Reason for Projected Dwelling Units Figure Being Increased to 1.61 Million in HDB 2023/2024 Annual Report
Ministry of National DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the basis for increasing the projected ultimate dwelling units to 1.61 million in the HDB 2023/2024 Annual Report, as raised by MP Pritam Singh to Minister for National Development Desmond Lee. Minister for National Development Desmond Lee explained that this figure is a planning parameter updated to reflect trends like strong household formation and smaller household sizes. He noted that town boundaries were expanded and more residential land was allocated in areas such as Bayshore and Ulu Pandan to meet demand. The Minister emphasized that HDB has increased flat production to ensure sufficient housing supply and prevent higher resale prices. He added that these adjustments were necessary to avoid potential housing shortages linked to previous proposals to reduce the annual building programme.
Transcript
38 Mr Pritam Singh asked the Minister for National Development (a) on what basis is the figure for the projected ultimate dwelling units in the HDB Annual Report 2019/2020 increased to 1.61 million in the HDB 2023/2024 Annual Report; (b) what is the overall population size the Government anticipates in parallel with this increase in the number of projected ultimate dwelling units; and (c) based on the current URA Masterplan, what is the maximum number of projected ultimate dwelling units that can be accommodated across Singapore.
Mr Desmond Lee: The projected ultimate number of dwelling units in the Housing and Development Board's (HDB's) Annual Report is an estimate of the dwelling units that HDB towns can accommodate when fully developed. This figure is only a planning parameter and not a target to be reached. It is regularly updated as it is affected by several variables which can change over time.
For example, in recent years, we have observed trends, such as strong household formation rates and smaller household sizes, contributing to strong broad-based housing demand. This has resulted in an increase in the estimated number of households in the Singapore population which are eligible to purchase public housing flats. Consequently, we have set aside more residential land within existing towns and new areas, such as Bayshore under Bedok town and Ulu Pandan under Queenstown. As a result, since the 2019/2020 Annual Report, town boundaries were expanded and the estimated number of ultimate residential dwelling units has increased.
In response to these housing demand trends, HDB has adjusted its housing mix and built more flats. This is unlike the proposal from the Workers' Party in 2019 that recommended HDB to cut back its building programme from around 16,000 to 17,000 dwelling units to around 9,000 dwelling units every year. Had we followed the recommendation, we would have faced a serious shortage of housing supply, longer waiting times and much higher prices for resale flats.