Indranee Rajah tells the ‘truth behind SG’s 99-year lease’ but netizens have questions

SINGAPORE: After 99-year leases, properties go back to the state “so that we can rebuild and refresh and rejuvenate,” Ms Indranee Rajah said in an interview on The Daily Ketchup podcast.

“If you don’t have a finite term of the lease means that whoever bought (it) means that they hold on to it forever. And then the land is out of the hands of the state. And then the new homeowners can’t come into the picture,” she added.

@thedailyketchup

why do we only own our homes for 99 years?? #podcast #thedailyketchup #hdb #tiktoksg #lease #minister

♬ original sound – The Daily Ketchup🚀 – The Daily Ketchup🚀

Ms Rajah is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance, Second Minister for National Development, as well as Leader of the House.

And while her interview was filmed before the announcement of this year’s national budget, it was posted on The Daily Ketchup Podcast YouTube and Facebook accounts on Feb 25.

Just last week, on Apr 19, two clips from the interview were posted on The Daily Ketchup’s TikTok account, and the segment where she talks about the rationale behind the country’s 99-year lease on properties has gone viral, getting nearly 133,000 views since it was posted.

“So what we do is give a long lease—99 years, which is more than a person’s lifetime—in fact slightly over two generations can stay in that flat, but in the end, it comes back, and then we can build afresh and anew. Because the things that we need to build within 99 years will be very different from the things we need today.”

However, the rationale Ms Indranee provided for the policy governing the lease appeared to have left some netizens with more questions.

“After 99 years, the land revert to the State. Why then are the Citizens paying for the ‘Land Cost’ included in the sale?” asked one.

Another asked, “So why must we pay property tax when we don’t even own our hdb?”

One TikTok user urged, “then don’t add the land price to the building cost of BTO.”

“Zero value after 99 yrs lease. what happened to the land appreciation value over the year. Sad state for the home owners!” chimed in another commenter.

Others, however, said that they understood Ms Rajah’s explanation.

The podcasters noted that the episode had been sponsored by the Ministry of National Development and that more information can be found on the issue here.

Ms Rajah’s interview may be viewed in full below.

/TISG

$6500/month Ang Mo Kio flat breaks HDB rental rate record