Housing Policies in Singapore
Phang, Sock-Yong; Helble, Matthias | March 2016
Abstract
Singapore has developed a unique housing system, with three-quarters of its housing stock built by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) and homeownership financed through Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings. As a result, the country’s homeownership rate of 90% is one of the highest among market economies. At different stages of its economic development, the Government of Singapore was faced with a different set of housing problems. An integrated land–housing supply and financing framework was established in the 1960s to solve the severe housing shortage. By the 1990s, the challenge was that of renewing aging estates and creating a market for HDB transactions. Housing subsidies in the form of housing grants were also introduced. Recent challenges include curbing speculative and investment demand, as well as coping with increasing income inequalities and an aging population. These have brought about carefully crafted macroprudential policies, targeted housing grants, and schemes to help elderly households monetize their housing equity. This paper analyzes key pillars of the housing policy, specifically land acquisition, the HDB–CPF system, the role of markets, housing market interventions, the Ethnic Integration Policy, and the Lease Buyback Scheme. It concludes with lessons learned for other countries.
Citation
Phang, Sock-Yong; Helble, Matthias. 2016. Housing Policies in Singapore. © Asian Development Bank Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/9755.Keywords
Rural planning
Economic development
Economic indicators
Standard of living
Development projects
Development policy
Housing projects
Development models
Social reform
Urban planning
Public Borrowing
Credit Policy
Banks
Cultural Development
Development Economics
Development Issues
Financial Sector Development
Infrastructure Development
Urban Development Finance
Financing
Financial System
Financial Sector Reform
Financial Institution
Bank Financing
Real estate development
Housing development
Community banks
Mortgage banks
Housing policy
Tax administration and procedure
Real property and taxation
Property tax
Credit control
Banks and banking
Title companies
Tax deductions
Accounts
Savings
Inheritance and transfer tax
Trusts and trustees
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