Housing Grants for Married Children to Buy HDB Flats Near Parents

Madam, helping extended families live together or close by for mutual care and support has been a long-standing priority for this Government. Currently, we help support this in six ways.

First, under the Married Child Priority Scheme, those who apply for a new HDB flat near their parents or married children get double the ballot chances. Those who apply for a new flat to live together get triple the ballot chances.

Second, under the Multi-Generation Priority Scheme, we allow married children and their parents to jointly apply for a pair of flats in the same Build-To-Order (BTO) project and

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we set aside flats for this purpose. We set aside up to 15% of the Studio Apartment, 2-room and 3-room flat supply for parents and the corresponding number of 2-room and larger flats for their married children.

Third, under the Studio Apartment Priority Scheme, we reserve half of the new Studio Apartment supply for eligible seniors who apply for Studio Apartments near their married children or their existing home.

Fourth, in September 2013, we introduced 3Gen flats, at the suggestion of Er Dr Lee Bee Wah, which feature four bedrooms and three bathrooms, to facilitate multi-generation families who wish to live in the same flat. I always credit Er Dr Lee Bee Wah as the mother of 3Gen flats. Our first 3Gen BTO was, correctly, launched in Nee Soon.

Fifth, first-timers buying a resale flat to stay near or with their parents or married children are eligible for the Higher-Tier CPF Housing Grant for Family of $40,000, which is $10,000 more than the standard CPF Housing Grant.

Sixth, we ensure that the income ceiling for the purchase of a HDB flat is set at a higher level for extended families who buy a flat to live together.

In the recent series of Housing Conversations on "Closer Families, Stronger Ties", we received many valuable suggestions and feedback from Singaporeans on how we could further help extended families live together or nearby. We will take these into consideration in our on-going policy reviews.

I thank the Minister for the response. Perhaps, living in mature estates presents more difficulty for children to want to move in close to their parents. May I ask the Minister's clarification on this particular issue, where in a mature estate, for example, the constituency I serve, Ulu Pandan, there is limited space to build more flats. HDB is good at finding pockets of space and building flats, and children would move into those flats to be close to their parents. But the parents usually live in older flats which are possibly coming up for en bloc development. My question is: would HDB look at it in a considered fashion to try to find space even for the older flats to undergo en bloc within that mature estate setting? I know it may be a tall order, but I would be grateful if consideration could be given for that.

Madam, indeed, it is a tall order. And for mature estates, there are particular challenges for the simple reason that land for a big number of BTO construction is less available than in non-mature estates. But because this is such an important social objective, we try very hard and we continue to strive to the best of our

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abilities to fulfil those needs. There are various ways we go about it. If the Member checked back on the last three years of BTO launches, he will note that I have launched quite a number in several mature estates. Within the next 12 months, there will be several BTO launches in several mature estates. Whether these would be in the Member's ward, I do not know, but wherever possible, we try to do so.

Then, there is always the possibility of en bloc or SERS development. There is yet another avenue which is resale flat. There are a large number of resale flats, more so than the number of new flats that I can build. In fact, until this current property cycle, most people buy their flats through resale transactions – the ratio was about 60-40; 60% from resale and 40% from BTO flats.

But the last three years have been unusual. As I step up the number of BTO launches and kept the prices very competitive, now, almost 95% of young couples buy directly from HDB. This cannot be the steady state. But now that Cash-over-Valuation (COV) has turned negative, with many transactions settled below market valuation, it opens up huge opportunities for buyers. I see that possibility growing within the next many months.

The short answer is yes. In MND, we try very hard to meet the aspirations of both parents – especially parents – and their children wanting to be able to live close by and we will do our very best. Of course, there is, yet, another option which is the parents may decide to sell off their flats and move with their children to the new towns. Theoretically, it is logical and possible, but I know many parents are very reluctant. As we have heard yesterday, they are used to the hawkers, to a particular wet market stallholder and they find it very difficult to move to a new place. But we will try to change such mindset.

Madam, a follow-up on the Minister's last point about parents living in mature estates finding it difficult to relocate into a new estate, would the Ministry consider giving financial incentives for these parents to move? The CPF Grant that the Minister had mentioned earlier, I think, typically does not apply to these parents because they would have enjoyed previous subsidies. And, therefore, I hope that the Ministry would consider giving, perhaps, cash grants to incentivise parents to move into the new location and settle down there.

This particular idea, Madam, was, in fact, raised a couple of times during our recent Housing Conversations. To probe further, we asked the participants, "How much do you think will move you?" And the figure is something I cannot afford. It is six digits! As I said, we will try within our capabilities and financial limits to meet such aspiration. But if some parents can change their attitudes and be prepared to try out a new town, you may

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discover better new environment – maybe in Yishun.

I was also hoping the Minister would also share his thoughts on en blocs within a mature estate. My follow-up question really was also in relation to the elderly in mature estates worrying that due to a lack of space, if they were to undergo en bloc, they will be moved outside the precinct. Would one of the considerations, or major considerations, for MND be to have the en bloc flats within the same area as far as possible, because location is actually the top priority for these elderly people?

En bloc is a private condominium term but, in HDB, we call it SERS. And, yes, we will do SERS wherever it is "SERS-able".  [Laughter]