Mabroky : New flats still affordable

[Dhalsim]

Apr 27, 2010
New flats still affordable

Prices within the means of the various income groups

<!-- by line --> By Sue-Ann Chia
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The hot issue of high property prices received another airing in Parliament yesterday, with the Government releasing fresh figures to show new flats are affordable to all first-time buyers. --PHOTO: HDB

<!-- story content : start --> THE hot issue of high property prices received another airing in Parliament yesterday, with the Government releasing fresh figures to show new flats are affordable to all first-time buyers. In giving the numbers, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan also addressed the issue of how findings can change when different base years are used to look at the HDB resale price index and household incomes.

He was replying to Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Marine Parade GRC) who had asked for housing affordability data based on how the median household income has risen in comparison to the HDB resale price index. Mr Lim also wanted to know if resale prices had risen faster than the growth of median household income in the last decade when different base years are used. The issue of the relative pace of price and income increases first came under scrutiny early this month when Mr Mah released the two sets of figures in a Straits Times interview.

They showed that HDB home prices are not beyond reach. This is because the resale price index has risen by an average of 3.2 per cent annually from 1999 to last year, lower than the 3.9 per cent increase in median household income. But opposition Reform Party member Hazel Poa later wrote in a blog post that the results would be different if the base year is changed from 1999, to say 2001 or 2006.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.
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[Getloud]

Resale flat no longer affordable?

 

[ChaoPappyPoodle]

Resale flats are for FTs.

Peasants take up 25-year loans which is much more than what citizens of other countries normally do. Marbok is a hoodwinking expert that the 154th gladly supports throughout his hoodwinking episodes.