With the election fever running high, it is probably apt to re-visit the property topic, a boiling hot button issue that is on everybody's mind. While various statistics had been throw around by the media, nobody actually believes them. So here is an independent analysis of whether HDB flats are really too expensive.
We shall look at a few measures:
1. Price to Income
2. Rental Yield
3. Absolute Prices
4. Housing Debt to Income
Price to Income is one of the most widely used affordability measure. Basically it is just median housing price divided median income. (info from HDB and Singstat). For Singapore, I am using the the 4 room HDB median price of $385,000 dividing the median household income of $60,000 which gives 6.4x. If we use 3 room, the ratio becomes 5x. Globally, this ratio ranges from 3-20x. Anything close to high teens is usually considered ...
...We shall look at a few measures:
1. Price to Income
2. Rental Yield
3. Absolute Prices
4. Housing Debt to Income
Price to Income is one of the most widely used affordability measure. Basically it is just median housing price divided median income. (info from HDB and Singstat). For Singapore, I am using the the 4 room HDB median price of $385,000 dividing the median household income of $60,000 which gives 6.4x. If we use 3 room, the ratio becomes 5x. Globally, this ratio ranges from 3-20x. Anything close to high teens is usually considered ...