During a Chinese New Year gala dinner held at Ang Mo Kio, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged Singaporeans to treasure their homes and not sell them prematurely to settle a debt or make a quick buck.
PM Lee said that their homes are important investments for the future and can help Singaporeans see through their retirement age. He added that their homes can also be inherited by their children or grandchildren.
Speaking in front of the 1,300 residents who attended the gala dinner, he said; “I have seen so many residents come to see me at my meet-the-people sessions, who have sold their houses, who have used the proceeds to pay debts or to do something else, and now their money has run out and they are in trouble and they want help.”
The government has been closely monitoring the property market and has announced recent measures to curb a speculative bubble formation to avoid any drastic measures, he said.
“The prices have risen very sharply over the last six months,” PM Lee added. “It has not yet reached a dangerous level. But the trend has been so fast and the mood has been so exuberant that we were worried that people will get carried away and they will go beyond what is wise and we will have a bubble.”
Since the government has no control on the prices of properties, he said: “What we can do is to make sure that for all Singaporeans, homes remain affordable.”
He also expressed his concern about the number of Singaporeans who are starting a family and the number of children they are producing. He noted that the Total Fertility Rate in the country dropped to a record low of 1.23 in 2009.
PM Lee urged Singaporeans to have more babies this year, despite the Chinese superstition that babies born in the Year of the Tiger will possess the fearsome attributes of the animal. “Tigers are good animals, and Tiger babies are good babies,” he quipped.
“So have a Tiger baby and add a new member to your family and a new member to the Singapore family.”