Leon Perera on public housing motions

The time has come to reboot, refresh and re-frame mindsets and start thinking of the HDB flat as primarily an affordable home to live in and less of an asset whose value will rise and rise in the same way as equities, stocks and shares, said MP Leon Perera. Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday (Feb 7), he stressed that HDB flats are "not like stocks and shares". He said framing expectations that the price of the flat is going to go up and never come down is not sustainable. Another reason to reboot is the mindset that the HDB flat is an ever-appreciating asset that will uplift generations through property price increases and capital gains. Mr Perera warned that such a mentality may blunt the drive to do other economically meaningful things, such as retraining, setting up a business or innovating at work to increase productivity instead of gaming the property market or flipping properties. He said that rather than focusing on rising HDB flat prices to uplift the generations, it is time to once again view HDB flats as first and foremost affordable homes.