Singapore Property Projection - Khaw Boon Wan - 2 years on, Projection vs Actual

Nearly 200,000 new homes by 2016: Khaw

The Straits Times - January 19, 2013
By: Daryl Chin

 

ALMOST 200,000 new homes are expected to hit the market by 2016, Mr Khaw Boon Wan said yesterday, as he gave the assurance that there are enough homes for all.
In a blog post, the National Development Minister also said that the slew of measures announced last week to cool the property market are intended to protect first-time buyers.
They are largely exempted from the measures, which include higher stamp duties and down payments, as well as tighter loan-to-value limits.
Mr Khaw said the current pent-up demand and market imbalance is caused by under-building in the past and the high investment demand today. "But we have been ramping up supply, and in two, three and four years' time, supply will have caught up with pent-up demand."
In the next three to four years, there will be an additional 80,000 private properties, 10,000 executive condominiums and 110,000 HDB flats - equivalent to building four new Ang Mo Kio towns.
Mr Khaw also sought the understanding of investors hit by the new rules and hoped they would accept that the package would also be good for them "in due course".
"In any case, many of the new measures are counter-cyclical in nature, to be lifted when the market regains its balance," he said.
SLP International research head Nicholas Mak said that while the projected near-200,000 homes is big, "the reality is that many first-timers are still priced out of the market today, although that may change in the next few months if the new measures are effective".
First-time buyers like advertising executive Jezreel Ow, 25, are hoping for that outcome. "Everything except my career is in limbo and on hold, until I can afford my own place."

Better balance now between home buyers, sellers: Khaw

The Straits Times - Febuary 21, 2015
By: Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh

FOUR years of hard work ramping up the construction of new homes has paid off, according to National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan.
In a blog post yesterday, he said that the planned increase in number of homes had led to a better balance being struck between buyers and sellers.
Last year, 51,598 new homes were added, outpacing the projection of 47,505 made last May. This has helped property prices adjust with supply better meeting demand.
"Our residential market has achieved a better balance between sellers and buyers," he said. Last year marked the first full year in which home prices fell, he noted.
"This was a great relief for home buyers," he said. But as the decline was moderate, "it was also a relief for home sellers and home owners".
He added that a collapse of the housing market would benefit no one. Construction is expected to slow in the coming years, going by the updated figures Mr Khaw provided yesterday.
Last year, the supply of new homes for 2014 to 2017 was projected to be 200,034 units. But with the adjustment of the Housing Board's supply of Build-To-Order (BTO) flats, the new figure now stands at 195,788.
There will be 26,000 HDB flats completed this year, 8 per cent fewer than last year's 28,300. The number of new flats is expected to be kept at 25,000 each year from next year to 2018. This year, there will be 21,359 new private homes - a 7 per cent rise from last year.
But in the coming years, there is expected to be a slide to just 9,836 in 2018. That year, the number of new units, including public flats, will be the lowest in recent times - just 38,316.
Singapore currently has about 1.28 million homes - 960,000 of which are HDB flats. By early 2018, the total is expected to swell 11 per cent to 1.43 million.
Mr Khaw said home buyers will continue to have plenty of choice.
asyiqins@sph.com.sg