Some 25,000 People Qualify HDB'S Lease Buyback Scheme: Mah

Source : The Straits Times, Aug 31, 2007

ABOUT 25,000 people qualify to take part in the Housing Board's future lease buyback scheme, which allows flatowners to sell a portion of their lease to the Board in return for an income.

That number will increase over the years, revealed National Development Mah Bow Tan on Friday night.

The upcoming scheme, announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in August this year, is designed to supplement the retirement savings of elderly low-income flatowners, while letting them live in their own flats.

Under the plan, the Government will shorten a flat's lease to 30 years, and pay the homeowner for amount of lease left over.

This means that, if the 99-year-leasehold flat has just 50 years of lease left, a homeowner would be compensated for the remaining 20 years after Housing Board buys back his lease.

Mr Mah said, while opening an exhibition showcasing future public housing projects at the HDB Hub, that the actual value of the flat 'unlocked' will depend on the market value of the flat. But to encourage homeowners to join the scheme, it would give them a subsidy on top of this market value.

Payment will be divided into three parts - the first being an initial lump sum payment, followed by monthly instalments over a fixed number of years.

If the residents do not live for that long, the amount unpaid will be returned to the participants' families.

A third portion of the payment, said Mr Mah, will go towards an insurance scheme that will give the owners an income for as long as they live.

Mr Mah said the HDB is still working out the details with agencies like the Central Provident Fund Board, which is also looking into a scheme to make sure people do not outlive their savings.

HDB's scheme, he said, will likely ride on the CPF's plan when it is ready.

Home owners wanting to join the lease buyback scheme must be at least 62 years old, with a two- or three-room unit and have had only one housing subsidy, in order to qualify.

At the same event, Mr Mah unveiled a wide range of proposals for housing in Punggol, Yishun and Dawson estate in Queenstown.

On display were designs by three award-winning architectural firms - Surbana International Consultants, WOHA Architects and SCDA Architects - which conceptualised 3,000 cutting edge homes in three public housing precincts in Dawson Estate in Queenstown.

The new generation of public housing, said Mr Mah, would give buyers more choices of homes, landscaped community spaces, and bring greenery and waterscapes to their doorstep.

Punggol, for example, will get 4.2km waterway linking two future reservoirs, by which future housing will take root.

The exhibition will be held at the HDB Hub until Sep 8, after it will travel to various housing estates. The HDB will gather feedback on the its proposals before proceeding with them.