
HDB will evaluate each case and allow them to reduce or defer loan instalments, or extend the loan repayment period.
HDB may also grant another concessionary loan for the purchase of a smaller flat if the household is unable to obtain a bank loan.
Mr Mah says that some Singaporeans may be cash poor but most are definitely asset rich.
National statistics show that the average Singaporean owns a house worth S$154,000, after deducting the cost of mortgage. - CNA /ct
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// posted by Shajahan @ 11:57 AM 