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09-05-14, 17:47
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/archive/saturday/specials/property/seniors-benefit-studio-apartments-20140508
Published May 08, 2014
Seniors benefit from studio apartments
By goh kang shiong
[email protected]
[SINGAPORE] Senior citizens who have sold their old flats and moved into studio apartments (SAs) have reaped - among other benefits - net sales proceeds of $200,000 per flat.
The figure came from Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan in his post yesterday in the blog, Housing Matters. It was arrived at after outstanding loans on their old flats were paid off, and after the new SAs were fully paid for.
SAs thus make a lot of sense for seniors who are left with larger flats after their children move out to their own flats, he said.
If they choose to stay put in their old flats, they can rent out the available rooms.
Whether they get sale proceeds or earn rental income, these monies are valuable for their retirement needs, the minister added.
Financial help aside, SAs come equipped with elderly-friendly fixtures such as grab bars and emergency alarm systems. They are also conveniently located within HDB towns, which gives senior citizens access to a wide range of public facilities, including Senior Activity Centres that run day programmes for them.
SAs are also attractive to seniors who are living alone and find maintaining a large flat a chore, Mr Khaw pointed out.
A study by his ministry of the 7,600 households which booked SAs between 2006 and last year yielded the following trends:
- Two-thirds of the applicants were below 65 years old;
- Half were living alone, having been divorced, widowed or never married;
- Just over a fifth (22 per cent) chose SAs in the same HDB town;
- Nearly three-quarters (70 per cent) used to own three or four-room flats.
Mr Khaw wrote that although seniors lived alone in their SAs, they still needed family and community support. He promised that his ministry would be on a constant lookout for ways to promote positive and active ageing.
"We are taking SAs a step further by weaving them into integrated developments, like in Kampung Admiralty, for which we broke ground recently. The two blocks of SAs there will have easy access to a hawker centre, public plaza, healthcare, childcare and elder-care services all under the same roof. The co-location is deliberate to promote inter-generational interaction and bonding with their children and grandkids."
Published May 08, 2014
Seniors benefit from studio apartments
By goh kang shiong
[email protected]
[SINGAPORE] Senior citizens who have sold their old flats and moved into studio apartments (SAs) have reaped - among other benefits - net sales proceeds of $200,000 per flat.
The figure came from Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan in his post yesterday in the blog, Housing Matters. It was arrived at after outstanding loans on their old flats were paid off, and after the new SAs were fully paid for.
SAs thus make a lot of sense for seniors who are left with larger flats after their children move out to their own flats, he said.
If they choose to stay put in their old flats, they can rent out the available rooms.
Whether they get sale proceeds or earn rental income, these monies are valuable for their retirement needs, the minister added.
Financial help aside, SAs come equipped with elderly-friendly fixtures such as grab bars and emergency alarm systems. They are also conveniently located within HDB towns, which gives senior citizens access to a wide range of public facilities, including Senior Activity Centres that run day programmes for them.
SAs are also attractive to seniors who are living alone and find maintaining a large flat a chore, Mr Khaw pointed out.
A study by his ministry of the 7,600 households which booked SAs between 2006 and last year yielded the following trends:
- Two-thirds of the applicants were below 65 years old;
- Half were living alone, having been divorced, widowed or never married;
- Just over a fifth (22 per cent) chose SAs in the same HDB town;
- Nearly three-quarters (70 per cent) used to own three or four-room flats.
Mr Khaw wrote that although seniors lived alone in their SAs, they still needed family and community support. He promised that his ministry would be on a constant lookout for ways to promote positive and active ageing.
"We are taking SAs a step further by weaving them into integrated developments, like in Kampung Admiralty, for which we broke ground recently. The two blocks of SAs there will have easy access to a hawker centre, public plaza, healthcare, childcare and elder-care services all under the same roof. The co-location is deliberate to promote inter-generational interaction and bonding with their children and grandkids."