- Singapore’s public housing apartments are home to about 80% of the country’s resident population.
- In recent years, some flats have gone on to fetch over 1 million Singapore dollars on the market.
- HDB estates are designed to encourage social interaction, thus helping make Singapore the world’s sixth Blue Zone.
Singapore’s skyline would not be complete without its candy-colored, high-rise public housing apartment blocks.
Constructed by the Housing Development Board, these apartments are colloquially known as HDB flats.
Like many Singaporeans, I grew up in an HDB flat in central Singapore — and I’ve been living in the same one with my family for almost two decades.
It’s an old housing complex by Singapore’s standards, considering it was constructed in 1976. Most of my neighbors have lived here for as long as I have — and even longer. I know an elderly grandma downstairs who moved in just a few years after the block was built.
I went to elementary school five minutes from where I live, and my friends from back then — some of whom I still keep in touch with — all live nearby.
The older I get, the more I appreciate living in such a meticulously planned community — one of many in the country. Where else in the world can I find a hospital, a market, and a mall within a 15-minute walk — half of which has shelter from the rain?
Singapore and New York City are tied as the most expensive cities in the world to live in, but their public housing systems are worlds apart.
In the US, public housing is intended for low-income families, seniors, or people with disabilities.
In Singapore, however, it’s a different situation: Public housing units are where about 80% of the country’s resident population lives. It’s considered one of the most successful public housing systems in the world.
And in Singapore, public housing does not mean inexpensive housing.
Despite being conceived as affordable housing for the masses, some HDB flats have sold for over $1 million on the resale market in recent years. In June, a 4-room flat was sold for $1.5 million Singapore dollars, or $1.1 million.
In 2021, there were 261 million-dollar HDB flats sold on the resale market, per the local paper The Straits Times.
