HOW THE MAIN UPGRADING PROGRAMME AFFECTS RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY

Abstract

The quality of the public housing market in Singapore has been rising throughout these years. As the quality rises, the gulf in standards between private and public residential property has seemingly gotten smaller, yet the obvious price differential remains. One of the main reasons for the quality increase, especially in the older estate, is the introduction of the Main Upgrading Programme. As the relationship between the public and private residential property market gets more intertwined, its crucial to examine how one affects the other and vice-versa. This dissertation attempts to discuss how and whether the MUP affects residential mobility between the public and private housing market. A survey was drawn up to draw the opinions of Singaporeans from both the upgraded and non-upgraded estates. It seeks to identify residential satisfaction and what gives rise to this phenomenon, the housing desires of Singaporeans and finally, their housing aspirations. Relationships between the various factors were drawn with the demographics of the respondents. In addition, the respondents from the upgraded estates were surveyed on how satisfied they were with the MUP and which aspects of MUP were they satisfied or unsatisfied about, finally culminating with the same question on their housing aspirations. Analysis was done on the results of the survey to establish the relevant relationships. The last part of the dissertation discusses the effectiveness and the relation of MUP to residential mobility. Relevant suggestions and recommendations were also made and further research topics in this area were suggested.