YESTERDAY’S report (‘Developer makes surprise $251m offer’) shocked me too, as the bid was three times the trigger price of $82 million. Would it be wrong to say that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is also adding to the trend of ever spiralling property prices? In the open tender system, the highest bidder usually lands the deal.
The URA, which controls land parcels, should also consider the benefit to, and affordability of, property buyers at large.
Such a massive bid for land will surely ramp up the price of the development. The foreign element – foreigners with big bucks and deep pockets – will force Singaporeans to fork out even more to buy a home.
I suggest two measures to protect Singaporeans and offer citizens a fair chance to own private property:
~ Let URA control the land cost as per a median reasonable price. Replace bidding for land parcels with a balloting process for qualified developers to participate at the URA’s called price. Balloting will introduce a level playing field and keep land prices sane.
~ Each development should set aside a minimum quota for Singaporean buyers to forestall a situation in which Singaporeans may be unable to afford private property and end up being tenants rather than home owners.
If there can be balloting for scarce resources like school admission and public housing, why not apply it to land sales as well?
If a quota system is effective in ensuring a multiracial mix in public housing, why not have the same to ensure a healthy mix of citizens and foreigners in private developments too?
Joshua Selvakumar
Source: Straits Times, 7 Nov 2009
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