Housing push: A jogger runs past condominiums in the Newton area of Singapore. The HDB has undertaken a recent initiative which is the biggest sales exercise since the BTO system was implemented in 2002. — Bloomberg
SINGAPORE: The Housing & Development Board (HDB) has launched 9,655 build-to-order (BTO) flats for sale soon, in what is the biggest sales exercise since the BTO system was implemented in 2002.
The units are spread across 10 housing projects in five estates. Three of these – two in Queenstown and one in Kallang/Whampoa –fall under the prime location public housing (PLH) model, which comes with a 6% subsidy clawback upon their sale.
Another 1,071 flats are on offer in 2022’s second and last sale of balance flats or SBF scheme, bringing the total number of new flats on sale in this launch to 10,726.
To allow buyers more time to select their units, the application period has been extended to nine days, up from the usual seven days, HDB said.
HDB launched 23,184 BTO flats in 2022, up from 17,000 flats in 2021, to meet strong demand for public housing.
In the current sales exercise, two projects in the mature estate of Queenstown under the PLH model come with stricter buying and selling conditions.
The bigger one is Ulu Pandan Banks, with 1,330 three-room and four-room flats on offer in seven blocks. It is situated in the eastern half of Dover Forest, within walking distance of Dover MRT station.
The four blocks facing Ulu Pandan Canal will be low-rise, while those closer to Commonwealth Avenue West will be high-rise.
Prices range from S$362,000 (RM1.2mil) to S$504,000 (RM1.64mil) – without grants – for a three-room flat, and S$546,000 (RM1.77mil) to S$725,000 (RM2.4mil) for a four-room flat.
Buyers will have to wait about 71 months – close to six years – as the project is estimated to be completed in the third quarter of 2029, making it the project with the longest waiting time in this launch.
The second Queenstown project under the PLH model is Ghim Moh Natura, where 991 two-room flexi, three-room and four-room flats in four blocks are on offer on a site near Buona Vista MRT station.
Prices in this project are S$364,000 (RM1.2mil) to S$487,000 (RM1.6mil) for a three-room flat, and S$516,000 (RM1.7mil) to S$696,000 (RM2.3mil) for a four-room flat.
Buyers will have to wait about 53 months – 4.4 years – as the project is estimated to be completed in the first quarter of 2028.
The smallest PLH project in this launch is Kallang Horizon in the mature estate of Kallang/Whampoa, where 477 three-room and four-room flats are spread across three blocks on a site next to Kallang MRT station.
Prices for this project are S$335,000 (RM1.1mil) to S$447,000 (RM1.5mil) for a three-room flat, and S$509,000 (RM1.7mil) to S$690,000 (RM2.24mil) for a four-room flat.
Buyers will also have to wait about 53 months – 4.4 years – as the project is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2028.
Flat owners in the three PLH projects will have to pay 6% of the resale price or valuation, whichever is higher, to HDB when they sell their homes on the open market for the first time.
The subsidy clawback applies to the first resale transaction and not to subsequent sales, because of the higher amount of subsidies given to first-time owners of the flats.
Owners will be bound by a 10-year minimum occupation period (MOP) before they can sell their flats in the open market. Standard BTO flats come with a five-year MOP and don’t have a subsidy clawback clause.
Owners are also not allowed to rent out their whole unit, even after the MOP is over.
A third project in Queenstown, Queensway Canopy, does not fall under the PLH model. This is because the site – next to Alexandra Hospital – is located farther away from the main transport nodes and major retail amenities, said HDB.
Besides three-room and four-room flats, Queensway Canopy offers 245 Community Care Apartments, which are assisted living flats for seniors aged 65 and above.
The assisted living public housing project is the second of its kind to be launched, after the pilot in Bukit Batok in February 2021, where units were oversubscribed.
There are six BTO projects in three non-mature estates in the current launch, where at least 95% of the four-room and larger flats, and at least 85% of three-room flats, are set aside for first-time applicant families.
In Tengah, 2,077 two-room flexi, three-room, four-room and five-room flats are on offer across 18 blocks in Garden Waterfront I and II @ Tengah. There will be rental flats in two of the blocks.
These units will be the first in Singapore with a beamless flat design for greater flexibility in their layout. — The Straits Times/ANN
