Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday said housing topped the list of appeal cases that he handled in his Teck Ghee ward over the past year.

Mr Lee shared on his Facebook Page that he had compiled a profile of all the cases at his Meet-the-People sessions (MPS), and more than a third concerned housing, such as buying and selling of flats or requests for rental flats.

"HDB has a tough job, but it is making progress building more BTO flats and shortening waiting times for rental flats," he wrote on Thursday morning.

Other cases were for financial assistance, making up 14 per cent of appeals. This was followed by immigration matters, traffic or parking issues, and education-related ones.

"Fortunately, we encountered not many requests for help to find jobs (3 per cent) reflecting our low unemployment," he said.

Less than two per cent were for help with medical bills, though he added: "I know that people worry a lot about healthcare costs and we will continue to monitor them closely."

He said his MPS saw nearly 2,800 residents in 2012 and over 5,500 letters of appeal were written. Just under half the cases live in Teck Ghee itself, while the rest were from other parts of Ang Mo Kio GRC.

He shared the post with a picture of a resident thanking him with a card, saying he had written for a Mr Koh Chek Heng to National University Hospital to obtain a medical report for him.

"We always seek to give residents a full and sympathetic hearing, and to help them as best as we can. Even if we can't fully solve all their problems, we can often at least lessen them."

"I always feel encouraged when residents come to thank us, like this one who brought me a special thank you card," he said.