Saturday, May 26, 2012

Here's what the CEO of CapitaLand thinks about shoebox homes...

The wife and I have been accused of being (quote) "a frog in a well to say that any space below 600sqft is unlivable or not conducive for family living" (unquote).

We still find the "accusation" somewhat puzzling (absurd is probably the better word but we try to be nice). While the wife and I have openly acknowledged that we are no fan of shoeboxes, the whole livability/condusiveness debate actually stamped from a letter sent to the ST Forum page, which we had picked up and posted on our blog for discussion purposes. If only Mr/Ms Anonymous 21/5/2012, 1:02AM had bothered to REALLY READ our blog, he/she may not be so quick to credit us with bigotry.

And now that we have the head honcho of one of the largest public-listed property developer (i.e. he should know what he's talking about, especially to the media) making similar comments about shoebox units, we wonder if he will also be deemed as another (paraphrasing) "frog in a well"....

Going back to the facts of the matter, the wife and I feel that in addition to possibly setting a minimum size for apartments, the government should probably legislate on what developers can include as part of the overall size of the apartment. Can one really "live" in spaces dedicated to planter boxes and aircon ledges, which can take up a fair amount of real-estate especially in smaller apartments and which one currently have to pay the same $psf for?

For those who bother to see the whole picture rather than jumping to conclusion:
http://sgproptalk.blogspot.com/2012/04/heres-what-some-say-about-shoeboxes.html
http://sgproptalk.blogspot.com/2012/04/shoebox-unit-is-livable.html


Reference: "Shoebox units inhuman: CapitaLand CEO" - The Business Times, 26th May 2012

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Posted by The Folks @PropTalk at 10:33 AM

3 comments:

Jansenboy said...

Of course he will say that, if not who will buy his 2million dollar 3bedroom sky habitat.

It is pricing like this that has encourage many to snap up mm apartment instead. I mean at 2million you can buy maybe 3 mm flat with 1 room each. While mm mouse apartment is not for families with kids, it would be insane to ask a couple or a retiree couple to be paying that kind of money for a condo simply because some developer want to act all "family"

If cdl want to act pro family, why not priced their 3 bedroom such that family can actually afford it.

26/5/12 5:43 PM
Anonymous said...

I think CEO has vested interest.

27/5/12 9:16 PM
The Folks @PropTalk said...

Most (if not all) of us act with vested interests in our daily lives anyway.

The wife and I do find the word "inhuman" a tad harsh, but we have to give it to the man: At least he has the balls to take a stand (and an unpopular one at that) and put his face/name behind it....

28/5/12 6:45 PM

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