SINGAPORE - The standards of flats - and correspondingly, their prices - are like a barometer of the economy. If Singapore continues to prosper, the value of flats would appreciate, along with Singaporeans' tangible stake in the country.Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew made the point yesterday at the key handover ceremony of The Pinnacle@Duxton. And given the space constraints the island-state faces, he expects more such high-rise developments to be in the pipeline.
"We can't expand the city laterally, we have to expand the city vertically," he said. "Yes, we can have more reclamations but that's only about 10, 15 per cent and we've reached the limit.
"Therefore, I see more and more of the old blocks being demolished and new blocks like Duxton, like the Pinnacle, being built."
But Singaporeans, especially young couples, are concerned about prices going up as well. On such sentiments, Mr Lee emphasised that flat prices move in tandem with Singapore's economic growth.
"They've got to decide whether the country is going to go up or down," he said. "If the country is going to go down, then economy will go down, people's incomes will be down, unemployment will be up, then property values will go down."
If the people have confidence in the Republic and the Government, flat prices and values will rise "as it has been going up every year" historically, said Mr Lee, who as Prime Minister had in 1964 pushed the HDB to launch the home ownership scheme.
Noting that home ownership "motivates Singaporeans to work hard and upgrade to better flats for a better quality of living", Mr Lee said: "More important, Singaporeans know that the HDB flat gives them a tangible stake in worth. If Singapore prospers ... they share in the growth ... The HDB story reflects the social mobility in Singapore."
Pointing out that owning of a HDB flat was "a store of value that can be monetised when needs be", he said home ownership had been critical for a fledgling nation with "an immigrant community with no common history".
"If all of the 900,000 HDB flats built over the past 50 years were rental flats, Singapore would be a very different society today. We would not have the stability, progress and prosperity that the stake in home ownership of a growing asset has made possible," said the Minister Mentor, reiterating the assurance that young couples would get sufficient help from the Government to own their first flat.
The Pinnacle@Duxton sits on the site where the HDB built the first rental blocks in the area in 1963.
Today, it houses the HDB's latest generation of public housing, and the 50-storey project in Cantonment Road scores a number of firsts - including being the highest public housing block and one of the priciest.
But what takes it to a whole new level for residents is an unusual 800m jogging track on the 26th floor, which runs along six steel skybridges linking the seven blocks. The top storey also has another six bridges where residents and non-residents can enjoy skyline views.
But the flats do not come cheap. Prices, which started at $289,200 for the four-room flats in 2004, have climbed to around $553,000 this year, while those of five-room flats have risen from $439,400 to $643,000 over the five-year period.
Even so, demand for the flats was still very strong, Mr Lee noted. "The Pinnacle@Duxton is therefore a good example that if the nation continues to do well, we will build more flats of this standard."
Source: TODAY, 14 December 2009
