50% of 18,000 BTO flats in 2016 will be in mature estates: Lawrence Wong

SINGAPORE - A total of 9,000 out of 18,000 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats planned for this year will be located in mature estates, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong has said.

In a Straits Times article, Mr Wong was quoted as saying that the ministry is "trying to do more for mature estates because we know that there's demand".

"So this year we are going to have about half of the flats set aside for mature estates and half for non-mature," he said.

In the past, only about one-third of BTO flats launched were in mature estates, he added.

However, space constraints in developed towns mean that the increase in mature estate offerings cannot be sustained for future BTO launches, and will also not be enough to satisfy the high demand for them.

"These flats are very popular, and there is not much space in the mature estates to build new flats. So there will always be more demand than there is supply," he said during a visit to the My Nice Home Gallery at HDB Hub in Toa Payoh.

As such, most BTO flats will still be located in non-mature estates.

The minister also advised that buyers who are pressed for time would have higher chances of buying a flat in a non-mature estate.

HDB launched 4,170 BTO flats on Wednesday, including 1,594 in Bidadari, a mature estate.

The other units launched are located in non-mature estates of Bukit Batok and Sengkang.

ljessica@sph.com.sg