About 80% of Singaporeโs population is housed in public housing, but not the kind in the West.
Low income families & young couples to high income bankers and business people live in them.
Theyโre incredibly affordable. How? Only citizens can live in them.
<thread> ๐งต๐
2/ Singaporeโs public housing scheme is run by its Housing & Development Board (HDB), and public housing is appropriately called HDB flats.
Rather than auctioning off all gov land to private companies, the gov develops the land and sells 99-year leases for the units.
3/ Since these are leasehold properties, with the government retaining ultimate control over the land.
The homes are traded in open market, and you can get a mortgage to buy them. Appreciation is slowed as the units approach the end of their life though.
Higher property taxes. Higher home prices. Disregard of basic real estate education.
Let's talk about how you were sold into advocating for those issues against your own interest, by politicians pushing for broad zoning deregulation.
<thread> ๐งต๐
2/ First, let's discuss that we need more housing & governments supportive of building more homes.
However, we also need to discuss how lobbyists & politicians in the deep pockets of developers, intentionally conflated the need for more housing with deregulation.
3/ you also need to understand this little issue: real estate is valued at its highest & best use, not its current use.
btw this is from the textbook Principles of Appraisal, so every real estate agent in Ontario understands this, but not all will admit it.
If your house is your largest asset, you arenโt a capitalist.
The banker that lent you the mortgage is a capitalist. Youโre the means of production they ownโlabor that generates their wealth.
The term capitalist originally described a person w/ significant capital used as the means of production.
If you still think youโre a capitalist, why stop there? You can also be a sea pirate without ever setting foot on a boat or a race car driver thatโs never driven a car.
I saw a Realtor say people should buy a house because Warren Buffett says, be greedy when others are fearful.
Buffett, who bought his house for $31k in 1958, is most certainly not referencing a primary residence. ๐