The government has tweaked the Interim Rental Housing (IRH) scheme to better help needy families with temporary housing at subsidised rates, while they work out a more permanent solution. National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said it will exercise greater oversight of the scheme to ensure that the private operators managing the scheme serve Singaporean families first. He said in his blog on Friday...
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The Ministry of Finance said on Friday that about 800,000 Singaporean HDB households can expect to receive S$40 million worth of Utilities-Save (U-Save) rebates. A Singaporean household may receive up to S$90 in rebates, depending on HDB flat type. Those in one- and two- room flats will get S$90, those in three-room flats will get S$50, those in four-room flats will get S$45, those in five-room flats...
Six blocks of HDB flats in Boon Lay Drive have been chosen for the government's Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS). They are blocks 167 to 172, comprising 650 units. Under SERS, selected old sold flats are redeveloped to optimise land use. Residents are then given the option to upgrade to new flats nearby with fresh 99-year lease. The Housing and Development Board (HDB) will build about 710...
More land will be released for the development of executive condominiums (ECs) in 2012. The Ministry of National Development (MND) says that it is prepared to supply land sites for 5,000 EC units next year. This is part of the government's move to help more higher income Singaporeans own private housing by expanding the EC market. The government has taken an earlier step by raising the monthly income...
With the backlog of first-time buyers of HDB flats largely cleared, Singapore's Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan has set his sights on helping second-timers get their homes faster in the new year. Experts said this could be in the form of increasing the percentage of Build-To-Order (BTO) flats allocated to second-timers currently set at five per cent. 2011 has been about answering the...
Twenty-one blocks of HDB flats in Redhill Close have been chosen for the government's Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS). They are blocks 1 to 3 and blocks 5 to 22, with a total of 878 units. The Housing and Development Board (HDB) will build about 1,200 units of two-room, three-room, four-room and five-room flats in Henderson Road to re-house the flat owners. The new blocks, to be ready in...
The backlog of first-time applicants for the HDB's Build-To-Order flats appears to have largely cleared, following a ramp up in supply. As of 5:00 pm Wednesday, there were 1.4 first-time applicants for each flat offered, excluding studio apartments. The HDB launched 4,200 BTO flats last Thursday, including nearly 500 studio apartments meant for the elderly. Commenting on his blog on Wednesday, National...
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan has said many first-timers have succeeded in selecting flats under the Build-to-Order (BTO) scheme under the Housing and Development Board's ramped-up building programme. He said first-timers' application rates appear to be within a "promising range", based on the pattern in the latest batch of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats launched on Thursday. He said that if...
Another 4,200 new flats in seven Build-to-Order (BTO) projects have been launched on Thursday by the Housing and Development Board (HDB). This follows its bumper 8,200 new flats offered just two months ago. The latest launch offers flats in Bedok, Bukit Panjang, Hougang, Punggol and Yishun. They range from studio and 2-room to 5-room flats. HDB said they will cost from S$75,000 for a studio unit at...
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said his Ministry is prepared to review the Lease Buyback Scheme to include four- and five-room flats. This is to help lower-income senior citizens in their retirement years as downgrading may not be viable due to the high cash-over-valuation of three-room flats. He was responding to a suggestion from MP Zaqy Mohammad in Parliament. Mr Khaw explained that the...