Daily Lessons from Life 27 August 2013 - New 3-year waiting period for permanent residents to buy resale flats

"New 3-year waiting period for permanent residents to buy resale flats - The Straits Times Tuesday, Aug 27, 2013 SINGAPORE - Newly-minted Singapore permanent residents will now have to wait three years before buying a resale public flat, instead of straightaway after they become PRs. Resale flat buyers who take HDB loans can now only use up to 30 per cent of their gross monthly income to repay their loans, down from 35 per cent. More middle-income households now eligible for Special Housing Grant. The income limit will now be $6,500, a sharp increase from the previous $2,500. HDB to encourage multi-generational living with new flat type; tweaks for priority scheme. The new flat type, which features four bedrooms and three bathrooms, will have an internal floor area of 115 sq m, slightly larger than current five-room units which can measure up to 110 sq m." While the GOVERNMENT may want to claim victories over these announcements, I have to be honest that many of these policies shifts HAD BEEN voiced by MANY ordinary Singaporeans for a long time. STILL, kudos to the government for RESPONDING finally. It is better late than never. Lessons for me are: 1. the MOST significant policy shift for HDB is the delinking of the new HDB flat prices from the HDB Resale Prices. Bar NONE!; 2. the government has finally recognized that young Singaporeans ARE very concerned with the financial burden of owning a public flat to start a 3-kid family as clamoured and encouraged by the government to no avail in the last 8-10 years as the COST of raising a family, 1- or 2- or 3-kid, is VERY EXPENSIVE, starting with the HDB flat. So, it is a good sign. I think the opposition parties will have a tougher time to convince Singapore voters to vote for them going forward, even though this CHANGE OF HEART or Strategies by the incumbent government can reasonably be attributed to the dismay showing at the last 2 GEs and the 2 by-election lost! Of course, the government may not incline to see it that way; 3. does the move to have the Singapore PRs waits for 3 years before they can buy HDB flats from the resale market makes them turn away from Singapore? I think some of them may. In fact, it has being my niggling skepticism that Singapore is NOT attractive enough for many of the new PRs from new sources to sink their roots in without these 'fabulous' advantages of being able to buy resale HDB flats. They can make money almost instantly by renting out to their fellow 'home countries' folks even though they are NOT supposed to since their home countries' mantra is: "You can do anything you want as long as you don't get caught", and the attitude that: 'HDB officers are already too busy and they most likely won't have time to check on me'! BUT for many who TRULY see the potential of Singapore, as envisioned by PM Lee's 2013 NDR Speech, they will still want to be PRs and then convert into Singapore Citizenship. YES?