Fewer living together in Singapore's public housing

The number of Singapore's Housing & Development Board (HDB) households has risen steadily over the years, with more than 1 million occupied flats in 2018.

The average household size, however, shrank from 3.4 people in 2008 to 3.1 in 2018, as the proportion of households with two or more generations living together fell, Channel News Asia reports.

These findings were released on Wednesday in HDB’s Sample Household Survey, done once every five years to gather feedback about public housing and identify changing needs and expectations of residents.

The latest survey, in 2018, was among nearly 8,000 households across all HDB estates.

Although households increased, the overall number of Singaporeans and permanent residents living in HDB flats fell from 3.06 million in 2013 to 3.04 million in 2018, as more people moved to private housing, the Housing Board said.

There was also an overall decline in family-based households – defined as nuclear, extended or multi-nuclear families – from 90.9 percent of all households in 2008, to 86.6 percent in 2018.

Meanwhile, the proportion of one-person households rose from 8 per cent to 11.9 percent. This was largely due to Singapore’s aging population and the relaxation of HDB’s housing policy which enables singles to buy new two-room flats, said the agency.-Photo: CNA