Whither The Fate Of HUDC?

Established in 1974, the now-defunct Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC) Private Limited was tasked with the responsibility of building quality homes for the aspiring middle-class Singaporeans who are too wealthy for the ubiquitous Housing Development Board (HDB) flats, but are a tad too poor for private homes.

Thus HUDC flats were born.

Larger than their HDB counterparts, HUDC also boosted sprawling grounds and covered carparks. While possessing above-average facilities, HUDC flats, strictly speaking, do not encompass Normanton Park, Lagoon View and Neptune Court. These three housing developments were built by the Government for civil servants, with Normanton Park specifically for the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel.

On the other hand, HUDC projects were built over four phases from 1974 to 1987 – all on 99-year lease. Phase I/II lasted from 1974 to the early 1980s. Projects in this period were more exclusively located, and especially those in Phase II had roomier interiors, quality finishing and higher prices to differentiate them from the freshly- introduced HDB executive flats. Altogether, six HUDC projects were built in the first two phases.

From 1982, HDB took over the building of HUDC flats, thus setting of Phase III/IV. Flats constructed during this period had rules akin to those of HDB flats governing their sales and ownerships, and were located near HDB estates. Amenities were also managed and maintained by town councils; rather than a management committee as for those HUDC flats developed in the earlier phases.

When the era for HUDC ended in 1987 – driven out by more affordable private housings and a flurry of executive and resale HDB flats on the market – there were a total of 18 HUDC projects with 7,731 units.

In 1995, another milestone in the history of HUDC was made when the Government announced plans to let these homes become private, as long as a 75 per cent consensus was met among owners.

Table 1: HUDC Projects

Source: Various articles in The Straits Times

First to attain private status were Gillman Heights and Pine Grove in November 1998, followed by 15 others till date. Homeowners are often attracted by the prospects of a windfall from the collective sale of a privatised estate. Five of the 17 privatised HUDC projects have been sold en bloc and redeveloped into private condominiums.

Braddell View, the only non-privatised HUDC, has already obtained the 75 per cent mandate for privatisation and will soon join the ranks of the other HUDC.

Going private, however, is not without its woes. Of the four HUDC projects privatised this year, Hougang Ave 7, Potong Pasir and Serangoon North faced the issue of a lack of boundary markers as carpark gantry and fences were not erected by the town councils by the time the estates had been privatised. And just after privatisation, some time is needed to appoint a management committee to see to maintenance works.

Privatised or not, home prices are headed for a downward spiral. Seize the day, and speak to an iCompareLoan mortgage expert for some free help in comparing home loan Singapore.

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