Half of BTO flats this year will be in mature estates

SINGAPORE — About 9,000 new flats — or half of this year’s supply of Build-To-Order (BTO) flats — will be launched in mature estates to meet demand from homebuyers, said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong on Wednesday (Feb 24) as the Housing and Development Board (HDB) launched its first BTO exercise this year.

The number is an 80 per cent jump from about 5,000 new flats put up for sale in mature estates last year, which made up around one-third of the total number of BTO flats launched in 2015.

“We are trying to do more for mature estates because we know that there’s demand,” said Mr Wong, who was speaking to reporters after visiting the renovated HDB Sales Atrium at HDB Hub.

A total of 4,170 flats will be offered in this month’s BTO exercise, which will be located in Bukit Batok (1,655), Sengkang (921) and Bidadari (1,594). The flats range from 2-Room Flexi to Three-Generation (3Gen) flats.

The price for a four-room flat in Bidadari — a new estate developed as part of Toa Payoh town that drew enthusiastic response in the previous exercise — starts from S$440,000 excluding grants. A total of 71 3-Gen flats is also on sale in Bidadari in this exercise.

“It’s part of our efforts to have more larger flats options in mature estates so that extended families can stay together,” said Mr Wong, who also added that flats in Bidadari launched in the previous exercise were “highly oversubscribed”.

The next BTO exercise will be in May, with about 4,070 flats in Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bukit Merah, Bukit Panjang and Sembawang. About 5,000 Sale of Balance flats will be offered in a concurrent exercise.

While the HDB will try to have a “healthy pipeline” of new flats in mature estates, the minister stressed that there will not be enough flats to meet demand from all homebuyers, “no matter how many flats” the Government builds in mature estates.

“These flats are very popular, and there is not much space in the mature estates to build new flats,” said Mr Wong. “So there will be always more demand than there is supply. It will take time for people who are trying to apply for a flat in a mature estate; they may take several rounds before they are successful.”

As of 5pm on Wednesday, flats in Sengkang and Bidadari were considerably more popular. For example, there were 96 applicants for 117 five-room flats in Sengkang (a subscription rate of 0.8), and 408 applicants for 236 five-room and 3Gen flats in Bidadari (a subscription rate of 1.7).

In comparison, there were 62 applicants for 384 five-room flats in Bukit Batok (0.2).

Property analysts said most of the BTO flats to be launched in mature estates this year will likely be in Bidadari. Bidadari estate will eventually have 11,000 units. If the HDB were to launch flats in Bidadari throughout the year, they would likely make up the bulk of mature estate flats, said Mr Chris Koh, director of Chris International.

Mr Ku Swee Yong, chief executive of real estate agency Century 21, pointed out that the Government has already planned amenities for the area, such as an underground air-conditioned bus interchange, which is expected to be ready in 2019. By the end of this year, the Government could launch another 3,000 to 4,000 units in Bidadari, so that the bus interchange and amenities could be utilised by the households that move in then. Other mature estates he expected to see BTO flats launched are Queenstown and Clementi, as they are located centrally.

Mr Koh suggested that Tampines North could be one possible mature town to see new flats, as there is “quite a lot of land to use”.

It was unlikely prices would change much, despite the muted economic outlook, the analysts said. BTO flats are subsidised, unlike resale flats which are affected by the economy. “So perhaps maybe we won’t see much price fluctuations,” Mr Koh said.

In all, 18,000 BTO flats are expected to be launched this year. The current BTO exercise closes on March 1.