Jade Rasif shocked at ‘astronomical prices’ of houses in SG: ‘By the time my kids are 18 how are they going to afford a home?’

DJ Jade Rasif wrote in an IG Story that she had gone house hunting recently, and commented on the “astronomical prices” of property in Singapore.

“By the time my kids are 18 how are they going to afford a home?” she wrote in a story on Tuesday (Nov 1).

Ms Rasif added that she herself is “blessed to have a roof” over her head, and clarified that she isn’t complaining about her own situation.

She wrote that no matter how people feel about her “rant”—it “doesn’t change the fact that housing is unaffordable, and we should be concerned about what it means for meritocracy, and the young.”

Indeed, the increase in property prices in Singapore has been in the news this year, with multiple public housing units fetching prices above S$ 1 million. 

In a Bloomberg interview last June, Liu Thai Ker, the man behind Singapore’s Housing Development Board also known as “the architect of modern Singapore” expressed concerns over high property prices.

The average private property now costs about 15 times of median household earnings, which is higher than in New York, London and San Francisco, Bloomberg noted.

“I do worry that nowadays, public housing prices is really a business venture than actually solving the housing need. 

I feel that the implication may not be very good for the economic development of Singapore,” he said.

Many netizens, commenting on Ms Rasif’s post, agreed with her.

On Wednesday (Nov 2), Ms Rasif posted a disparaging comment from a netizen and responded to it.

The netizen had written, “That’s why there are HDBs. Typical bimbo thinking.”

Ms Rasif responded by writing that she had brought up talking points from a lecture by Mr Ravi Menon, the head of Singapore’s central bank (the Monetary Authority of Singapore.)

“He discussed the asset prices, housing, and its impact on meritocracy (among other things). It really hit home while house hunting,” she wrote, adding a link to the National University of Singapore’s e Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

/TISG

‘Architect of modern Singapore’ Liu Thai Ker is concerned that public housing prices are ‘a business venture’ rather than solving housing needs