National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the core principle behind the pricing of new HDB flats remains affordability. Replying to questions in Parliament on Tuesday, he said the prices of new HDB flats are set based on the typical household income of families, the market price of similar resale flats in the vicinity, and the flat size and location. Mr Khaw said HDB applies a substantial price...
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About S$22 million in resale levies are paid to the Housing and Development Board every year. National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said HDB receives close to 3,000 appeals to waive or reduce the levy every year. Several Members of Parliament rose to ask if help can be extended to those who have problems paying the levy. Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC Pritam Singh asked if the ministry...
Application rates for first-timers rose marginally in the latest Build-To-Order flats sales exercise, the first BTO offering this year. Applications close at midnight but overall as of 5pm, there were 2.2 first-timers applying for each new unit. This is higher than the 1.8 in the previous exercise in November last year. It is also the first time since March last year that the application rate for...
Some Executive Condominium (EC) developers have seen higher sales despite the government introducing a package of cooling measures on January 12. EC projects like One Canberra and Watercolours, which were launched last year, have seen sales jumped by about five times after the measures kicked in. In the two weekends after the new measures kicked in, One Canberra sold 30 units, up from two to three units...
The HDB has launched six Build-To-Order (BTO) projects where there will be a total of 3,346 new flats in three non-mature towns - Choa Chu Kang, Hougang and Yishun - and three mature towns - Ang Mo Kio, Kallang/Whampoa and Tampines. This is the first tranche of the 23,000 BTO flats which HDB has planned for 2013. Eligible first-timer households can enjoy up to S$60,000 of housing grants comprising...
The resale price for HDB flats reached record high in fourth quarter of 2012 but the price increases for the year were slower compared with the previous year. The HDB's Resale Price Index (RPI) rose to 202.9 in the fourth quarter, an increase of 2.5 per cent over the previous quarter. The Housing and Development Board said on Friday that this is the same as the flash estimate released on January 2 this...
The cash premiums for HDB resale flats continued to hover in the high range in the fourth quarter of 2012 in some popular estates. Data released by the Housing and Development Board on Friday showed that the median Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) for a three-room flat in Queenstown stood at S$30,000 and S$65,900 for a four-room flat. In Bishan, the median COV for a four-room flat touched S$50,000, while that...
Married couples with children below the age of 16 will now stand a better chance at securing a new public housing flat. Some analysts added this may also bring down the cash premium for resale public flats as demand is driven to the Build-To-Order market. Twenty-seven-year-old Mohamed Rafie has been trying to secure a new public housing flat for two years. He and his wife have been unsuccessful in all...
As public debate raged over the irony of Executive Condominiums (EC) priced at more than S$1.5 million being snapped up by buyers supposedly from the sandwiched class, Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan weighed in on the matter on Jan 7 in a blog posting titled "Who gets short-changed?" Although he started out by addressing oversized ECs and their prices, Mr Khaw quickly went on to the...
The National Development Ministry (MND) aims to implement its policy of allowing singles to buy new Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats for owner-occupation this year, said its Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday. In a written reply to a question in Parliament, Mr Khaw said MND is "finalising" its policy. Currently, singles cannot buy new flats from HDB by themselves. They can, however, buy a resale...