In a survey on the public housing system in the city-state, which has 3.4 million citizens and permanent residents, the department said even the poorest 20 percent of Singaporean households largely own their homes.

The city-state's almost universal home ownership is the result of a scheme launched four decades ago.

Most families here live in high-rise public flats administered by the government's Housing and Development Board, with mortgages financed through mandatory pension contributions from employees and their firms.

The statistics department noted in the survey results issued late Monday that home ownership stood at only 29 percent in 1970.

At the end of 2003, about 47 percent of the assets of all households was in the form of property worth S$359 billion (US$214 billion), while financial assets totalled nearly S$408 billion.

                                                      Home