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In an exclusive interview with CNA, Singapore’s Minister for National Development touched on various issues, including keeping housing affordable, redeveloping heritage buildings, and helping young couples own a home earlier.
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The government has been "working very hard" over the last few years to restore stability in the housing market and balance the supply and demand of flats after disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee.
The unprecedented crisis disrupted people's lives, affected supply chains, caused shortages in manpower, and heavily impacted the construction and property sectors, said Mr Lee on Monday (Mar 11) in an exclusive interview with CNA.
“It does take time to restore that balance because injecting supply, changing the property market psychology, adjusting the parameters of various cooling measures, all these take time to filter through the market, and even then you cannot ever be quite certain of what the impact will necessarily be,” he said.
UNCERTAIN ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Mr Lee spoke about various issues during the interview, including keeping housing affordable, redeveloping heritage buildings, and helping young couples own a home earlier.
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The new flat supply has also gone up significantly, and the authorities are on track to deliver on the promise of launching 100,000 BTO flats from 2021 to 2025, said Mr Lee.
More than 63,000 flats were rolled out b
etween 2021 and last year, and about 19,600 will be launched this year.
The resale and private property
markets are also stabilising, added Mr Lee.
However, home buyers need to be more cautious and prudent amid the unclear economic outlook, he urged.
“We see interest rates staying higher for longer. We see economic uncertainties in the road ahead of us. We see geopolitical tensions, and all these will have an impact on the property sector,” he said.
“We will monitor and take whatever measures may be necessary to ensure stability in our property market, and ensure tha
