Debated in Parliament on 13 Feb 2015.
Mr Ang Wei Neng askedthe Minister for National Development in 2013 and 2014 (a) what is the number of Singaporeans and Permanent Residents who have appealed to HDB to purchase a HDB flat whilst holding (i) private property in Singapore (ii) overseas property;
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and (b) how many of them have been successful in their appeals.
The Minister of State for National Development (Mr Desmond Lee) (for the Minister for National Development): Madam, in 2013 and 2014, a total of 1,587 Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents appealed to buy a Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat while holding on to their private property. Among them, 486 owned a local private property, while 1,101 owned an overseas private property. Six hundred and six of the appeals were approved. All approved cases were appeals from Singapore Citizens.
I thank the Minister of State for the reply. For those appeal cases involving Singapore Citizens owning overseas properties and yet could buy an HDB flat, what are the criteria that HDB uses to evaluate these appeals?
Mdm Speaker, HDB will assess each appeal on a case-by-case basis. For example, if a resident was under extenuating circumstances, such as financial hardship, and needed to buy an HDB flat while the private property was undergoing mortgage sale, this could be some of the circumstances that we will look into. But each case is different. We assess them individually.
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