HDB revealed 92 households have benefitted from its Silver Housing Bonus scheme since it was introduced in February 2013, reported the media.
Among those who benefitted is Choy Mui Leng. The 66-year old retired nurse tapped on the scheme by selling her four-room flat in Sengkang, and purchasing a three-room unit in Punggol.
“When you are getting old, it is very comfortable to stay in a small apartment, easy to manage,” she said.
Using $68,000 from the sale proceeds, she topped up the CPF Retirement Accounts for her husband and herself, while keeping the remaining $200,000.
Lower-income elderly can get up to $20,000 cash bonus per household if they use part of the proceeds to top up their CPF Retirement account in order to receive a monthly income for life.
However, Member of Parliament Lee Bee Wah, who is Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for National Development and Environment, believes that the CPF component of the scheme makes it less attractive to some elderly since part of their earnings will be used to top up their CPF Retirement Accounts to meet the Minimum Sum.
“Most of the Singaporeans I still find that, they would rather change a bigger flat to a studio apartment and they want to take the one big lump sum, so that they can keep the money,” she noted.
“A lot of parents – they prefer to have cash for themselves so they don’t have to depend on their children or burden their children. So if we can build more studio apartments near MRT stations, near amenities, in the same housing estate. I would think that will be popular,” added Lee.
Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email muneerah@propertyguru.com.sg
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