More than 10,000 flats were launched for sale on Tuesday (Nov 22) in the Housing & Development Board’s (HDB) largest sales exercise this year.
A total of 10,118 flats were offered, comprising 5,110 Build-To-Order (BTO) units and 5,008 units under the Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercise, the HDB said.
Nine new BTO projects were launched – three in Punggol and another six in Bedok, Bidadari (Toa Payoh) and Kallang/Whampoa.
The flats are priced from S$80,000, excluding grants, for a two-room Flexi flat in Punggol to S$503,000, excluding grants, for a five-room flat in Bedok.
The SBF units were launched in 11 non-mature towns and 14 mature towns and estates, and are priced from S$75,000, excluding grants, for a two-room Flexi unit in a non-mature town to S$525,000 for an executive flat in a mature town.
With this launch, a total of 28,069 new flats have been released for sale this year, comprising 17,891 BTO units and 10,178 SBF units.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said he expects flats in Bedok, Bidadari and Kallang/Whampoa to be in greater demand, with application numbers for those mature areas likely to exceed the units available.
“So I encourage those who need flats more urgently to consider non-mature estates, where the chances of getting a flat are much higher,” he wrote.
Mr Wong said that his ministry has been trying its best to provide more options for home-buyers.
Giving his analysis, key executive officer of PropNex Realty, Mr Lim Yong Hock, said the subscription rates for units in mature estates are expected to be between four and eight times, while “the non-mature estates are likely to have a subscription rate of one to three times”.
Mr Lim also predicted that the average subscription rate for this sales exercise would be three to five times, due to flats in more mature estates being released. This is compared to falling overall subscription rates this year, “from 4.7 in February to 3.7 in May and 2.3 in August”.
Applications for the flats can be submitted online at HDB’s InfoWEB from Nov 22 to 28, or at HDB Hub and any of HDB’s branches.
The HDB will conduct its next BTO launch in February next year, offering 4,100 flats in Clementi, Punggol, Tampines and Woodlands. More information on this can also be found on its website, it added.
Source: Channel NewsAsia – 22 Nov 2016