Demand for 4-room BTO flats in Yishun exceeds prime location projects in Bukit Merah and Queenstown

SINGAPORE — Less than seven hours before subscription closed for four-room government-built flats in the latest Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise, significantly more people were going for property in Yishun than in prime location projects at the more mature estates of Bukit Merah and Ghim Moh.

As of 5pm on Thursday (June 2), 2,387 applicants were gunning for the 207 four-room flats at Yishun Beacon, which translated to more than 11 applicants vying for one unit.

The housing project is bounded by Yishun Central 1 and Yishun Avenue 2, and lies opposite Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and Yishun Community Hospital. It is also close to Northpoint City mall and two MRT stations.

The five-room flats at Yishun Beacon were even more popular, with 2,322 applicants applying for 166 units, which represented an application rate of 14 times.

Over at Bukit Merah Ridge, four-room flats were subscribed by just 4.9 times in comparison — with 6,008 applicants jostling for 1,226 units.

The housing project is bounded by Bukit Merah View, Henderson Road, Tiong Bahru Road and Lower Delta Road.

Ghim Moh Ascent on Ghim Moh Road near the Buona Vista and Queenstown housing districts had a roughly similar application rate of 3.9 times for its four-room flats as well. A total of 2,629 applicants were applying for the 671 units on offer.

This development is bounded by Ghim Moh Road, Ghim Moh Close, and the Rail Corridor.

There are no five-room flats at both Bukit Merah Ridge and Ghim Moh Ascent, which fall under the Prime Location Public Housing scheme of the Housing and Development Board (HDB).

In contrast, River Peaks I & II located in the Rochor Road district, the first project under this prime location scheme, had an application rate of 10.3 times for its four-room flats at the end of a BTO exercise that closed in November last year.

There were 6,976 applicants competing for 680 four-room flats at the time.

Thursday’s figures from the BTO exercise also showed that demand for four-room flats at two other projects was similarly higher than the Bukit Merah and Ghim Moh ones.

The Lakeside View project in Jurong West had an application rate of 6.8 times, with 1,680 applicants eyeing the 246 units available.

For five-room flats, the application rate was 14.2 times, with 3,046 applications for 214 units. This was marginally higher than that for five-room flats at Yishun Beacon.

Kim Keat Heights, located in the mature town of Toa Payoh, saw an application rate of 9.7 times for its four-room flats, with 1,602 applicants vying for the 165 units.

Data from HDB’s website also showed that the response for smaller, three-room flats in Bukit Merah Ridge and Ghim Moh Ascent was muted as well.

At Bukit Merah Ridge, the application rate was 1.5 times, with 657 applications for 443 units.

At Ghim Moh Ascent, it was slightly lower at 1.3 times, with 263 applications for 196 units.

This is lower than the application rates for similar flat types at Lakeside View and Kim Keat Heights.

Lakeside View had an application rate of 4.1 times, with 410 applicants for 101 units, while Kim Keat Heights has an application rate of 3.8 times, or 382 applications for 100 units.