SINGAPORE - The Housing Board launched 4,428 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats for sale on Tuesday (Feb 28), including two projects under the prime location public housing (PLH) model in Dover Forest and Farrer Park.
These two projects – one in the mature estate of Queenstown and the other in the mature estate of Kallang/Whampoa – come with stricter buying and selling conditions, including a 6 per cent subsidy clawback upon their sale.
There are three other projects in the first sales exercise of the year – another in Kallang/Whampoa that does not come under the PLH model, and in the non-mature estates of Jurong West and Tengah.
The five projects have a median waiting time of about 4.4 years. HDB said all four-room flats offered in the two non-mature estates are below $400,000, before grants.
A total of 732 three-room and four-room units are on offer in Ulu Pandan Glades in Queenstown. It is situated in the eastern half of Dover Forest and is near Dover MRT station.
Prices range from $372,000 to $498,000 – without grants – for a three-room flat, and $541,000 to $711,000 for a four-room flat, making these flats the most expensive in this launch. Buyers will also have to wait the longest for these units, as they will take about 68 months – or around 5.6 years – to be completed.
Ulu Pandan Glades is the second of three BTO projects to be launched in the eastern half of Dover Forest.
The first BTO project, Ulu Pandan Banks, also came under the PLH model in the November 2022 sales exercise. Demand was muted, with most first-time applicants likely to have a chance to select a unit. Prices ranged from $362,000 to $504,000 for a three-room flat and $546,000 to $725,000 for a four-room flat in the project, which is nearer to the MRT station than Ulu Pandan Glades.
The second PLH project in the current sales exercise is Farrer Park Fields, which has 1,274 two-room flexi, three-room and four-room flats on a site between Little India and Farrer Park MRT stations.
Prices for this project range from $356,000 to $449,000 for a three-room flat, and $484,000 to $631,000 for a four-room flat. Buyers will have to wait for about 53 months – around 4.4 years.
The other BTO project in Kallang/Whampoa is Rajah Summit, which offers 510 three-room and four-room flats on a site in Jalan Rajah next to Kallang River.
Prices for this project range from $326,000 to $443,000 for a three-room flat, and $459,000 to $631,000 for a four-room flat. It has a waiting time of 58 months, or slightly under five years.
Flat owners in the two PLH projects will have to pay 6 per cent of the resale price or valuation, whichever is higher, to HDB when they sell their homes on the open market for the first time. The clawback applies to the first resale transaction and not to subsequent sales.
Owners will also be bound by a 10-year minimum occupation period (MOP) before they can sell their flats. Standard BTO flats come with a five-year MOP and do not have a subsidy clawback clause.
Owners are also not allowed to rent out their whole unit, even after the MOP is over.
For the BTO projects in Tengah and Jurong West, at least 95 per cent of the four-room and larger flats, and at least 85 per cent of the three-room flats, are set aside for first-time applicant families. Buyers will have to wait for just under four years for their flats.
In Tengah, 1,641 two-room flexi, three-room, four-room and five-room flats are on offer at Brickland Weave, on a site in Brickland Road near Choa Chu Kang town.
Prices range from $291,000 to $375,000 for a four-room flat and $401,000 to $503,000 for a five-room flat.
In Jurong West, 271 three-room and four-room flats are on offer at Jurong West Crystal, on a site near Jurong West Sports Centre.
These flats are the most affordable in this launch, with prices ranging from $187,000 to $249,000 for a three-room flat, and $288,000 to $372,000 for a four-room flat.
Applications close at 11.59pm on March 6 on the HDB flat portal. Flats will be allocated through balloting.
In May 2023, about 5,400 BTO flats in towns such as Tengah, Bedok, Kallang/Whampoa and Serangoon will be launched.
At the August launch, HDB will offer between 5,200 and 6,200 flats in Choa Chu Kang, Tengah, Bukit Merah, Kallang/Whampoa and Queenstown.
HDB said it is monitoring housing demand closely and is prepared to launch up to 100,000 flats in total from 2021 to 2025 if needed.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.