# Corrections and clarifications regarding a falsehood on The Alternative View's Facebook post - **Source:** Ministry of National Development - **Published:** 2022-09-04T10:00:00.000Z - **Author:** Ministry of National Development - **Original:** https://www.mnd.gov.sg/newsroom/press-releases/view/corrections-and-clarifications-regarding-a-falsehood-on-the-alternative-views-facebook-post - **Topics:** HDB & Public Housing, Commercial & Industrial, Government & Policy ## Featured rationale The deficits signal substantial public housing subsidies, potentially supporting BTO affordability and enabling most first-time buyers to limit mortgage servicing to under one-quarter of income. ## AI summary HDB said Central Weave @ AMK will incur a loss, while its Homeownership Programme recorded a $3.85 billion deficit in FY2021/2022. ## Original article 1 The Facebook post published by The Alternative View on 1 September 2022 contains a false and misleading statement. 2 The Minister for National Development has instructed the POFMA Office to issue a Correction Direction[1] to The Alternative View as its Facebook post communicates the falsehood that HDB profits from the sale of the Central Weave @ AMK BTO flats. The platform will be required to insert a notice against the original post, with a link to the Government’s clarification. Clarifications regarding falsehoods 3 On 1 September 2022, The Alternative View published a Facebook post, which reproduces the headline of an article from AsiaOne (dated 31 August 2022) stating “Ang Mo Kio BTO flats: Strong demand for 5-room units despite prices of up to $877k”, contains an image of the Minister for National Development holding a bag of money, and ends with the caption asking “How much profit is HDB reaping from this?”. Implicitly this post is stating that HDB is making profit from the sale of the Central Weave @ AMK Build-to-Order (BTO) flats, which are part of the August 2022 BTO sales exercise. This statement is false. 4 HDB will not profit from the sale of the Central Weave @ AMK BTO flats. In fact, it will incur a loss from this project, as the estimated amount to be collected from the sale is lower than the estimated total development cost of the project. If we take into account the CPF housing grants that HDB will extend to eligible buyers, the deficit is higher still. 5 The amount HDB collects from the sale of flats in every financial year is less than the costs it incurs, including the total development cost (comprising land cost and construction cost) and CPF housing grants. HDB incurs a deficit every year. 6 For the Financial Year (FY) 2021/2022, HDB incurred a deficit of $3.85 billion in its Homeownership Programme. The average deficit incurred by HDB in the last three years (FY2019/20 – FY2021/22) was about $2.68 billion per year. The annual deficit, funded by Government grants, is reflected in HDB’s audited financial statements published annually. 7 HDB’s deficit is largely due to the significant subsidies extended for new flats and the disbursement of CPF housing grants for eligible buyers. Because of this, most first-timer buyers use less than a quarter of their monthly income to service their housing loans. Close to 90% of first-timer families service their HDB loans using CPF with little or no cash payments. 8 HDB will continue to use the allocated resources judiciously to provide affordable and quality homes for Singaporeans. 9 For the facts of the case, please refer to the Factually article “Corrections regarding HDB’s BTO programme” (https://www.gov.sg/article/factually040922). [1] A Correction Direction is a Direction issued to a person who has communicated a falsehood (i.e. the recipient) that affects the public interest. It requires the recipient to publish a correction notice, providing access to the correct facts. The Direction does not require the recipient to take down their post or make edits to their content and does not impose criminal sanctions. ## Chinese translation > Translation model: grok_cli ### 关于The Alternative View脸书帖文虚假信息的更正与澄清 1 The Alternative View于2022年9月1日发布的脸书帖文包含虚假且具误导性的陈述。 2 国家发展部部长已指示POFMA办公室向The Alternative View发出更正指示[1]，因其脸书帖文传播了建屋发展局（HDB）从Central Weave @ AMK预购组屋（BTO）单位销售中获利的虚假信息。该平台将被要求在原帖上加入通知，并附上政府澄清内容的链接。 关于虚假信息的澄清 3 2022年9月1日，The Alternative View发布一则脸书帖文，转载了AsiaOne（日期为2022年8月31日）文章标题“宏茂桥BTO组屋：五房式单位需求强劲，尽管价格高达87.7万新元”，并配有国家发展部部长手持钱袋的图片，最后以“建屋发展局从中获利多少？”的说明文字作结。该帖文暗示建屋发展局从属于2022年8月BTO销售活动一部分的Central Weave @ AMK预购组屋（BTO）单位销售中获利，这一陈述是虚假的。 4 建屋发展局不会从Central Weave @ AMK预购组屋单位的销售中获利。事实上，该项目将出现亏损，因为预计销售所得低于该项目的预计总发展成本。若再计入建屋发展局将向合资格买家发放的公积金购屋津贴，赤字将更高。 5 建屋发展局每年从组屋销售中收取的金额，均低于其承担的成本，包括总发展成本（含土地成本和建筑成本）以及公积金购屋津贴。建屋发展局每年都出现赤字。 6 在2021/2022财政年度（FY），建屋发展局在其居者有其屋计划中出现38.5亿新元赤字。过去三年（FY2019/20至FY2021/22），建屋发展局平均每年赤字约为26.8亿新元。每年的赤字由政府津贴拨付，并反映在建屋发展局每年公布的经审计财务报表中。 7 建屋发展局出现赤字，主要是因为为新组屋提供了大额补贴，并向合资格买家发放公积金购屋津贴。因此，大多数首次购屋者用于偿还住房贷款的金额不到其月收入的四分之一。接近90%的首次购屋家庭以公积金偿还建屋发展局贷款，现金支付很少或完全没有。 8 建屋发展局将继续审慎运用所获资源，为新加坡人提供可负担且优质的住房。 9 有关本案事实，请参阅Factually文章《关于建屋发展局BTO计划的更正》（https://www.gov.sg/article/factually040922）。 [1] 更正指示是向传播影响公共利益的虚假信息的人（即接收方）发出的指示。它要求接收方发布更正通知，以便公众获取正确事实。该指示并不要求接收方删除帖文或修改其内容，也不施加刑事制裁。