Yours? Think again...

Ahh... back to work...

I was musing about finally buying my own little nest in Sunny Singapore.

And since the "property boom", the price of unaffordable private housing has became, well, even more unaffordable. So, hey, a 99 year lease HDB flat (most likely a lot less since I can only buy second-hand flats) does not seem to be so bad after all. I have already kind of reconciled the fact that "buying" an HDB flat is more "leasing" than "owning", and I had some teeny faith that the Govt. would not leave people stranded. (I head that "upgraded" flats get their lease renewed) However, the ownership of HDB flats is more tenuous that I thought.

It seems that HDB can, at any time they like (after 33 years in this case), force "owners" to sell their flats back for any reason they can cook up ("Rejuvenation" in this case). And unlike a private property "en-bloc" sales, there seems to be no "I'm not selling" option. And HDB still can earn money from the property they have vacated too...

I can just imagine the scenario:
I took a 30-year housing loan to buy a second-hand flat.
5 years later, I was informed that the flat has been en-bloc'ed.
"Settlement" could have resulted in a loss or a profit. (No prize in guessing which is more likely, given that I can't refuse the sale.)
I am also pretty sure that there will be taxation involved, plus possible penalty for early repayment of housing loan.
The property market could have been up or down.

A likely case: I am out of a house, down on cash (paid back to CPF with interest, various tax, less than ideal settlement), and unable to buy another house because of market conditions (plus the new minimum sum rule for CPF usage).

So much for the integrity in property ownership.

What am I to do now?
I guess I'll have to continue to rent, and save to buy a house in Bintan or somewhere.
After all, Indonesia does not seem to be much worse when it comes to property ownership after learning that this kind of thing can happen here.