Who’s hardest hit in heartlands?

Who’s hardest hit in heartlands?

Thursday • August 14, 2008

WHEN it comes to money woes, the hardest hit are those living in four-room HDB flats.

These homeowners form a disproportionately large number of the hardship cases that MPs come across during their meet-the-people sessions, according to the latest issue of Petir,the People’s Action Party (PAP)magazine.

The financial problems raised during these sessions include jobs, welfare and assistance issues, and difficulty in paying utility bills, said Dr Beng Teck Liang, a member of the PAP’s Policy forum’s council. Its “preliminary” findings are based on data collected from the sessions held all over Singapore over the past five years or so.

Dr Beng said the forum would ask National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan at aforthcoming dialogue if applicants for four-room flats should be screened to see if they could afford to buy the flats in order to prevent “sub-prime” problems from cropping up.

Senior Minster of State for Trade and Industry, Mr S Iswaran, noted that the Housing Development Board now conducts credit assessments, “something we should have done from the start”.

“What’s sub-prime? It’s lending to people who maybe shouldn’t be borrowing so much,” said Mr Iswaran, who was asked about the problem during a dialogue session with the forum.

“The reality is there are some people who want to buy four-room flats but they don’t qualify for the loan for that amount, but if they want to buy a three-room flat, they can.

“So, this is really at the front end — trying to start moderating people’s expectations.”

He suggested that those facing problems servicing their home loans should cut their losses by selling their flats and downgrading to a smaller one or renting instead.

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