Ethnic Breakdown for All HDB Neighbourhoods in Percentage Terms on Annual Basis at 31 December Each Year Since 1989

Mr Pritam Singh asked the Minister for National Development with regard to the HDB Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) (a) what is the ethnic breakdown for all HDB neighbourhoods in percentage terms on an annual basis from 1989 at 31 December each year to date, including the population size of each neighbourhood as at the same date; (b) how many blocks in each neighbourhood surpassed the EIP limits for at least one race at any given year from 1989; and (c) since 1989, how many times has HDB purchased a flat affected by the EIP at the flat’s posted price, market price or valuation price.

Under the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP), limits are set on the proportion of flats that can be owned by households from each ethnic group. When an EIP limit for a specific ethnic group is reached, sellers from the other ethnic groups cannot sell their flats to buyers from the affected group. However, sellers from the affected ethnic group may sell their flats to buyers from any ethnic group, including the affected ethnic group.

For example, when the Indian/Others block limit is reached, Chinese and Malay sellers in that block cannot sell their flats to Indian/Others buyers. However, Indian/Others flat owners can sell their flats to buyers from any ethnic group, including Indian/Others buyers.

In view of the large number of HDB blocks and neighbourhoods, and the long time period involved, we have provided aggregated statistics at five-yearly intervals for the number of HDB neighbourhoods and blocks affected by the EIP limits. Please see Tables 1 and 2 for details.

Until 2000, HDB accepted the voluntary surrender of flats for any reason. Flat owners who chose to surrender their flats to HDB were not required to indicate a reason for doing so and HDB did not track if surrendered flats were affected by the EIP limits. After 2000, as the resale market had become more developed and sellers had more options for sale on the resale market, HDB stopped accepting the voluntary surrender of flats that are eligible to be sold on the open market.