Tag Archives: HDB News

Defaults stemmed by slew of measures, says HDB in annual report

DESPITE the recession, the number of HDB home loan arrears fell from 33,670 in September last year to 30,770 during the same month this year.

The drop follows the Housing Board’s introduction of a raft of measures at the outset of the financial crisis to aid owners at risk of defaulting on their home loans.

The measures, announced in February, included a mix of short- and long-term initiatives such as deferring payments, counselling and – as a last resort – compulsory acquisition.

The HDB also introduced the new concept of ‘interim housing’, intended for those who may need to urgently downgrade, but have bought a new flat that has yet to be completed.

Departing from its usual practice, the HDB started extending second concessionary loans to downgraders on a case-by-case basis.

Taken together, the measures led to a decline in the default rate from 7.9 per cent of 426,270 loans in September last year, to 7.5 per cent of 409,470 loans for the same month this year. Continue reading →

One HDB resident in Towner Road has installed a lift inside his double-storey executive maisonette.

The resident, who declined to be named, put it up last year for his wheelchair-bound mother. They live on the sixth floor.

The HDB said this was the first such lift that it had approved in public housing, although developers had been selling private properties with such lifts.

Lift-Mech Engineering said it took about a year to obtain approval for the lift.

Among the considerations raised by the HDB were the energy usage and impact on the structure of the building and neighbouring units, said marketing manager Sherlyn Lim.

She noted that the lift’s electricity consumption would be the same on average as that for a washing machine.

‘It actually uses a three-pin plug,’ she added of the lift, which can take five people.

The machinery and electrical system are housed inside the lift shaft, with no need for an external machine room.

The lift cost $60,000, excluding some structural works, she added.

Source : Sunday Times – 1 Nov 2009