Daily Archives: 17 Sep 2009

HDB: buy resale if you cannot afford private

For a third time in a week, HDB was forced to issue another blanket reassurance to disgruntled Singaporeans that HDB flats remained affordable except this time, the letter to the Straits Times Forum was not penned by its Deputy CEO, but two deputy directors from HDB and URA.

The writers claimed that the government is committed to ensuring that public housing remains affordable to the majority of Singaporeans through “proper targeting of subsidies and calibrating supply to match demand.”

The income ceiling ensures that the Government’s limited public housing subsidies are given to those who need them more. At the current ceiling, about eight out of 10 Singaporean households qualify for housing subsidies.

What was not mentioned that the income ceiling of $8,000 was put in place 15 years ago in 1994 and it does not factor in the fluctuating bank interests, change in income and inflation over the years.

It also does not answer the key question whether a couple will have sufficient savings left in their CPF for their retirement at the end of the thirty year tenure. Continue reading

Pte sector operators get 2 prime state sites to boost arts and heritage scene

TWO prime state properties earmarked to promote the arts and heritage scene in Singapore were awarded to private sector operators yesterday. The two sites, one in the Bras Basah area and the other near Dempsey, will host integrated museum and art facilities.

The National Heritage Board revealed yesterday that a record 6.58 million people visited Singapore’s museums in FY2008 – 26.4% more than in FY2007.

Daniel Teo & Associates Pte Ltd and Linda Gallery were awarded the leases to sites at 222 Queen Street, and 27A, 30B and 30C Loewen Road respectively from among nine proposals competing for the sites. The former site is located within the museum cluster at the Bras Basah-Bugis arts and entertainment zone while the latter is near the chic arts and lifestyle precinct of Dempsey.

Prime state properties set aside to boost the arts and heritage scene here were first made available by the National Heritage Board (NHB) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) last October through a joint request-for-interest exercise to develop, operate and manage integrated museum and art facilities.

With lower start-up costs, it was envisioned that this would ease the entry of new players into the arts and heritage scene. Continue reading