The pandemic is hurting us in different ways. Stress can come in different forms. Financially, it may be loss of business, work or income. Routinely, it can be inconveniences in daily activities and conflicts with family members. For some people, they believe that moving away or moving to a new home is the solution to alleviate their sufferings.
Pandemic-induced housing demand
1. The insufficient space
The pandemic has disrupted our routines. It is difficult to adapt to the new normal.
The adults are working from home while the children are on home-based learning. Managing time is not easy. Parents are stretched by multitasking with simultaneous demands from both work and family. It is challenging to take work calls or attend google meet lessons when there is so much noise on the background.
Suddenly, home is no longer a place just for coming back to sleep. There is an imminent demand for personal space. Some wonder why they settled for a shoebox unit when even a 3-room HDB flat has two decent-sized bedrooms.
Many are desperate to move to a bigger house with more rooms and space. Disregarding a pandemic and a recession, they can’t wait to spend their savings on a new house and to take up a bigger mortgage.
(A new home for a jab? The push for vaccination is very successful after the Hong Kong government announced a nationwide lucky draw. Prizes include 50,000 free air tickets and 500 unlimited train rides for a full year. The grand prize is a HK$10 million (S$1.7 million) luxury apartment, with stamp duties and first year maintenance fees fully paid for. The next day a newspaper column wrote “Dear Government, I want a luxury home, a fast car and a beautiful wife as well”. Give the people what they want. In a town in Thailand’s Chiang Mai, vaccinated residents stand the chance to win a live cow per week. Registrations immediately shoot up from hundreds to thousands in a couple of days.)
2. The intolerable other
When family members under the same roof don’t see eye to eye with each other, things are fine on normal days. They can show up at different times or stay in their own room. When they are not forced to face each other, they can pretend the problem is not there. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Loveless couples stay together for many reasons – because of the kids, for the roof over their head, or to avoid losing face. At least they have a family and a home to go back to.
With lockdown, both are being confined to the same space under a prolonged period for weeks or months. Day by day room temperatures keep rising until the dormant volcano finally erupts.
On the other hand, the time staying home provides the opportunity for both parties to talk things through and come up with a mutual decision. No wonder countries around the world reported record pandemic-induced break-ups. As soon as the lockdown ended, couples couldn’t wait to file for divorce.
Singapore saw a rise in personal protection order and divorce applications last year. A veteran family lawyer told The Straits Times that “circuit breaker and work-from-home arrangements increased the tension between the parties, resulting in an increase in family violence cases, and accelerated marital disputes.”
After break-ups and separation, one party has to move out. This has created unexpected demand for housing.
3. The intensified conflict
Lack of foreign labor results in longer completion time for new BTO flats. Not all applicants are upset because of the delay to move in with their loved ones. Some are upset because of the delay to get away from their loveless family.
Every family has its own problem. Sometimes people make a lot of efforts in their work and daily life, with the hope that one day they can finally get away from someone they are forced to stay with because of fate.
One’s happiness and contentment do not depend on how comfortable one lives, but how much hope there is in life. Inconveniences and sufferings are bearable if there is a deadline to end them. What makes it intolerable is the unexpected shift of the deadline.
The Straits Times quoted a young woman looking forward to staying away from her in-laws.
She had been looking forward to moving into her new BTO flat in Punggol later this year, after living with her in-laws for the past five years.
She said living with her in-laws is mentally taxing as she frequently clashes with her mother-in-law on how to raise her five-year-old daughter.
– “Home buyers fret as some BTO flats may be delayed by a year or more”, The Straits Times, 10 May 2021
BTO construction delay benefits HDB resale market?
It is only the wishful thinking of the agency spokespersons who believe that construction delay will make homebuyers go for resale HDB flats. They forget the fact that Singaporeans are pragmatic and kiasu in nature.
1) Not many are willing to give up their “citizenship entitlement” to a highly subsidized new flat, let alone giving up the high chance of selling it 5 years later for over $1 million.
2) Applicants have gone through balloting to be the “lucky ones” to select their flat. Returning the flat means benefiting others in the waiting list.
3) Canceling the flat application means having to wait for one year to apply for or occupy another new BTO flat or EC unit, as well as HDB resale flat with CPF housing grant or announced for SERS.
