NEW/RESALE FLATS SOLD

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked the Minister for National Development (a) how many new flats (breakdown by flat type) were sold over the last 3 years; (b) how many resale transactions (breakdown by flat type) were processed over the 3 years; and (c) what are the pro-family policies or measures taken by the Ministry to encourage Singaporeans to stay near their relatives.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: a) The number of new flats sold in the last 3 years in FY97, FY98 and FY99 were 33,300, 34,700 and 28,700 respectively. The breakdown by flat type is as follows: Year 2-Room 3-Room 4-Room 5-Room Exec/MG Total FY 1997 200 1,500 14,500 12,900 4,200 33,300 FY 1998 200 1,500 15,200 14,400 3,400 34,700 FY 1999 200 2,200 12,800 11,400 2,100 28,700 TOTAL 600 5,200 42,500 38,700 9,700 96,700

b) The number of resale transactions processed and completed in FY97, FY98 and FY99 were 37,300, 60,500 and 57,700 respectively. The main reason for the surge in resale transactions completed in FY98 and FY99 was due to the lower resale prices which had fallen as a result of the economic downturn. The breakdown by flat type is as follows: Year 1&2-Room 3-Room 4-Room 5-Room Exec/MG Total FY 1997 600 13,100 14,400 6,400 2,800 37,300 FY 1998 700 22,100 22,100 10,600 5,000 60,500 FY 1999 500 19,400 20,800 11,100 5,900 57,700 TOTAL 1,800 54,500 57,300 28,100 13,700 155,400

c) Besides providing affordable homes for Singaporeans, HDB's public housing programme supports the Government's social policy to encourage extended-family households to live together or close to each other for mutual care and support. This is achieved through the following housing policies/schemes :

i) Flexibility on Income Ceiling Assessment Policy, which facilitates a married child and his parents to live together in one HDB flat by setting a higher monthly income ceiling at $12,000 for the extended family as compared to $8,000 for a nuclear family;

ii) Multi-Tier Family Housing Scheme, which accords priority allocation to a multi-generation household to buy an HDB flat;

iii) Joint Selection Scheme, which gives the families the option to select flats on priority so that the married child and his parents can stay in separate flats but near to each other, either within the same housing block or estate;

iv) CPF Housing Grant Scheme, which provides a higher family grant of $40,000 for eligible applicants buying a resale flat near their parents, as compared to the $30,000 grant for other families;

v) Conversion Scheme, which allows the lessee of an existing 3-room or smaller flat to buy over another similar adjoining flat from the neighbouring lessee for conversion to a bigger unit so that more space is made available for a growing or an extended family;

vi) Mutual Exchange of Flat Scheme, which enables the parents or a married child currently living in different estates to live near to each other in the same estate through mutual exchange of flats with the other lessees; and

vii) Studio Apartments for the Elderly Scheme, which accords priority allocation to eligible elderly lessees of HDB flats to buy a custom-built studio apartment, if they have children living in the same electoral division or Group Representation Constituency.