4-room BTO flats in Kallang oversubscribed on first day of launch

SINGAPORE — Build-To-Order (BTO) flats in Kallang drew the strongest response at the start of the latest exercise by the Housing and Development Board (HDB), the biggest exercise this year with 10,118 BTO and Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) units. 

A total of 271 applications have been submitted for the 158 four-room units as of 5pm on Tuesday (Nov 22), meaning there were 1.7 applicants for every unit. The demand so far is largely driven by second-timers, with nearly seven applicants for every unit available to this group. The indicative prices for these units ranged from S$497,000 to S$584,000. 

Applications for the three-room units were more muted, with 40 submitted so far for 85 units.

Elsewhere, the Bidadari four-room units also drew healthy interest, with 481 applications submitted for the 587 units available. Again, demand was driven by second-timers, with 2.8 applications for every one unit available.

The exercise was launched on Tuesday (Nov 22). The 5,110 BTO flats on offer are spread across nine projects. Three projects are in the non-mature town of Punggol, while another six are in the mature towns and estates of Bedok, Bidadari (Toa Payoh) and Kallang/Whampoa, and the flat types range from 2-room Flexi to Three-Generation (3Gen) flats. 

The balance flats are in 11 non-mature towns and 14 mature towns and estates, including Ang Mo Kio, Queenstown, Kallang and Tampines. They comprise 635 2-room Flexiunits, 1,266 3-room units, 2,233 4-room units, 837 5-room units, 23 3Gen units, 13 executive flats and one Multi-Generation flat.  

The latest launch brings the total BTO supply this year to 17,891 units. Together with the 10,178 balance flats offered in the May and Nov SBF exercises, a total of 28,069 flats have been launched this year.

Application for new flats launched can be submitted online on the HDB InfoWEB from today till Nov 28. 

The next exercise in February will see 4,100 BTO flats launched in Clementi, Punggol, Tampines and Woodlands.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said the Government has tried to launch more BTO flats in mature estates this year. 

“But given limited land and the popularity of projects in these mature areas, we can expect application numbers 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. There are over 2,000 flats in Punggol in this BTO exercise, and there will be many more in other towns next year,” he added.