Only 2% of HDB loan applications rejected: Khaw

Only 2 per cent of applications for HDB loans have been rejected since January 2010 out of a total pool of 178,000 applications, said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan in Parliament on Wednesday.

These 3,500 applications were rejected because the applicants had previously taken two or more loans from HDB, he said in response to a question from MP Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbattan SMC).

When Mr Lim asked if HDB could allow some of those rejected, especially those who need to buy new homes because of divorce, to take HDB loans, Mr Khaw said that HDB does allow exceptions on a case-by-case basis. The success rate for appeals for HDB loans, he said is currently at 36 per cent which he said was "pretty high," and "quite good."

He also pointed out that the rejection rate, at 2 per cent, is low, and that while home ownership is a central social objective for the Government, it must be "underpinned by prudence." If not, situations like the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US, which led to an economic recession in 2008, might arise, said Mr Khaw.

Source: Straitstimes

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