HDB Flats Foreclosed and Put on Auction due to Mortgage Defaults in Last Five Years
Ministry of National DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns HDB flat foreclosures, the HDB buyback policy, and the prevalence of insufficient resale proceeds for CPF refunds. Mr Gan Thiam Poh inquired about mortgage defaults and HDB’s role in assisting lessees with open market sales. Minister Lawrence Wong reported 118 completed mortgagee sales between January 2013 and November 2017 and clarified that HDB does not buy back flats. Instead, HDB facilitates sales by publishing transaction data and providing resale checklists to guide buyers and sellers through the process. Finally, the Minister noted that 6% of open market sales during this period resulted in insufficient proceeds to make a full CPF refund.
Transcript
21 Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for National Development (a) in the past five years, how many HDB flats have been foreclosed and put on mortgage sale/public auction by financial institutions due to defaults in payment by flat lessees; (b) how many flat lessees have approached HDB to buy back the flats that they are unable to sell in the open market; (c) how does HDB assist them to sell their flats in the open market; and (d) how many flats have been sold by lessees with the sale proceeds being insufficient to return to their individual CPF accounts.
The Minister for National Development (Mr Lawrence Wong): Mr Deputy Speaker, from January 2013 to November 2017, there were 118 cases of completed mortgagee sale of Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats by banks.
HDB does not buy back flats from flat owners and does not keep records of requests by flat owners who wish to sell their flats to HDB. HDB flat owners who have met the minimum occupation period may sell their flats in the open market.
Such open market sales are a mutual agreement between the respective sellers and buyers, and HDB does not intervene in the transaction. HDB does, however, facilitate the sale of flats on the open market through measures such as publishing information on recent resale transactions on its website, and providing a resale checklist to guide sellers and buyers through the process.
On the Member's fourth question, from January 2013 to November 2017, 6% of the HDB flats sold in the open market generated insufficient proceeds for the lessees to make a full Central Provident Fund (CPF) refund.