Look at how Mah Bow Tan dramatically scaled down the flat supply from 2001 to 2010
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not you?
I think someone revived it but before I can quote them, they deleted already.
Arbalest
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In the mid-1990s, as HDB resale prices soared, the Government introduced anti-speculation measures in 1996 to bring prices down. But this coincided with the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 when the property market slumped.
As demand flagged, there was a large inventory of unsold flats sitting empty. The BTO system, introduced from 2001, was designed to better estimate demand and avoid such a scenario.
In one of a series of commentaries penned for HDB’s 50th anniversary in 2010, then National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that one of his first challenges after taking up the appointment in 1999 was to deal with the excess of more than 31,000 unsold flats.
“Almost every year, until 2006, Members of Parliament expressed their concerns in Parliament about the unsold stock, and asked what steps HDB was taking to clear it. The Auditor-General’s Office, too, urged the Board to reduce its unsold stock, highlighting the high cost of holding vacant flats,” he said.
“HDB had to come up with all sorts of ways to clear the flats – converting five-room and executive flats into smaller two- and three-room ones, organising roadshows, implementing walk-in selection of the ready flats, and engaging managing agents to rent out unsold flats temporarily.”
Mr Mah pointed out that if HDB were to fly on “auto-pilot” and supply a fixed number of flats every year, regardless of market conditions, there would be the risk of an oversupply in some years.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sin...ild-first-demand-supply-affordability-3072636
As demand flagged, there was a large inventory of unsold flats sitting empty. The BTO system, introduced from 2001, was designed to better estimate demand and avoid such a scenario.
In one of a series of commentaries penned for HDB’s 50th anniversary in 2010, then National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that one of his first challenges after taking up the appointment in 1999 was to deal with the excess of more than 31,000 unsold flats.
“Almost every year, until 2006, Members of Parliament expressed their concerns in Parliament about the unsold stock, and asked what steps HDB was taking to clear it. The Auditor-General’s Office, too, urged the Board to reduce its unsold stock, highlighting the high cost of holding vacant flats,” he said.
“HDB had to come up with all sorts of ways to clear the flats – converting five-room and executive flats into smaller two- and three-room ones, organising roadshows, implementing walk-in selection of the ready flats, and engaging managing agents to rent out unsold flats temporarily.”
Mr Mah pointed out that if HDB were to fly on “auto-pilot” and supply a fixed number of flats every year, regardless of market conditions, there would be the risk of an oversupply in some years.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sin...ild-first-demand-supply-affordability-3072636
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