The price of public housing in Singapore, which is home to more than 80% of the population of the city-state, has soared recently, with 23 resale apartments subsidized by the government being bought in February for $743,000, a new monthly record, according to data from the real estate portal SRX Property, cited by Bloomberg.
According to the agency, 36 properties were transacted for identical values in the first two months of the year, which represents a 350% increase over the same period.
The model of social housing construction carried out by the Singaporean government bears little resemblance to that in other countries of the world, with apartments, for example, located in the most expensive areas.
How does it work? The state is the largest housing developer in the country, with more than 80% of the population living in public apartments, and the majority decide to become owners of them, with aid received from the Central Provident Fund (CPF, in English). The issue is that these owners can sell their homes after five years since they bought them.
“The profit rate from public housing can be transferred to private housing, a sector for which the government has already applied cooling measures in 2018 and may do so again,” said Nicholas Mak, head of research and consulting at APAC Realty in Singapore. “All the warnings given by the government have been directed at private housing, when prices for public-use apartments are rising higher and higher,” he added.
