[SINGAPORE] My parents have three children. However, when I was growing up in the 1970s, the mantra in Singapore was for families to stop at having two children.
Today, amid a low birth rate and an ageing population, the government has numerous measures to encourage couples to have children and possibly three or more. In Budget 2025, the government unveiled a large families scheme involving financial incentives to support married couples who have, or aspire to have, three or more children.
Over time, couples are having fewer kids. Between 2010 and 2024, the share of resident ever-married females in the age group of 40-49 years with no children rose from slightly over 9 per cent to 15 per cent while those with three or more children fell from nearly 30 per cent to 18 per cent.
Public housing
Large families can be given more help to upgrade within the Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat market.
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Many couples with kids might desire to shift home after their first HDB Build-to-Order (BTO) flat has reached the minimum occupancy period (MOP).
The couple may need more space for a growing family. For one, a family with three children living in an HDB four-room of around 1,000 square feet (sq ft) might find the extra space of an older HDB executive apartment or maisonette of over 1,500 sq ft very useful.
Or a family may want to move to live near a target primary school so that a child can secure a place in the said school.
Given how pricey condos are, many families may look to upgrade from one HDB home to another.
Perhaps, the CPF housing grant for resale flats can be given to large families who want to sell their HDB BTO home and buy a resale unit.
Currently, an eligible first-timer family can get CPF housing grant of up to S$80,000 for buying a resale HDB two- to four-bedroom flat and up to S$50,000 for buying a resale HDB five-room of bigger flat. Possibly let a large family, whether first-timer or second-timer, receive a grant of over S$80,000 to buy any HDB resale flat.
More HDB 3Gen flats can also be built, including in prime locations, and eligibility extended to families with three children or more. As it stands, a household comprising a couple and their parents may apply for a 3Gen flat from HDB or buy a resale 3Gen flat.
A 3Gen flat has a floor area of around 1,300 sq ft and four bedrooms, two of which have attached bathrooms. In contrast, typical new four-room and five-room HDB flats have smaller floor areas and three bedrooms.
For much of my growing up years in the 1970s and 1980s, I shared a room with one sibling in a private home. This was a luxury compared with my father who shared a room with up to nine siblings.
However, a family with three children today might like to own a home with four bedrooms so the parents can share one room and each child can have his or her own room. The HDB could help meet the aspirations of families with three children or more by supplying HDB flats with four bedrooms.
Executive condominiums
The government might also consider giving large families better access to buying executive condominium (EC) homes from developers.
The EC is a hybrid of public and private housing. Built and sold by private developers, ECs typically sit on 99-year leasehold land and offer condo features.
New EC homebuyers are subject to an MOP of five years from project completion, during which the home cannot be sold or rented out whole. After five years, the EC home can be sold to Singapore citizens or permanent residents (PRs), or rented out whole. After 10 years, the EC unit can be sold to anyone – including non-PR foreigners – just like a private condo.
Buying a new EC home enables locals to realise their dream for condo living cost effectively as new EC homes might cost 20 per cent less than comparable new condo homes.
Perhaps, let large families buy new EC homes, without being subject to the monthly household income ceiling of S$16,000. Moreover, give priority to large families in securing EC homes with four or five bedrooms.
Sim Lian’s new EC project Aurelle of Tampines has 760 homes, comprising 500 units of three-bedders sized at 800 – 947 sq ft each, 232 units of four-bedders sized at 1,023 – 1,206 sq ft each and 28 units of five-bedders sized at 1,356 sq ft each. At its launch day in March, 682 of the project’s units were sold at an average selling price of S$1,766 per square foot, with all the four-bedders and five-bedders sold.
In addition, consider waiving the resale levy when a large family sells their HDB BTO home and buys a new EC home. The resale levy for selling a first subsidised HDB home is S$40,000 for a four-room flat and S$45,000 for a five-room flat.
Choosing whether to have children and if so how many are deeply personal choices. And some couples face problems in having a child.
Singapore is not unique among developed countries in having a low birth rate. Still, Singapore prides itself on being exceptional. A nation forged from unpromising circumstances has survived and thrived over 60 years.
Perhaps, backed by exceptional policy making, Singapore can be the world’s best place for couples to raise children. As housing is a core need of families, might providing more help in the homeownership journeys of families with three children or more move the needle in the crucial push to have more large families?
Money spent wisely in supporting couples to have large families will benefit society at large and help future-proof Singapore by ensuring the country has a growing pool of productive young people.
