MPs worry about impact of higher resale grants, suggest more support for families

WORRIED about the market impact of higher housing grants for resale flats, Members of Parliament asked for more data and even more support – particularly for families – during the second day of the Budget debate on Thursday (Feb 23).

Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Gan Thiam Poh welcomed Budget 2023’s increase in Central Provident Fund (CPF) Housing Grants for first-timers, but worried that it could mean a sudden rise in resale prices. This would then affect non-first timers, including divorcees and families that have fallen on hard times, he said.

Similarly, Workers’ Party (WP) MP Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) worried that non-first-timers may have to pay more. He asked if the government had projected any resale flat price increases as a result of the higher grants.

The government should not rely on increasing housing grants to make resale flats more affordable, he added. Instead, “empty-nesters” looking to sell their larger flats could get more help in obtaining two-room flexi flats and Community Care Apartments.

Future buyers of private property should also have to sell their HDB flats, said Giam. Those who currently own both private and HDB property should be incentivised to sell the latter, with a rebate of the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty paid on their private property.

Progress Singapore Party (PSP) non-constituency MP Hazel Poa argued that the housing grant will push up demand for resale flats, thereby increasing prices and necessitating a further increase in grants, resulting in a “price spiral”.

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Instead of providing grants, PSP advocates treating land sale proceeds as revenue, to be used to subsidise public housing.

For Build-to-Order (BTO) flats, Gan hoped that the help given to first-timers with children and young married couples could be extended to others.

In Budget 2023, it was announced that these groups will get an additional ballot for BTO applications. This additional ballot could also be given to families with two or more children, said Gan.

Separately, he reiterated calls to increase the supply of BTO flats and double the supply of executive condominiums, and asked if the government would “facilitate the development of more private housing, especially on some lower density land plots in the central region”.

Meanwhile, WP MP He Ting Ru (Sengkang GRC) argued that singles should be able to buy new flats from the age of 28 rather than 35.

Both He and Nominated MP Shahira Abdullah said that more can be done for unwed single mothers.

“Headline announcements in Budget 2023 appear to leave out large groups of our population, namely those of us who are unmarried or childless,” said He. Beyond housing, Budget 2023’s enhanced baby bonus and parenthood policies should be extended to single and unwed mothers too, she added.

Dr Shahira said that while she recognises the government’s pro-family policies, raising a child alone is even harder when “policies become inadvertent structural roadblocks that result in unequal access”.

“It is imperative to remember that measures that penalise single mothers or leave them out of society-wide benefits ultimately do not just penalise the women, but also penalise their children,” she said.