Skywatch Friday - Land

Land for sale. Singapore is a very tiny country and you cant even see it on the world map. So buying a land in Singapore is a very expensive business.


I think it will be another condominium on this land. Already there are two malls near this piece of land.


Spot the difference in the above and below photos. The above photo is public housing and the below is private housing. It is not cheap to buy public housing in Singapore and definitely very expensive to buy private housing too. It costs at least 6 figures for a public flat and some private housing can cost 7 figures depending on the location. It will be more expensive if it is near a shopping mall or MRT station. Forget about getting a private housing in Orchard Road unless you are really very rich.

But it is really funny that some public flat can actually costs more than a million dollars but this is very rare. I wonder why people want to pay so much for a public flat. One reason is that they downgraded from a landed property and wanted a flat near amenities and they can afford to pay such prices for a good location.

Public housing in Singapore are very well designed and each town have their own amenities and transport system.

How do the average Singaporean afford such flat? Most get loans and have to pay in 20 or 30 or 40 years depending on the size of the flat. But on the bright side, if you get a flat direct from the Housing Development Board (HDB) with subsidies (for first and second purchases of flat only) you normally make a profit when you sell it in the open market after staying in the flat for a required number of years (I think is 5 years) and get another subsidised flat direct from HDB.

But proper calculations and homework have to be done before you decide to buy your second flat direct from HDB, you have to include the sales levy depending on the size of the flat and check if you actually can make a profit. Even though you make a profit, you have to remember the profit might be small and enough to pay for the renovation of the next flat. But there are some people that make more than enough profit. (This is not meant as a proper guide for anyone getting a flat in the near future

Even though we are discouraged from making a profit out of the HDB flat but if we can sell and recover our housing loans, why not. Dont think anyone want to be a slave to our flat.

Each Singaporean can apply a flat direct from the HDB twice only. HDB flats are not for sale to foreigners.


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