Mr Ku Swee Yong made an interesting case about the impact of Singapore's ageing population on public housing (Prepare for supply avalanche as ageing HDB flat owners die; March 5).

After these Housing Board flat owners die, their flats may be inherited by their beneficiaries. Mr Ku said that since most of the beneficiaries would already be HDB flat owners, they would not be allowed to inherit the flats from their deceased parents under current rules, leading to an escalation in the number of flats put up for resale.

However, this may be a false alarm as the grandchildren of these elderly people can inherit their properties. It would thus be reasonable to expect the inherited flats to serve as an interim provision, while the young working adults save up to buy their own flats with longer leases.

That would be a more likely scenario and a more welcome relief to all concerned.

The government of the day would know how to tweak the rules to make this minimally disruptive scenario happen. So I do not think the situation will be as overwhelming as what Mr Ku described.

Thomas Lee Hock Seng (Dr)