Full details of the long-awaited 'lease buy-back scheme' were unveiled by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan in Parliament yesterday.

The initiative, designed to allow the elderly to obtain cash for living expenses by drawing value from their homes, was first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the 2007 National Day Rally.

Mr Mah yesterday strongly urged eligible home owners - those 62 and above - to sign on: 'It is a good and generous scheme and I would like to urge MPs...to explain this scheme to their residents.'

He also stressed that HDB flats were not for 'speculation, or quick profit'. The lease buy-back scheme reflects this point by recognising that home owners will be in a position to unlock the value of flats when they grow old, he added.

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