Boon Wan voices shoebox worry

The government would consider stepping in if the proportion of "shoebox" units in Singapore becomes too high, said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday. While he acknowledged the fact that homes being built by private developers were getting smaller, he gave the assurance that HDB flats here were not shrinking despite public belief that it was.

Mr Khaw, who was speaking at the annual Reach Contributors Forum, shared that flat sizes in Singapore have remained the same for the last 15 years.

According to latest figures, shoebox apartments comprised more than a quarter of private home sales in the first quarter of this year, up sharply from about 15 per cent in the final quarter of 2011.

Mr Khaw also noted that many Singaporeans were worried about soaring home prices but he described this as a temporary imbalance of supply and demand.

He shared how, in the last five years, the country's population was increasing at a rate that infrastructure could not match, resulting in the spike in prices.

He added that the government was committed to build at least 100,000 new flats in the next five years if necessary.

Source: Business Times – 3 May 2012