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I refer to the recent Forum letters on HDB flat leases ( July 19; July 22; and , July 23). Given Singaporeans’ life expectancy of about 84 years and average age of marriage at about 30, the HDB flat lease of 99 years is more than adequate for a first-generation flat owner. It is also sufficient for their children to spend the rest of their lives in their parents’ home if need be. The length of HDB flat leases is an issue of inter-generational allocation of scarce resources. A longer lease benefits the family as wealth would be better preserved for descendants of the first-generation flat owner. But this is sub-optimal for society as scarce resources are not recycled back to society. For the Government to continue providing affordable housing to citizens in land-scarce Singapore, it would either need new land through reclamation, for instance, or buy back flats from existing owners. The cost would be higher and the Government would need to provide more subsidies to new flat owners. This would not be sustainable and if the Government can no longer provide adequate subsidies to new flat owners, it would lead to a divisive society between those who can inherit HDB flats and those who cannot. While I agree that it is important for HDB flats to provide some wealth preservation as many Singaporeans’ savings have gone into their home purchase, the objective of the Government’s housing policy should weigh more towards providing affordable housing for current and future generations of Singaporeans. There is still some wealth preservation for flat owners as when the first-generation flat owner dies, the flat would have a remaining lease of about 50 years. If the children do not need to live in the flat, they should be able to cash out a significant proportion of what their parents have invested. The limit of a 99-year lease would likely affect those who purchase resale flats. They should be aware that such flats would provide less wealth preservation and they are paying a premium for location and convenience. They should pay a rational amount for the flat so that the market prices the flat reasonably in relation to the remaining lease. The Government should not be asked to use public resources to help these buyers.