HDB POLICY ON SIBLINGS' PURCHASES OF FLATS

HDB POLICY ON SIBLINGS' PURCHASES OF FLATS: 10.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for National Development (a) if he will explain the rationale for allowing citizen siblings and PR siblings to buy an HDB flat even though they do not constitute a proper family nucleus; and (b) whether there will be a review of this policy and, if so, what is the timeframe for this review.

The Senior Minister of State for National Development (Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien) (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, Sir, HDB flats cater primarily to the housing needs of families. Unmarried children are strongly encouraged to stay with their parents for mutual care and support. Nevertheless, single Singaporeans may purchase resale flats with a housing grant under the Single Singapore Citizen (SSC) Scheme or Joint Singles (JS) Scheme if they meet the criteria.

In 1990, HDB introduced a scheme to cater to, on a case-by-case basis, unmarried Singaporean or Permanent Resident (PR) siblings who cannot form an eligible family nucleus to buy a flat because their parents reside overseas. This was necessary then because the sublet market for HDB flats and rooms

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was limited, and there were few viable housing options for these siblings. Under the scheme, Singaporean siblings could buy a new or resale flat while PR siblings could only buy a resale flat. Their parents must not already own and cannot subsequently own another HDB flat concurrently. As HDB has been very stringent in assessing applications for this scheme, the number of such cases is small – there are about 300 cases each year, or less than 1% of total flat transactions.

With the liberalisation of the subletting market for HDB flats over the years, unmarried Singaporean or PR siblings whose parents are residing overseas can now rent a room or a small flat from the open market. As such, this scheme is no longer necessary and HDB will be discontinuing it with immediate effect.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Marine Parade): Mr Speaker, I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State, in that case, whether unmarried PRs would also be allowed to buy a flat because HDB is discontinuing the scheme to allow Singapore citizen siblings to buy a flat.

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: This will apply to Permanent Residents as well.