CURRENT Housing Board policy dictates that a private property owner who wants to downgrade to public housing must sell his property and wait two years before applying to buy an HDB unit.

So the owner, after selling his home, has to rent a property for two years before he can apply for an HDB unit. Not only that, he also has to rent the property for another three years or more to allow for construction of the HDB unit.

All in, he has to rent a property for five years or more in order to downgrade. Assuming rental of $2,800 a month, it will cost him $168,000 - a huge amount for a retiree.

It is time the HDB reviewed its policy and allowed private property owners a less costly option in order to downgrade.

For example, a downgrader who is at least 55 years old and has not owned any HDB property in the past 10 or 15 years could be allowed to apply for a new HDB unit without the two-year wait. He could also be allowed to sell his private property within six months after getting the keys to his new HDB unit.

Other conditions could be included, such as ensuring the downgrader does not own more than one private property at the time of application.

Anthony Koh

This article was first published in The Straits Times.