Brunei's Affordable Public Housing Bungalows



AsiaOne, Singapore

Wednesday, Oct 22, 2014 - Unlike the high-rise public housing available in various parts of Asia, Brunei's public homes come in the form of landed houses the size of bungalows in Singapore.

Each of these two-storey houses reportedly measures over 330 sq m or 3,552 sq ft in land area. In Singapore, bungalows have a minimum land area of 400 sq m or 4,306 sq ft.

According to a report on Taiwan's Set TV news, the price tag on one of these government-subsidised homes and the land it is built on is around $84,000.

The two-storey homes come with spacious rooms and kitchens and are comfortable to live in.

Homeowners can sign up for interest-free loans of up to 30 years. There is even a 3-month trial stay period with no charge.

- See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/property/showcase/check-out-bruneis-affordable-public-housing-bungalows#sthash.6S3k4Mps.dpuf

This would seem like an extremely good deal to residents in other Asian countries where land and property are a lot more expensive.

Utilities in Brunei are also extremely affordable when compared to its neighbouring countries. One family Set TV news spoke to said that they kept their air-conditioner switched on all day, every day but spent just $8.40 on utilities that month.

In Brunei, most people used to live in kelong-like homes on the water. As a result of this, many were exposed to widespread communicable diseases like cholera and smallpox in the early 1950s. As a result, the government began to resettle these water village inhabitants inland.

To qualify for the National Housing Programme, applicants need to be first-time property owners, at least 18 years old and must have a salary between $ 445 and $ 3,030. The average waiting time for a house is less than 12 years, but the Brunei government aims to reduce this to just 5 years by 2021.

A 2013 ASEAN Conference paper on Brunei's public housing programme said that the Brunei Darussalam government had doubled its budget allocation for public housing from $550 million to $1.141 billion in the past 10 years.

ljessica@sph.com.sg

- See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/property/showcase/check-out-bruneis-affordable-public-housing-bungalows#sthash.6S3k4Mps.dpuf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Brunei Royal Wedding 2015: Profile of Royal Bride Dayangku Raabi'atul Adawiyyah

Image
DAYANGKU RAABI'ATUL ADAWIYYAH BINTI PENGIRAN HAJI BOLKIAH Yang Mulia Dayangku Raabi'atul `Adawiyyah binti Pengiran Haji Bolkiah was born on the 27th October 1992. She is the second child of Pengiran Haji Bolkiah bin Pengiran Haji Jaluddin bin Pengiran Haji Tajuddin with Pengiran Hajah Noor'aismah binti Pengiran Haji Ismail bin Pengiran Haji Tengah. Her eldest brother, Awangku Abd. 'Aziz Hafizuddin bin Pengiran Haji Bolkiah, works at the Royal Brunei Airlines. Her other siblings are Awangku Mohd Ainul Yaqien; Dayangku Noor Batuul 'Afiqah; Dayangku Izzatul `Afifah; Dayangku Duratul Majeedah; Dayangku Nur Hidayatul Maheerah; Awangku Mohd Zainul ‘Ariffin; Awangku Mohd Irfan Hakeem; and Awangku Mohd Izzul Yamin @ Abdul Razeeq. (Note: Direct descendants of the Brunei Sultans carry the hereditary title of Pengiran. However as children and young adults, they are normally styled Awangku (for male) and Dayangku (for female) until they marry, when the title conver
Read more

Family Titles in Brunei

Image
On my recent blog on Brunei's Time Line , one commentator got carried away and she started to talk about events in the past before moving on to nicknames. I enjoyed what she wrote and I offered for her to write a whole blog about it and I will put it up. But up to now, I have not received anything from her. So, Hajah Yati, if you are reading, my offer still stands. And for the rest of you readers out there, if you don't have your own blogsite, I am most ready to offer my site for the occassional blogs that you want to write - just make sure the blogs are Brunei related. You can set up your own blogsite once you feel comfortable. As someone later on commented, it will be nice to read someone else's blogs too on this website. At least on this one, you get an instant 300+ readers a day. So, please, my e-mail is admin@bruneiresources.com. Do write. I don't have much on nicknames to write on as suggested by Hajah Yati. I remembered when I was at school (primary), I have fri
Read more

Pulau Cermin - Brunei's Historic Island

Image
Since I was already on the water visiting the Jong Batu at one end of the Brunei River, I thought I might as well go to the other end and visit the other historical site of Brunei, Pulau Cermin. Pulau Cermin as many Brunei historians know it is the site of the temporary palace of Sultan Abdul Hakkul Mubin, the 13th Sultan of Brunei and is the site of the only civil war in Brunei History. Sultan Abdul Hakkul Mubin took the throne after assasinating Sultan Muhammad Ali. It was quite a bloody time in Brunei history and I remembered one classic book written by Yura Halim entitled "Mahkota Berdarah" regarding the episode. Pulau Cermin - view from the River In a nutshell, Sultan Abdul Hakkul Mubin was the Bendahara when his son was killed by the son of Sultan Muhammad Ali. He requested that his son's death be avenged but Sultan Muhammad Ali denied him. So Bendahara Abdul Mubin went amok killing a few people at the palace and with his followers took the Sultan and killed him (No
Read more