SINGAPORE — The Government will impose a cap on the proportion of units that can be rented out to foreigners in a Housing and Development Board (HDB) block, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said yesterday.

The quantum of the cap has not been decided and the Ministry of National Development (MND) will provide details later.

The announcement comes about nine months after West Coast GRC Member of Parliament Foo Mee Har suggested a 10 per cent cap during the Committee of Supply debate in Parliament. Writing on his blog, Mr Khaw said the HDB has completed its analysis of the situation.

“I agreed with (Ms Foo) that we need to maintain the Singaporean character of our heartlands. In principle, the MND has agreed to impose such a cap. The question is at what level,” Mr Khaw said.

Mr Khaw said that today, on average, less than 4 per cent of HDB flats are sublet to foreigners, excluding Malaysians. “However, the proportion could go up to 9 per cent in some areas or even 18 per cent in some blocks,” he said.

He added: “We will soon decide on an appropriate cap. I am mindful of the need to balance the impact on those who rely on subletting for additional income, especially the elderly.”

Property analysts welcomed the move, with Mr Colin Tan, Head of Research and Consultancy at Suntec Real Estate, suggesting that the authorities should go further by introducing a cap on the proportion of foreigners living in a private estate as well in order to maintain a “Singaporean character”.

Nevertheless, he noted that imposing a cap in public housing blocks would require greater policing from the HDB as it was “lucrative” for home owners to rent out their units to foreigners. “People will be quite creative and say, ‘Let’s pick someone who’s a Malaysian tenant. He signs as a tenant, (while) everyone else is unauthorised and they stay with him or maybe he doesn’t stay there at all,” said Mr Tan, who suggested a different quota be set for subletting by elderly home owners.

Other property analysts did not think enforcement would be an issue, noting that the problem of illegal subletting has been on the wane after a HDB crackdown.

Analysts and Members of Parliament TODAY spoke to had different views on how much the cap should be.

ERA Realty Network Key Executive Officer Eugene Lim suggested that the quantum be based on the existing quotas for permanent residents that apply to resale flat transactions — 5 per cent for the neighbourhood and 8 per cent for each HDB block.

Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for National Development, suggested a 30 per cent cap.

Noting that there is “no magic number, she added: “We welcome foreigners, but they should assimilate with the local community and be in unison with them ... not upset the harmony that we have.”

Mounbatten MP Lim Biow Chuan reiterated that it boiled down to the issue of integration. “This is a figure plucked off the air, but I would be happier with a proportion of 5 to 6 per cent,” he said.

He added that his residents had previously complained of foreigners who talked loudly or sang in the common areas. “Their behaviour made others uncomfortable,” he said.

Ms Foo, who could not be reached yesterday to comment on Mr Khaw’s announcement, had cited in March complaints by residents such as “excessive noise” and littering by foreign workers, groups of whom tend to share a single flat.

She also suggested that the MND consider “purpose-built apartments or dormitories” for foreign workers. Doing so will “preserve communal space for Singaporeans, but … also set aside places for foreign workers to enjoy the social and cultural environment tailored to them”, she said.