Kf Seetoh talks about surging prices of BTO flats and that too for leasehold units

SINGAPORE: Food guru Kf Seetoh appeared to comment on the country’s current issue of surging housing prices in a recent Facebook post wherein he wrote, “Five hundred thousand dollars for a 99-year leasehold BTO public flat is “affordable”. Good luck folks… I wish you well.”

Mr Seetoh, the founder of Makansutra, added in his Feb 26 (Sunday post), “Can’t pass to your grandkids, it will appreciate but so will all the others should you sell n buy,” and ended his post by writing, “Again, we are (the) most expensive city in the world, not the richest.”

Like a few other countries, Singapore has a 99-year leasehold system wherein a person who purchases a flat will enjoy it and pass it on to one, maybe two generations, and then it gets returned to the government for redevelopment.

This has worked well in the past in providing Singaporeans with homes but with a rising population, land scarcity, and most recently, delays in building due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the price of property in the country, for both purchase and rental, has gone up.

A number of public flats have even surpassed the $1 million price tag.

Early last month, the issue of affordable and accessible housing was debated at length in Parliament.

Some people commenting on Mr Seetoh’s post wrote that flats have sold for even more than the half-million dollar price tag he quoted.

“New ones at queen town is $600k + for a 4 rn flt… crazy…,” wrote one netizen.

Mr Seetoh answered her by writing “second hand flats with shorter lease cost even more in Singapore. How did it happen?”

Another chimed in, “My neighbor paid for her 2rm for almost that price…”

One commented, “$500K isn’t PUBLIC HOUSING, friend. To own a $500K property, the household need to earning at least $8K a month to service a 30 yrs mortgage. How many families actually have THAT SORT OF INCOME, I wonder??..

IMHO, prices public housing should be tagged to the income of lowest 20 percentile and not the median income for it to be considered ‘affordable..”

A netizen added, “A friend of a friend bought a flat in redhill for 900K in cash using convenience and amenities as reasons. The parents bought it for them but how many parents can do that?”

“What a mess that the country is in now….!! Really, it is already here n right under our noses… 2 very different n distinct Singapores,” another wrote.

This is similar to what Workers’ Party chief and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh said in Parliament recently when he warned against “two Singapores being created” with society split between the wealthy and the “rest of Singapore.”

/TISG

Gerald Giam: It’s time to focus on HDB’s original mission of providing quality & affordable housing for all Singaporeans