Desperate couple, drastic move
Reason: They won't exceed HDB's $8,000 income ceiling
HE asked his wife-to-be to quit her job - just so that they could qualify to buy a new Housing Board (HDB) flat.
Sounds silly?
Not if you consider today's HDB resale prices and the robust private property market.
29 Jan, The New PaperRight now, those with a household income above $8,000 would not qualify for a new HDB flat.
Mr Christopher de Souza, Member of Parliament for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, cited the above example to The New Paper.
He argued that the $8,000 income ceiling, which has remained unchanged for the last 14 years, should be revised.
He declined to give more details about the couple.
The 32-year-old lawyer said: 'Some people actually take the drastic step of making their wife-to-be stop work for a period so they can qualify for the ceiling.'
He added that some people would accept a promotion at work, but declined a raise so they would remain below the income ceiling.
'We need to address how realistic this ceiling is, considering that resale flats have become more expensive in recent years.'
Mr de Souza raised this issue during the Budget debate yesterday and noted that many people in his age group have crossed the household income ceiling.
He said: 'For a young couple, few things are harder or more ironic than having to slog for many years to pay off a huge mortgage for their first home, just because they worked hard and were given raises early in their careers.'
Raising this income ceiling was one of Mr de Souza's three suggestions on how the Budget could achieve a better and more equitable distribution of the nation's wealth without discarding the principle of workfare and meritocracy.
His other two suggestions were to invest resources to beautify Singapore's common spaces and to make the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme more sensitive to inflation rates.
He noted that the last time HDB increased the income ceiling was in 1994, from $7,000 to $8,000.
The Government's push to increase the population to 6.5 million by attracting new immigrants is creating a volatile property market where foreign buying or selling will affect prices, according to Citibank's Economics & Market Analysis of June 2007.
As can be seen with the HDB resale market, demand from foreign buyers trickles down the property chain, causing prices to go up for lower-end private property.
Apart from rising property prices, another reason for reviewing the income ceiling is the growing number of households earning $8,000 or more per month, the MP said.
FROM 11% to 20%
Data from the General Household Survey shows that the proportion of households earning $8,000 and above has nearly doubled from about 11 per cent in 1995 to about 20 per cent in 2005.
He asked: 'Is $8,001 per month per couple comfortable enough a wage to exclude them from subsidised first-time HDB property ownership, bearing in mind that the couple receives no WIS, less GST credits, faces a rising inflation rate and, more significantly, that the only other housing alternative is a pricey resale flat or private condo?'
Mr de Souza questioned how a young couple could ever strive for 'work-life' balance if they are saddled with a back-breaking mortgage?
He added: 'The husband and wife's pre-occupation will be to overcome the considerable debt and they are likely to decide that promotions at work are needed to achieve this.
'Consequently, having children becomes a weaker priority than career.'
The New Paper had questioned whether the $8,000 income ceiling should be raised in a report last month.
The Housing Board replied then that it has no plans to raise the ceiling as the vast majority of Singaporean families qualified for subsidised public housing.
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