A total of 4,056 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats were launched in Punggol, Clementi and Tampines on Tuesday (Feb 14), the Housing and Development Board (HDB) announced.
This is the first tranche of 17,000 flats to be launched in 2017, it said.
Flats offered in this BTO launch range from 2-room Flexi to Three-Generation (3Gen) flats. The price range for these flats range from S$81,000 for a 2-room Flexi at Punggol’s Waterway Sunrise II and Northshore Cove to S$571,000 for a 5-room flat at Clementi NorthArc and Clementi Peaks, excluding grants.
The wide selection of flats will meet different budget and needs, said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong in a Facebook post this morning.
He pointed to the bumper crop of 200 3Gen flats offered in this launch and schemes like the Multi-Generation Priority Scheme for couples who wish to live close to their parents. “Besides flats for home-ownership, we continue to promote mutual care and support for families through our flat offerings and schemes,” Mr Wong wrote.
Eligible first-timer families can enjoy up to S$80,000 in housing grants, comprising up to S$40,000 under the Additional Central Provident Fund (CPF) Housing Grant and up to another S$40,000 under the Special CPF Housing Grant, the agency said.
A project in Woodlands, originally planned for launch in February 2017, has been deferred. Due to the site conditions, further review is needed to better integrate it with surrounding developments before it can be launched, HDB said in its press release.
Interested applicants for the current exercise may submit an application online at HDB’s InfoWEB from Tuesday to next Monday. They can also apply at HDB Hub or any of HDB’s branches.
In the next exercise in May, HDB will offer about 4,600 flats in Bidadari, Geylang, Woodlands and Yishun. Concurrently, it will also offer 3,000 sale of balance flats.
FAMILIES CAN LOOK FORWARD TO FRESH START
In the February exercise, families under the Fresh Start Housing Scheme will also be able to apply for 2-room Flexi flats for the first time since the scheme’s launch in December last year.
The Fresh Start scheme is intended to help second-timer families staying in public rental flats with young children own their own flats again.
Eligible families will be able to buy a 2-room Flexi flat, with lease options ranging from 45 to 65 years, within one year of being placed on the scheme.
They will enjoy priority allocation of up to 10 per cent of the 2-room Flexi units on offer, according to HDB.
INTEREST EXPECTED TO BE CONCENTRATED IN MATURE ESTATES: ERA
“The flats in Clementi will probably be the most popular in this exercise … and will appeal to families”, said ERA key executive officer Eugene Lim, noting that these were located near many family friendly amenities such as the Clementi Mall, with educational institutions of various levels such as the National University of Singapore (NUS), NUS High, Singapore Polytechnic, Nan Hua High School and School of Science and Technology in the area.
The Tampines flats stand out because of their affordability, considering their location in a mature estate, said Lim who highlighted that these will appeal to families with members working in the east, such as at Changi Business Park and Changi Airport.
The Punggol flats are expected to be popular among young families because of the affordable quantum and seeing that they are well served by the Punggol LRT system and newly opened Town Square, Lim also mentioned. “However, the 2-room flats are expected to see strong demand from singles, as seen from previous sales exercises,” he added.
Referring to the next BTO sales launch in May which will see an estimated 4,600 flats in Biddadari, Geylang, Woodlands and Yishun, Lim said this is expected to have a limited impact on the current sales exercise, given that those flats will be offered in quite different locations.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 14 Feb 2017