HDB hasn't shrunk flat sizes, says Khaw

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#1
Must be our brains which have shrunk, eh? Tongue

The Straits Times
May 3, 2012
HDB hasn't shrunk flat sizes, says Khaw


By Jessica Cheam

NATIONAL Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday addressed two questions many had been asking regarding the size and price of Housing Board flats.

No, he said, HDB flat sizes have not shrunk in recent years.

And no, prices will not shoot up in the same way they did in the past.

He gave these assurances at a feedback forum, after participants took the chance to quiz the minister in charge of housing.

While many believe that HDB flats have been shrinking, Mr Khaw said that flat sizes have in fact remained unchanged for the past 15 years.

A four-room flat, for instance, has remained at 90 sq m since the mid-90s, HDB figures show. HDB has also said that the amount of living space per person has risen, as the number of people in an average household has dropped.

Mr Khaw said Singapore will not go the way of Hong Kong, where public home sizes are much smaller. 'I would consider that a deterioration of our quality of life and we should avoid that,' he said.

As for prices, he said flats would remain affordable, and that the current high levels would not persist.

Prices had shot up, he explained, due to a 'temporary imbalance' of demand and supply: Singapore's population had grown so rapidly in the past five years that the infrastructure could not keep up. But HDB has been pumping more units into the market, and 'there is some stabilisation', Mr Khaw said. The housing market will stabilise once this imbalance is corrected, he added, though it will take time.

'In the next five years, I'm committed to building at least 100,000 HDB flats if necessary,' he said, adding that the Government will continue to release land if needed.

One participant, consultant Lu Keehong, 55, noted that buyers who bought an HDB flat for $60,000 two decades ago could sell it for $300,000 today. Did that mean, he asked, that prices would rise five times again over the next 20 years?

Replying, Mr Khaw said that housing values had grown so much primarily because of Singapore's rapid economic growth in the past. But as it reaches maturity, ending the days of high gross domestic product (GDP) growth, the growth in property prices will likewise slow down.

He also talked about the proliferation of 'shoebox' units of 500 sq ft or less built by private developers. The Government is keeping an eye on this trend, said Mr Khaw, and if the proportion of such units becomes too high in the market, 'we may have to step in'.
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#2
Why did we hear people comment that is shrunked ... hmmm. Urban Myth or Definition of "floor space" has changed Smile

Just my Diary
corylogics.blogspot.com/


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#3
Bishan & Toa Payoh 5 room - Last time size is 121sq metres.

Now the size of 5 room flats is 110sq metre.

When u look at the 5 room, u can see for yourself... whether there is difference.
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#4
air-con latch 2sqm also count... lolz! Tongue
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#5
contrarian, do u happen to know whether the 5 room 121sq m has a CD shelter room?
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#6
He said 15 yrs ago till now...he is correct!
1997 -2012 rm size no change.+-(1-3sqm)
Except now there are AC ledge,planter,balcony,bomb shelter,drying area...
The thing about karma, It always comes around and bite you when you least expected.
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#7
I especially like the part where he says people now have more space per person because the average household size has grown smaller. So is it still spurious correlation when we say that smaller house size has led to a decrease in household size?
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#8
(03-05-2012, 01:20 PM)kazukirai Wrote: I especially like the part where he says people now have more space per person because the average household size has grown smaller.

From the article, he may not have said that. This famous, or infamous sentence was said by the lady CEO of HDB, and we all know this is rubbish. People living in a household share all the available space, so there is no such thing as space per person, unless we start dividing the space in the house and each person is only entitle to that allocated space. He may not have said that, but he fall short of rebutting it.
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#9
(03-05-2012, 01:20 PM)kazukirai Wrote: I especially like the part where he says people now have more space per person because the average household size has grown smaller. So is it still spurious correlation when we say that smaller house size has led to a decrease in household size?

I guess he assumes that as housing sizes shrink, our brains also shrink along with it, in order to be able to accept this kind of explanation.
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#10
CD shelter room. What for ? They should convert this space into a toilet.
Confused
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