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Factually
Corrections and Clarifications

Corrections regarding HDB’s BTO programme

4 September 2022

Falsehood in Facebook post by The Alternative View that HDB is making profit from the sale of the Central Weave @ AMK Build-To-Order flats

Modern playground area with swings, blue flooring, and greenery beside a residential building on a sunny day

  1. On 1 September 2022, The Alternative View published a Facebook post, which reproduces the headline of an article from AsiaOne (dated 31 August 2022) stating “Ang Mo Kio BTO flats: Strong demand for 5-room units despite prices of up to $877k”, contains an image of the Minister for National Development holding a bag of money, and ends with the caption asking “How much profit is HDB reaping from this?”. Implicitly this post is stating that HDB is making profit from the sale of the Central Weave @ AMK Build-to-Order (BTO) flats, which are part of the August 2022 BTO sales exercise. This statement is false.

Facts

  1. HDB will not profit from the sale of the Central Weave @ AMK BTO flats. In fact, it will incur a loss from this project.

    1. The estimated amount to be collected from the sale of the Central Weave @ AMK BTO flats is lower than the estimated total development cost of the project (comprising land cost and construction cost). If we take into account the CPF housing grants that HDB will extend to eligible buyers, the deficit is higher still.

    2. This is consistent with the fact that the amount HDB collects from the sale of flats in every financial year is less than the cost it incurs, including the total development cost (comprising land cost and construction cost) and CPF housing grants. HDB incurs a deficit every year.

    3. For the Financial Year (FY) 2021/22, HDB recorded a deficit of $3.85 billion in its Homeownership Programme. The average deficit incurred by HDB in the last three years (FY2019/20 – FY2021/22) was about $2.68 billion a year.

    4. The annual deficit, funded by Government grants, is reflected in HDB’s audited financial statements published annually.

  1. The Minister for National Development has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a Correction Direction to The Alternative View. The Correction Direction requires recipients to insert, amongst others, a notice against the original post, with a link to the Government’s clarification.

Delivering affordable and quality homes for Singaporeans

  1. HDB’s deficit is largely due to the significant subsidies extended for new flats and the disbursement of CPF housing grants for eligible buyers. Because of this, most first-timer buyers use less than a quarter of their monthly income to service their housing loans. Close to 90% of first-timer families service their HDB loans using CPF with little or no cash payments.

  1. HDB will continue to use its allocated resources judiciously to provide affordable and quality homes for Singaporeans.

Photo: Ministry of National Development