By MP for Aljunied GRC, Chen Show Mao
[Delivered in Committee of Supply on 10 March 2015]
Madam, Budget 2015 includes key measures to improve retirement adequacy. The Lease Buy-Back scheme, or LBS, is one of the key means by which seniors can unlock the value inherent in their homes, particularly if they wish to age in place. However take-up remains low , in spite of recent enhancements.
One of the barriers holding back seniors from taking up this scheme is concern on their part that their children would not be able to inherit the flat from them and hence would not enjoy the financial benefit to help them cope with potentially higher property prices in the future.
There are references in the academic literature to this bequest motive as being one reason for the low take-up of LBS. The Minister for National Development has also cited this as one reason why the take-up of LBS is low. Madam, we have all met seniors who have expressed such a concern.
I would like to suggest a way in which LBS can be tweaked to reduce this impediment.
My suggestion is that the LBS could be modified to give the children of the deceased the option to buy back the portion of the lease that has been sold to HDB, provided of course that they qualify to own a HDB flat. And they could be allowed to buy this back at the price of the unit valued at the time the LBS was executed by their parents.
This privilege could be extended only to children of the deceased. Its purpose would be to counter the fear of some seniors that property will be unaffordable to their children in future, and against which the extended HDB lease, not the shortened one, offers better protection. Allaying this fear may lead to greater take up of LBS by those who need it.
Some may argue that this is conferring an unfair advantage on the children as they can acquire property at below-market rates in future. But this is no different from parents passing on their property to children, an accepted principle. All that changes here is that those seniors who are in need will get another option to monetise their flats while at the same time offering better protection to their children from future property price inflation – a concern which may now be holding them back.
帮助年长人士开启组屋的价值
主席女士，在2015财政预算案中，我们看到了帮助国人应对退休生活需要的主要措施。屋契回购计划能让年长人士开启现在被锁在他们组屋的一些价值。这项计划最近获得改善，但是参与的年长人士仍然不多。
年长人士犹豫不决，一重要障碍是担心在卖出屋契后他们的孩子将无法继承屋子，无法从中获得经济利益，应付未来可能更高的房价。
政府部长及一些学术文献把这样的遗赠动机列为屋契回购计划参与率偏低的原因之一。主席女士，我所见过的居民，有不少都有这样的担忧。
我想提出优化这项计划的一个建议，来去除这个障碍。
政府是否能让已过世的屋主的儿女有机会以父母亲当时卖出的价格买回父母亲所卖出的部分屋契？当然，前提必须是他们仍然有资格购买政府组屋。
有句话说：养儿一百岁，长忧九十九。为人父母者，即便孩子已经成家立业，也还是会继续为他们操心。即便孩子没有能力或意愿奉养年长的父母，还是继续为他们操心。我相信不少年长父母都担忧孩子在将来无法承担昂贵的房价。较长的组屋屋契能为他们提供比缩短的屋契更好的保障。我们如果能消除这种顾虑，或许更多年长屋主会考虑参与屋契回购计划。
也许会有人认为，这些儿女在父母亲过世时能以低于市价的价格购买屋契，这等于让他们占了便宜。但我们都认同并接受父母亲能把屋子遗赠给儿女的原则，这两者之间其实并没有不同。唯一的不同，就是那些有经济困难的年长人士在生前多了一个用组屋套现的选择，而与此同时，他们仍然能够尽量为孩子提供更好的住屋保障。天下父母心，这是无可厚非的。