The Facebook page The Alternative View has been ordered to correct its claim that the Housing & Development Board (HDB) profits from the selling of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats in Central Weave @ AMK.
The decision was issued in accordance with the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).
The Ministry of National Development (MND) stated in a press statement on Sunday that the issue concerned a Facebook post three days earlier (Sep 3).
In the post, The Alternative View reproduced the headline of an AsiaOne story titled "Ang Mo Kio BTO flats: Strong demand despite prices as high as $877,500" The tweet featured a picture of National Development Minister Desmond Lee carrying a money bag.
The caption of the post said, "How much profit is HDB making from this?"
MND stated in a press statement, "This post implies that HDB is profiting from the sale of the Central Weave @ AMK Build-to-Order (BTO) apartments, which are part of the August 2022 BTO sales exercise.
"This statement is false."
The Alternative View must issue a correction notice and give access to the correct information.
MND stated that HDB will not benefit from the selling of the flats.
"In actuality, this project will result in a loss, as the expected amount to be received from the sale is less than the estimated overall development costs.
"If we consider the CPF housing grants that HDB would provide to qualified buyers, the shortfall is even worse," MND added.
According to MND, the HDB incurs a deficit each year because "the amount HDB earns from the sale of flats in each fiscal year is less than the expenditures it incurs, including the overall development cost (including land cost and building cost) and CPF housing handouts."
The Homeownership Programme experienced a deficit of S$3.85 billion during the fiscal year 2021/22.
In the preceding three years, the average annual deficit incurred by HDB was around S$2.68 billion.
According to MND, the imbalance is mostly the result of "substantial subsidies" for new apartments and the distribution of CPF housing payments to eligible buyers.
"Because of this, the majority of first-time purchasers spend less than a quarter of their monthly income on mortgage payments.
"Nearly 90 percent of first-time homebuyer families repay their HDB loans using CPF with few or no cash payments," according to the government.
MND said that the annual deficit is financed by the government and is represented in HDB's annual audited financial accounts.
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