S’poreans with non-citizen spouses may apply for two-room BTO flats

SINGAPORE — While the focus in the last Build-to-Order (BTO) application exercise fell on singles being allowed to buy new two-room flats from the Housing and Development Board (HDB), another policy tweak flew largely under the radar.

Starting from last month’s BTO exercise, Singapore citizens aged 35 years and above with non-citizen spouses can also apply for two-room BTO flats in non-mature estates if they are first-time applicants with household incomes of not more than S$5,000 a month, the HDB said in reply to a letter from a TODAY reader to the newspaper’s Voices section.

Previously, this group could only buy from the resale market. These couples could also apply for a BTO flat of any size if they have a child who is a citizen or a Singapore Permanent Resident (PR).

Responding to media queries, the HDB said these couples enjoy the same subsidies as singles under the Single Singapore Citizen Scheme. They will pay S$15,000 more for the two-room flat, compared to families with two or more citizens.

These couples are also eligible for the Additional CPF Housing Grant of up to S$20,000, if their monthly income is S$2,500 and below, and the Special CPF Housing Grant of up to S$10,000 if their monthly income does not exceed S$1,125.

They can subsequently apply for the CPF Top-Up Grant, if the non-citizen spouse obtains PR status or citizenship, or if the couple has a Singapore citizen or PR child.

The move comes as the number of marriages involving citizens and non-citizens has shown an upward trend in recent years.

There were 8,949 marriages involving a citizen and non-citizen in 2011, up from 8,230 such unions in 2010.

In the latest BTO application exercise, which closed last week, the HDB said it received 94 applications under the Non-Citizen Spouse (NCS) Scheme for two-room BTO flats in non-mature estates.

They formed part of the 8,921 who had applied for the 155 units available in Sengkang and Yishun.

The two-room units in Sengkang received 81.2 applications for every available unit while similar sized units in Yishun had an application rate of 38.6 at the end of the BTO sales exercise last week.

Thirty per cent of the supply of two-room flats in non-mature estates were allocated to singles.

Between 2008 and last year, an average of about 530 Singaporeans with non-citizen spouses applied to buy resale flats under the NCS Scheme every year, the HDB added.