Storm brewing in a teacup
When the lift door opened, 2 other families were already in the inside talking about SERS. I entered and while it was on its way down, one of the elderly couple told the other family that they do not have the money to pay for the new HDB.
The other family replied they also in the same situation. The price of the new HDB 4 room are ridiculous and there were no such thing as 1 to 1 exchange as past SERS project.
I turned around and said apart from the near $100K we have to top up for the new flat, there are also cost of renovation, relocation and home furnishing that are going to cost way more than today due to GST hikes and inflation.
All of them nod their heads.As the lift door opened, we said good bye and parted.
Fair valuation by government?
I decided to check what was the market valuation of my unit using the website from one of the local reputable banks. It is good to have another source of data for comparison rather than to rely on government data alone.
Below illustrated the differences in valuation. Local bank indicated an estimated value of $424,000 for my 43-year old unit. Whereas HDB’s only offered an estimated value of $420,000.
In the beginning when SERS was announced, many residents including myself were elated with the news and looking forward to having a new flat in a nearby location. But as days passed by; especially after the appointment with HDB, something seems really off.
Huge cash top up to renew the HDB lease in another location. Worth it?
If we just looked at the compensation figures alone, a new 4 room unit cost $580,225. After deducting the compensation of $420,000 from HDB, you see the difference of $160,225? OMG! No wonder couples are flipping HDB properties for million of dollars after the Minimum Occupation Period of 5 years.
Remember the sensational news and this article about the old couple in a bind of not sure what to do about this ‘SERS Curse’? I feel for them because many others and myself are also in the similar situation right now.
There were many noises in the internet saying we have other options and benefits such as getting 10% priority in other BTO, downgrade to 3 room. However the comment from this Facebook user below sums up everything and hit the jackpot.
Forced to move and downgrade our lifestyle
Why these 4 blocks of flat in Ang Mo Kio?
In the 14th Parliament session on 9 May 2022, Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) in selecting precincts for the Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS), what are the weights given to (i) the age of the blocks (ii) their redevelopment potential (iii) the availability of suitable replacement sites (iv) the Government’s financial resources and (v) other factors; and (b) what are the reasons for selecting the four HDB blocks in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 for SERS despite them being only 43 years old.
Mr Desmond Lee: “SERS was introduced in 1995 as part of our estate renewal strategy for older HDB estates. It allows us to optimise land through the redevelopment of selected HDB precincts which have high development value.
SERS involves compulsory acquisition and is therefore highly selective. The identification of suitable sites and the pace of SERS require careful site-by-site evaluation of various factors, including the redevelopment potential of the site, the availability of suitable replacement sites to rehouse the flat owners involved, and the Government’s financial resources. While the age of the precinct is a consideration, there is no fixed age criteria to determine if a precinct is suitable for SERS.”
If only these reasons were properly communicated to the Ang Mo Kio SERS residents in the 1st place. We understand Singapore is an ever evolving city. Thus nothing is permanent in SG. However when the Minister was speaking from a financial standpoint about unlocking the high development value of the selected plot of land, he forgotten there are real people with real emotions deeply grounded in this area. There were no proper communication or consultation in the first place with the residents. We were just whisked around stages after stages after the SERS annoucement. Everything was conducted like a precision military strike. At this hour, send out mass SMS, next hour house visit to hand over brochures, 2 days later visit road show, next month HDB appointment.
Why the hurry? And when most residents finally came around and get back on track, they too realised something was just wrong. But it was too late as there is nothing all of us can do since the government die die wanted us to get out from this place filled with memories.
Following all these frustrations, some residents approached the the Member of Parliament and even wrote to our Prime Minister Lee to air their concerns.
People tends to compare. And in this internet age, it is not difficult to find data online. What is concerning here is that Minister for National Development and HDB are not giving straight or convincing answers to affected residents on: –
- Why these 4 block of flats?
- Are you getting rid of us so that you can generate more income by selling the land to private developers?
- Why the lower than expected estimates in housing valuation?
- Why no proper dialogue with the affected residents?
- Why are we being forced to top up almost $100,000 for a flat that we didn’t ask for?
- Why are we being forced to downgrade because of reasons in #5?
- Why did you reserved a good site like Ang Mo Kio Ave 8 August 2022 BTO for non-AMK residents while ‘rewarding’ long term residents like us with a crappy location such as Ang Mo Kio Drive?
- Only getting the real valuation amount in Q4-2022 and have to make our housing choice in Q1-2023 without knowing the actual value of the units. What logic is that?
- Made us wait until Q4-2023 just to know the real value of each new unit and rushing us to sign up for the unit of our interest, really?
- Without knowing what’s the actual value of the flat, what exactly are we signing up for? Especially when now it seems like you are giving resident a lower than expected valuation and there’s no such thing as 1 old flat in exchange for 1 new flat.