The Housing Development Bureau pays fair market prices for state-owned land, which helps maintain our country's reserves.

Minister of the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister of Finance and National Development Inlani debated the Ministry of Finance and the Parliamentary Appropriations Committee on Friday (February 28), and pointed out this when answering a question from the Congressional Opposition Leader and Workers' Party Aljuni Constituency Councillor Bi Danxing.

Inlani said that fair market value is determined by the valuation committee based on established valuation principles, which is no different from other professional valuations.

The usual practice is to refer to comparable transactions. Private home transactions are not suitable for reference, because HDB housing has various restrictions, such as stricter subscription conditions. Therefore, for HDB land, the valuation will take into account the relevant resale unit transactions and the properties of the specific location.

Therefore, the fair market value of HDB lots is usually lower than the fair market value sold to private developers. This is not a discount. This is the fair market value of land used for public housing, and these two concepts cannot be confused.

Further reading

[Parliament]Future government spending is expected to increase surplus and is difficult to use to fill reserves

[Parliament]Future government spending is expected to increase surplus and is difficult to use to fill reserves

Yinglani said that the practice of paying fair market prices for land use will help maintain our country's reserves and benefit all Singaporeans.