In Singapore, a growing number of homeowners are opting for publicly governed and developed residential housing developments. With up to 80% of the country’s population now residing in public housing or HDB properties, the public housing movement has undergone a rapid transformation in recent years. Whether you are interested in Singapore’s public housing options or are just pondering your options, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Continue reading to find out everything you need to know about HDB properties.
They have a 99-year lease
In 1960, the first HDB properties were constructed in an attempt to provide affordable housing and improve the quality of life for Singaporean residents. But one of the main differences between HDB properties and traditional properties is that they come with a 99-year lease. But with public housing in the country only established for the past 61 years, residents remain largely unaware of what is likely to happen upon the expiry of their lease. According to the original plans, the land the property is built on will be automatically returned to the country’s Housing Development Board and its value reverted to 0. In addition, any rights invested into the property by the current owner or various stakeholders during the 99-year lease will be terminated with no compensation extended for anyone involved.
There are over a million HDB properties
With more people than ever before getting involved and snapping up public housing in Singapore, there are over a million HDB properties in the country to date. But with so many individual public housing units, you may be surprised to learn that these are spread between only 24 towns and three housing estates in total. As a result, housing estates tend to double as internal satellite towns complete with their own maintained schools, supermarkets, malls, hospitals, clinics, food courts, and sports facilities. A growing number of housing estates are also equipped with their own MRT stations and bus stops that link to the rest of the country on a wider scale. As well as this, a select few are also served by smaller LRT stations which act as a tributary to the larger MRT as a whole.
They have a minimum occupation period
Before you can even think about researching your HDB valuation and reselling your HBD property, you must familiarise yourself with your minimum occupation period. This is, in the simplest of terms, the length of time in which you must reside in your property before you are eligible to resell it to its next owner. The duration of your minimum occupation period will differ depending on how you purchased your property, your property type, and the date in which you applied to purchase your property. For example, properties bought directly from the Housing Development Board, DBSS properties, resale HDB properties with two bedrooms or more, and SERS properties require a five-year minimum occupation period. Resale HDB properties with one bedroom, on the other hand, require no minimum occupation period and HDB properties bought under the Fresh Start Housing Scheme require a 20-year minimum occupation period.
They are growing in popularity
Singapore is home to one of the highest home ownership rates in the world. As a result, demand for public housing has reached a record-breaking high. This is due to a wide range of reasons but primarily a surge in applications for affordable housing within popular yet mature housing estates in Ang Mo, Kio, Bishan, Bukit Merah, Clementi, Queenstown, Toa Payoh, and Tampines. But one of the disadvantages of this trend is that a growing number of house hunters will be forced to pay more than what they had bargained for or settle for a HDB resale property.
They are getting smaller
When the very first HDB properties were built back in the 1960s, Singaporean residents were shocked at how much square footage they could get for such an affordable price. Over the years, however, they have steadily decreased in size. For example, in the early 1980s, a five-bedroom HDB property was, on average, around 123 square metres. In the 1990s, this gradually shrunk to around 120 square metres. By the mid 2000s, however, this had dropped to around 110 square metres. Whilst this may have been in an attempt to build greater individual units within a single HDB property building, kitchens appear to have suffered from the most dramatic shrinkage.
If you are considering purchasing a HDB property for you and your loved ones or are only just mulling over your options, there are several factors you must familiarise yourself with beforehand. For example, it may benefit you to know that they have a 99-year lease, there are over a million HDB properties, they have a minimum occupation period, they are growing in popularity, and they are getting smaller.
September 24, 2021