Source : TODAY, Friday, March 28, 2008
Board should do more to weed out insincere applicants
Letter from Samuel Lee
My fiancee and I are young executives who are looking for a place to live after we get married.
We have applied for a Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) and the Build-To-Order (BTO) schemes several times, but have repeatedly drawn very high queue numbers.
The application fee of $10 should be raised to help filter out people who apply “just for fun”, as well as fence-sitters whose final decision on purchasing a flat depends on a favourable queue number.
Even though they were over-subscribed, the take-up rates for recent BTO projects in Sengkang and DBSS projects - Premiere@Tampines and City View@Boon Keng - were eventually low.
Some applicants were also turned down because their combined monthly family income exceeded the $8,000 limit.
This is precisely the point: Discounting the cash-rich, affordable public housing should be just that - affordable.
DBSS flats are far from affordable - many 4-room flats at City View@Boon Keng were priced between $500,000 to $700,000.
The HDB should step in with pricing guidelines for future DBSS and Executive Condominium (EC) projects. There also seems to be little differentiation between EC and DBSS units.
I also understand that there are plans to privatise both Premiere and City View in 10 years. Why the need to wait so long?
My fiancee and I have been eagerly anticipating the launch of the DBSS site in Simei since it was announced late last year.
The tender of land for this site was slated for last month, and from past trends for the earlier two projects, it should have taken place at the end of February. But there is still no sign of of the tender being called.
Is the HDB delaying it in view of cooling property prices?
There has been no official statement on this, but a simple explanation on the HDB website explaining the delay would be a nice gesture.
The HDB should bear in mind their objective of providing affordable, subsidised public housing and not ride on market trends like a corporate entity.
Back to the issue of the $10 application fee: Many Singaporeans are kiasu - when they read of developments being over-subscribed, they perpetuate the vicious cycle of over-subscription by “applying for fun” for every project, since the application fee is low.
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out how much money is then collected from these fees, given the number of applications for each project.
How does the HDB justify this?
The Board should consider alternatives such as charging a $100 application fee that is fully or partially refundable upon successful booking of a unit in the development.
Another option could be an upfront application deposit of 1 per cent of the average selling price of a unit in the project.
This amount could later be converted to part of the option fee.
Such steps would help weed out non-genuine “buyers”, especially for developments in attractive locations.
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Instead of ballots, cater to individual applicants
Source : TODAY, Monday, March 31, 2008
Letter from KALISTA NISHA
I REFER to the letter “Oh, that elusive HDB flat” (March 28).
I emphathise with Samuel Lee and his frustration about the balloting system.
My family (myself, my husband and two children) is in urgent need of a flat. As such, I was advised by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to join in the bi-monthly ballots where no priorities are given.
I have been taking part in these ballots since the start of last year and have always drawn very high queue numbers (over 3,000).
In the meantime, we are renting a flat from the open market, for which we are paying a high rental.
Samuel Lee suggested that the HDB increase the $10 application fee for the Build To Order and Design, Build and Sell Scheme flats to $100.
If his suggestion is taken up, I hope that it would not apply to fees for the bi-monthly ballots.
My family’s combined monthly income does not exceed $4,000 and I cannot afford to pay $100 each time I ballot for a flat.
I would like to suggest that the HDB conduct interviews to ascertain and attend to the needs of different families instead of asking us to collectively ballot for a flat.
Source : TODAY, Wednesday, Apr 9, 2008
HDB is studying refinements to weed out non-serious applicants
I refer to the letters from Samuel Lee, “Oh, that elusive HDB flat” (March 28), and from Kalista Nisha, “Different families, different needs” (March 31).
We would like to clarify that the $10 fee payable for HDB sales exercises is to cover part of the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) administrative cost in processing the applications. We agree with Kalista Nisha that the fee should be kept affordable.
While HDB has no intention of raising the fee, it is currently studying refinements to the sales process to weed out non-serious applicants or what Samuel Lee described as “people who apply just for fun”.
Samuel Lee suggested that HDB implement pricing guidelines for future Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) and Executive Condominium (EC) projects to ensure that the units are affordable. We would like to point out that in pricing DBSS and EC flats, the private developers would have taken the income ceiling criteria into account.
Only households earning up to $8,000 and $10,000 respectively are eligible to purchase new DBSS and EC units. Therefore, if private developers were to price their DBSS and EC units beyond the affordability of the target buyers, they risk not being able to sell these units.
HDB remains committed to keep public housing affordable to the vast majority of Singaporeans. Build-To-Order (BTO) flats sold by HDB will continue to be the mainstay of new flat supply. The DBSS was introduced as a niche scheme to cater to flat buyers who are prepared to pay more for a wider choice of flat features.
We would also like to clarify that DBSS flats are part of the overall public housing programme. Unlike ECs, DBSS developments will not be privatised after 10 years.
With regard to the Simei site for DBSS development, we are pleased to inform Samuel Lee that it has been released for tender on April 8. The tender launch was slightly delayed as more time than anticipated was needed to complete the necessary preparations.
Letter from Kee Lay Cheng
Deputy Director (Marketing and Projects) for Director (Estate Administration and Property)
Housing and Development Board
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