Is HDB a ponzi scheme or BTO shortfall in demand projection? (which is why grants to buy resale HDB are double the grants to buy BTO HDB)? If HDB really respected market forces, then the grant for resale HDB should be equal or LOWER than new BTO bought HDB (unless HDB admits to giving an implicit (secret) discount for BTO units)- then the subsidy for resale HDB should be equal to BTO HDB or in fact lower (with the remainder placed into CPF very special account for future new HDB purchase wrt shortened lease of resale HDB be insufficient for owners lifetime due to short ending lease HDB flat purchased). Otherwise, the subsidy is an implicit funding to artificially increase the prices of resale HDB, which is like fueling a ponzi scheme to deceptively keep HDB resale prices high with tax payers money. If HDB underestimated the demand by PR and the death rate of HDB owners resulting in diminished supply and excessive demand for resale market HDB flats, then perhaps PR should be temporarily banned from buying HDB flats or be allowed to buy direct from HDB but at a much higher price. Gahmen can also release more land for developers to bid for to lower private property prices so more Singaporeans will upgrade and thus increase supply of resale HDB and so lower prices so taxpayers moneys will not be misused to prop up HDB prices. ================= https://blog.carousell.com/property/hdb-resale-flat-singapore-grants/ "There are quite a few government grants and subsidies in Singapore – probably more than you know of! – even if you’re getting a resale HDB flat and not a BTO. We’ve done the math: You can get up to $160,000 in grants when buying a HDB resale flat. That’s probably a quarter of the price of your new home covered. P.S. The maximum grant amount you can get for BTO flat is $80,000. So even if your resale alternative is pricier, you’ve got more grants to help!"
Ponzi is where u use new investor money to pay out dividends. Those who cash out do so from new funds injected by investors. In this case, it's new funds from tax payers (as subsidies and grants to buy resale HDB). So HDB can manipulate the market to give the impression that resale HDB flats are always higher in price than the respective BTO prices. In this way, HDB is a Ponzi price scheme. (Or could be a population projection planning mistake as I had aforementioned earlier (because older Singaporeans now live much longer than PAP expected and so are not releasing their flats to foreigners who are PR holders upon demise, thus the relative shortage of HDB flats in resale market and thus their abnormally higher prices)).
So far, NOBODY has given any viable reason why HDB grant for buying resale is DOUBLE that of buying BTO HDB when by right, market forces should prevail, unless this is HDB admission that they had miscalculated the demand for HDB by PR or had over estimated the number of Singaporeans dying and thus giving up their HDB flats. Thus the need for extra $80,000 SGD subsidy to buy resale HDB flats. Solution to too many PR demanding HDB flats is to open BTO market to PR but at different pricing (equal to resale HDB pricings but with new 99 year leasehold) or just ban PR from buying any resale HDB for an interim period until resale HDB flat prices return back to an affordable sale price without need for additional government grants or subsidies provided.
Obviously is market price manipulation by HDB to give citizens the false impression that resale HDB prices are high, by encouraging people to buy them by giving a grant. Without the grant, nobody will buy these resale HDB flats due to excessively high price, however, with the grant, they can now afford to pay $160,000 extra, if this is not market manipulation by HDB to create impression that HDB value is high, then what better reason can there be for it? That's why I say that HDB is in some ways a ponzi scheme. If HDB just wanted to make resale HDB more accessable, then they should not allow private property owners to own HDB as well or rent out entire HDB flat. HDB flat owners who own private residential properties should also have to pay corporate property tax or residential property tax (which ever is higher) on these properties which they can rent out 100% as they do now.
