Singapore Government Press Release

Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts

36th Storey, PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 119963.

Tel: 3757794/5

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Mr President

Fellow SISV colleagues

Ladies and Gentlemen

1 Good evening and thank you for inviting me to the SISV Dinner.

2 URA is constantly looking at ways to improve the timeliness and transparency of real estate information to the public. In this regard, I am pleased to announce that another milestone has been reached. With effect from April 1998, URA will be updating statistics of building projects granted provisional and written permission in the Real Estate Information Section of URA-Online on a monthly, instead of quarterly, basis.

3 The monthly statistics cover projects in residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and other sectors. Statistics on the number of projects and the number of units (for residential projects) and gross floor area (for non-residential projects) granted provisional and written permission will also be provided.

4 The statistics will be presented in a time series format with yearly data for the past four years and monthly data for the immediate past 24 months. This format will provide users with both yearly data for long-term analysis and monthly data for short - term analysis, of the future supply of properties, four weeks after the end of the reference month.

5 With this new development, I am sure both developers and buyers will be placed in a better position to make enlightened decisions.

6 Most Singaporeans live in HDB flats. HDB builds these flats to a high quality and sells them to the public at highly subsidised prices. Hence, the huge demand. To date, we still have something like 128,000 applicants on the waiting list, even though private apartments have seen sharp price erosion. The length of the queue has not shrunk. This speaks volumes about the value-for-money HDB flats.

7 Once the HDB flats are constructed, HDB hands them over to Town Councils which will manage the estate. As a result, most Singaporeans are oblivious to the problems, and responsibilities, that come with home ownership. But as more Singaporeans begin to aspire to private housing, they will learn that prestige comes at a price, and not just because private flats are much more expensive than HDB flats.

8 For many private condominium owners, their first set of problems begin as soon as they take over the flats even before the formation of the Management Corporations. Defects in the flats and the common areas need to be resolved. Complaints about poor workmanship, inferior materials, water leakages, are not uncommon. In this respect, I think developers and contractors must recognise that while Singapore is not a litigious society, more Management Corporations are beginning to use the courts to seek re-dress. If more Singaporeans stand on their rights, then developers and contractors will have to deliver.

9 Many people complain that the productivity of our construction industry is too low and needs to be re-examined. They complain: Why are consumers paying good money for less than excellent buildings? To be fair, the quality of our buildings have improved, but I concede that more, much more, can be done. CIDB will look into ways to further ensure that productivity in the construction industry will improve. This will not happen overnight because the pool of skilled labour is thin, and the culture of sub-contracting is prevalent. Even when the labour is skilled, there is an attitude problem among many workers. They want to do a job fast, they do not want do a job well. These are the problems residents of private flats can face before the formation of the Management Corporation.

10 More problems await them after the formation of the Management Corporation. Because many Singaporeans treat their abodes like shares - buy, hold and sell - they relinquish total responsibility in the management of the buildings to professional property managers, contend only to pay the monthly service and conservancy charges. A building is like a baby, it needs caring and love. Just like it is not right to foster out the child permanently, it is not right to take no responsibility in the management of the condominium. But the reality is that a substantial number of Management Corporations (MC) today have problems getting owners to attend annual general meetings. There is often no quorums at these AGMs, and serving members continue to hold offices for years without renewal. Owners take no ownership of their common areas because they are always on the move.

11 Recently at my Meet-the-People session, a couple of elderly ladies came to see me to complain about their Management Corporation. They alleged that there appears to be irregularities in the management of the funds. I asked them if they could vote the office holders out. They said it was not possible because only friends of the supposedly corrupt management team have an interest in attending AGMs. Apathy is a serious problem. Many of our condominiums are still relatively new. In time, these condominiums will age and the cost of maintenance will spiral. Unless preventive maintenance is carried out, the cost of repair will be punitive. Over time, I think residents will realise that this neglect will cost them dear. A poorly maintained condominium is a poor investment and fetch low rental demand.

12 Another problem private residents face is that of tolerance, or the lack of it. Condominium living is an art in compromise. While residents do not wish to take part in running the place, they are often quick to complain to the MC about neighbours whom they think have misused common areas, like placing chairs and tables in certain locations. Quarrels over who owns which car park lots are not uncommon. If there were more participation in the MC, and if there were more give and take, many of these quibble could be resolved amicably.

13 To be sure, not all subsidiary proprietors can be expected to understand the two major Acts that govern the maintenance and management of condominiums: The Land Titles (Strata) Act (Chapter 158) and the Buildings and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act (Chapter 30). Even so called professional property managers are sometimes unfamiliar with the Acts. And even if they are familiar, they may be unwilling to take remedial action, perhaps because the transgressors are officials of the Management Corporation which has a say in employing them. Thus the problems compound: apathy leads to the election of undesirable Management Corporation members, who may in turn employ incompetent (maybe even sycophant) property managers who act at their behest.

14 These problems are not insurmountable. But they are not easy given the present state of the construction industry, and the mindset of home buyers who are buying properties only to dispose them away in a quickie. But this is only a phase. As the economy slowly matures, we will move from the building phase to the maintenance phase. This is where SISV can help Singaporeans change their mindset. It will take time, but it is possible.

15 I wish you well.