http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...01977,00.html?

Published September 1, 2010

Sustainable property market is the goal

New govt measures won't affect genuine buyers: Lim Hwee Hua

By LYNN KAN


THE latest slew of government measures to temper the property market is ultimately meant to build up a 'sustainable' market and will not affect genuine buyers, said the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance and Transport, Lim Hwee Hua.

'What will be sustainable is property purchases or price increases that is justified by the amount of wealth that a person has,' said Mrs Lim at a post-National Day Rally dialogue for women grassroots leaders. 'What is not sustainable is when people borrow from banks to speculate. What we want to do is to take out this speculative activity. The main thing is to make sure banks don't lend unnecessarily, that people don't get easy access to money. Genuine buyers will not be affected by this.'

But the measures don't mean that foreign investors should be barred from the property market either, she said in response to a question about the effect on property prices from these buyers.

'Closing the doors on foreigners doesn't necessarily mean we will have a better market. Because that would mean we would be buying among ourselves and the market could stay very down if it's only all local owners,' she said at the People's Association auditorium last night.

Mrs Lim was among those fielding questions and comments about the issues raised in Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech.

Under the new property rules, buyers of public homes will enjoy an increased supply of HDB flats and see the adjustment of the income cap to address the problems of the 'sandwich group' of home buyers.

The intention is that flats will remain affordable for this segment of society and to broaden their choices as the 'sandwich group' can choose either to buy executive condominiums or Design, Build, Sell Scheme flats, said Mrs Lim.

One concern of the grassroots leaders present was the issue of fostering a stronger sense of national pride. Some also said that while remembering Singapore's old guard such as Dr Goh Keng Swee, more should be done to honour them while they are around to help youths of today connect better with Singapore's roots.

Others raised the question of why there was little pride taken in Singapore's achievements, evidenced by the volume of griping by Singaporeans.

To that, Mrs Lim said it may be a natural Singaporean trait tied to 'our survival instincts'.

'We always say we have nothing so we have to do everything very well, therefore, we should never say that anything is good enough. In the process, we may come across as being expectant. But as long as it doesn't make you unhappy in the process, it's a good drive to have to spur us on.'