S’pore housing estates to get facelift

Bloomberg

Singapore will spend more than S$1 billion ($728 million) on upgrading projects for public and private housing estates over the next few years, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said in a speech, according to the Straits Times.
The projects will cushion industry partners in the current economic climate, he said at an annual gathering for the ministry, according to the newspaper.
While more details will be provided later, one component of the plan is expansion of the
Home Improvement Programme, which will help renovate some 55,000 flats already 30 years old or more, he said. That initiative was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at his National Day Rally in 2018.
Property announcements have been coming thick and fast in Singapore. In September, measures were introduced to make public housing more affordable while in August, authorities revised the charges home builders must pay to enhance the use of certain property sites or build bigger projects on them.
In March, an urban draft plan was tabled that included a range of proposals including increasing the number of residential developments and hotels by encouraging firms to convert office space; boosting the number of green spaces like parks and park connectors; and creating more “one-stop hubs” to make it easier for families to shop, dine and live in one central area. Although the city-state has a glut of apartments and even more in the pipeline, residential prices are on the rise again after cooling measures that were introduced in 2018.