4) Those who throw in the towel have to forfeit the option fee or 5 percent of the flat’s purchase price. It is not very Singaporean to admit defeat so easily and part with their hard savings.
5) Moving out to rent a room or a flat is considered “wasting money”. Because renting is helping others, namely those who own a flat earlier than us, to pay their mortgage.
“My husband and I hesitate to rent a place and move out because we have already tolerated this living arrangement for five years, (so) what is one more year?”
– “Home buyers fret as some BTO flats may be delayed by a year or more”, The Straits Times, 10 May 2021
A new home = A good life?
Life is a roller coaster ride filled with ups and downs. There will certainly be hiccups, setbacks or misfortunes. We may think a new home is the solution: Move out to get away from the strained relationship with a family member. Enjoy our personal space and freedom by moving into a bachelor’s pad. Or have our own flat to live a stable and better quality of life.
1. Better homes means better quality of life?
I don’t mean moving out or moving house is not a possible solution. I am saying that sometimes we are not trying to solve the fundamental problem. And a new home is an easy shortcut to get away from our problem or an imaginary key to fulfill our dream of a better life.
“The vast amount of time and money we spend on getting ourselves the ideal home won’t necessarily get us any closer to what we hope for because imagination is often better than reality.
It is not what and where we live, but whom we stay with that matters. It is not the price of the property, but our loved ones staying there and our relationship with them that define our happiness.
Home ownership involves more expenses, more chores and more responsibilities. The ability to live independently does not mean only moving out alone. It implies the ability to manage one’s own finance, living, health and emotions independently.
2. Security comes from home ownership?
In my new book Behind The Scenes of The Property Market, I raised the question whether low-income families need to own their flat.
The home ownership scheme targeted at rental-flat families was introduced with good intentions. But it can potentially create an extra financial burden on families that are only scraping by. We are looking out for low-income families while unknowingly making the disadvantaged wear themselves out.
The ubiquity of housing ownership in Singapore means that there is widespread belief that real security can only come about from home ownership. This is probably not entirely true, but people believe it. The housing system and market indeed relies on people sharing this belief. Although many people I meet may never be able to afford their own flats, they too are part of this society and share these societal norms and beliefs.
– You Yenn Teo, This Is What Inequality Looks Like
Solving an old problem with a collective sale
Mark Manson said in his book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck that “much of the advice out there operates at a shallow level of simply trying to make people feel good in the short term, while the real long-term problems never get solved.”
Homebuyers try to solve the problem of job insecurity by buying an investment property to create a passive income. But do they know whether the rent can cover the mortgage, maintenance fee and property tax?
En bloc hopefuls try to free up their tied-up wealth in their residence by going all out for a collective sale. The Singapore population is aging rapidly. For many private homeowners, the success of their condominium to go en bloc is critical for their retirement.
However, with many unsold units in their new projects, increased development charges and low profit margins, developers are not keen to take the risk even with lowered expectations from owners.
Several rounds of unsuccessful collective sale attempts have turned a once warm and peaceful neighborhood into a war zone, with incessant battles between two opposing camps. Unbelievable ugly nuisances happening in the estate truly reflects the ungracious side of Singaporeans.
Back then, the deep acrimony saw the development become the poster child for ugly en bloc spats between neighbours. Corrosive liquid or paint was splashed on cars and glue was put on residents’ locks, among other things.
– “En bloc wars erupt once more, turning neighbours into foes”, TODAY, 10 February 2018
Food for thought
What did these en bloc stories tell us? The root of the problem is: Many overcommit when they bought their home last time. They have too much money being tied up with their home. These people know no other way to make money. Some speculate for an en bloc sale and end up holding a hot potato.
Instead of tackling their problem head-on, they resort to attack friendly neighbours who stay with them in the same estate for decades. It is sad to see some people can sell their soul for just ± $2 million.
Whatever your problems are, the concept is the same: solve problems; be happy. Unfortunately, for many people, life doesn’t feel that simple. That’s because they fuck things up …
– Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
If you need advice on property matters or residential properties in Singapore, you can check out my personal consultation service.
My new book Behind The Scenes of The Property Market is now available for preview and order online. You can also check out my online courses.
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