The Housing and Development Board or HDB has reported a more than two
billion dollar deficit before government grants in its latest annual
report.
This is more than double the loss reported in the previous financial year.
The deficit is reduced after factoring in a two billion dollar government grant.
Joanne Chan has the details.
Responding to greater demand for public housing, HDB ramped up its
supply of flats, pushing out 8,000 units under Build-To-Order projects
between April last year and March this year.
That's 2,000 more than what it supplied the year before.
HDB CEO Tay Kim Poh says this increase in flats supply largely accounted for the housing board's larger deficit.
The other reason is because in FY 08, we do experience an increase in
our construction costs. So that also lead to higher tender rates for
our building contracts.
Other reasons that contributed to HDB's loss include upgrading works for lifts and rental flats.
Mr Tay was speaking at a media briefing on the board's latest annual report.
He noted that the mortgage arrears rate dipped to 7.5 per cent despite the global downturn.
Mr Tay says the 0.4 percentage point drop was partly due to the
introduction of trained housing counsellors to help home owners find a
long-term housing solution.
Associate Director of ERA Asia Pacific, Eugene Lim, offered another reason.
"Currently HDB resale prices are at an all time high. So there was an
upswing in the market since the beginning of this year. And what
happens is that those households in arrears probably made use of this
opportunity to sell their flat and downgrade to a flat that they can
afford."
Another area highlighted was the shorter waiting time for rental flats.
HDB says that after it tightened eligibility rules earlier this year, the number of applicants fell by a thousand.
Waiting time for a rental flat has been shortened to just slightly over a year, down from a previous high of 21 months.
Moving forward, HDB says it will focus on improving community relations.
A new department has been set up within the housing board to look at strengthening social cohesion and integrating newcomers.
HDB says it's "encouraged" by the response to the Lease Buyback Scheme launched in March this year.
As at end September, 425 applications were received.
And so far, approval has been given to more than a hundred of them.
The housing board gave the update at a media briefing on its latest annual report.
Some 25,000 households are eligible for the scheme.
But HDB CEO, Tay Kim Poh, says the elderly have other options to monetise their flats.
"Some of them will sublet their entire flat and the rental for even the
three-room flat is very good nowadays. They can easily get $1,500 per
month from the rental and they move in to stay with their children."
The lease buyback scheme is targeted at HDB lessees in 2-room and 3-room flats.
It allows less well-off elderly Singaporeans to receive $5,000 in cash
upfront and a lifelong stream of monthly annuity payouts.
--938Live