HOUSING IN 1979 “VERY DIFFERENT” FROM 2025: DESMOND LEE
In response, Mr Lee said Singapore in 1979 was “very different” from Singapore today.
First, only 4 per cent of each cohort in 1979 went to university, compared to more than 40 per cent today.
Likewise, only 9 per cent of each cohort went to VITB then, versus around 60 per cent who go to polytechnics and ITEs now.
“The vast majority of each cohort today go to university, poly and ITE, compared to only around 13 per cent going to university and VITB back in 1979,” said the minister.
“Mr Leong was comparing housing affordability for a small group in 1979 with housing affordability for the vast majority of Singaporeans today,” he added.
“He also did not present the affordability picture for the majority of Singaporeans back in 1979 who were less well educated, less skilled and earned much less in those early days of Singapore.”
In 1979, only 68 per cent of the population lived in HDBs, with 62 per cent owning their flats. Now, more than 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in HDBs, and more than 90 per cent are homeowners.
Last year, more than eight in 10 first-timer households who collected the keys to their BTO flats and resale flats “used little to no cash” to service their monthly mortgage instalments, said Mr Lee.
Second, the type of flats built in 1979 were “simple, functional homes in estates with few amenities and very limited transport links”.
Flats today come with “modern amenities and far better transport connectivity” that offer residents a higher standard of living, the minister said.
Third, Mr Lee said the housing market in 1979 was “very different” as there was “almost no resale market to speak of”.
In the ’60s, buyers had to “return the flat to HDB at a sum that was less than what they initially paid for”. A “very rudimentary resale market with strict conditions and limited financing” emerged in the 1970s, but there was “limited potential for appreciation”, said the minister.
The resale market only started to mature in the ’80s and ’90s after changes in the resale and mortgage financing policies.
“Today, our HDB flats are both a home and also a store of value for Singaporeans, which they can monetise in their older years for retirement by selling on the open market, renting out a room or a flat, or through our lease buyback scheme, and so on,” Mr Lee said.
