Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

2-room Flexi flats top draw in latest BTO launch

SINGAPORE — Close to 5,000 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats were launched by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Wednesday (Aug 17), with more than half of them in the mature town of Tampines, but it was the 2-room Flexi flats in Hougang that drew the most interest off the block.

An artist impression of one of the BTO projects available for sale in Tampines called Tampines Greenview. Photo: HDB

An artist impression of one of the BTO projects available for sale in Tampines called Tampines Greenview. Photo: HDB

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — Close to 5,000 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats were launched by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Wednesday (Aug 17), with more than half of them in the mature town of Tampines, but it was the 2-room Flexi flats in Hougang that drew the most interest off the block. 

As of 5pm on Wednesday, the 2-room Flexi flats near Buangkok Green were almost fully subscribed, with 362 applicants for 364 units.

Elderly applicants can choose from a variety of lease lengths under this category, but it was singles who dominated, with 1.9 applications for every unit available to singles.

Other flats in Hougang and in Yishun also proved relatively popular, but property analysts TODAY spoke to expected the units in Tampines to draw the most interest from applications, due to its status as a mature estate with good amenities and infrastructure.

A total of 4,841 BTO flats were launched across five projects in the third exercise of the year. Two projects will be in Tampines, offering 2,736 units. The other projects will be in the non-mature towns of Hougang (711 units), Sembawang (570) and Yishun (824).

The flat types range from 2-Room Flexi to Three-Generation (3Gen) flats. The price of 2-room Flexi flats in Hougang and Yishun start at $79,000, while the price of a four-room flat in Tampines starts from S$289,000 before grants, compared with the same flat type in Sembawang, which starts from S$240,000 before grants. Five-room flats in Tampines start at S$398,000, while the 3Gen flats start at S$428,000.

In a Facebook post, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said that a typical three-room flat in a non-mature estate such as Hougang (Buangkok Woods) is about S$185,000. Eligible first-timer couples can also benefit from housing grants of up to S$80,000.

“At these prices, first-time home buyers should be able to finance most or even all of the monthly loan instalment using CPF (Central Provident Fund) alone,” he wrote.

Three- and four-room flats in Hougang were relatively popular, with 54 applicants for 97 units for the former and 162 applicants for 250 units for the latter, working out to a subscription rate of 0.6 for both.

In Yishun, the three-room flats saw 50 applicants for 100 units.

Application rates were slower in Tampines. There were 385 applicants for 1,501 4-room flats, and 265 applicants for 879 5-room/3Gen units, working out to a subscription rate of 0.3 for both.

Mr Colin Tan, director of research and consultancy at Suntec Real Estate Consultant, felt that home buyers will be keen on the Tampines project as they can tap the existing infrastructures and amenities.

Agreeing, Mr Chris Koh, director of Chris International, said the projects in Tampines will be “quite sought after” as there are hardly any BTO flats launched there. The Hougang project could also see high demand due to its location.

“Hougang is a draw because it is quite near to the city, unlike the other sites, which are in Sembawang and Yishun,” he added.

Including the flats launched in the latest exercise, the HDB has offered 12,781 BTO units this year. Including the 5,170 balance flats offered in May, the HDB has so far offered a total of 17,951 flats this year.

In all, 18,000 BTO flats are expected to be launched this year. The current BTO exercise closes on Aug 23.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.