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6,800 HDB BTO flats launched for sale in October 2023 exercise
HDB BTO flats are available across locations such as Choa Chu Kang, Kallang/Whampoa, Queenstown and Tengah.
SINGAPORE — The Housing and Development Board (HDB) launched 6,800 flats for sale on Wednesday (4 October) under the October 2023 Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise.
Eight BTO projects were launched across four locations including Choa Chu Kang, Kallang/Whampoa, Queenstown and Tengah. Flat types ranged from two-room flexi flats to 3Gen flats.
Prices of October BTO flats
In non-mature estates such as Choa Chu Kang, two-room flexi flats start at S$106,000 while the three-room, four-room, and five-room flats start at S$216,000, S$319,000 and S$463,000 respectively. The 3Gen flats are priced between S$471,000 and S$530,000.
For two-room flexi flats in mature estates, prices range from S$176,000 to S$294,000. Three-room and four-room flats have a starting price of S$339,000 and S$480,000 respectively.
Waiting time for HDB BTO projects
According to HDB, six out of the eight BTO projects have a waiting time of four years and below. The Plantation Edge I & II in Tengah and Rail Green I @ Choa Chu Kang have the shortest waiting times among all the projects on offer at the October sales launch, ranging from three years to three years and four months.
Projects in mature towns such as the Rajah Residences have an expected waiting time of 4.3 years, while projects in Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) such as the Tanglin Halt Cascadia have an estimated waiting time of 4.5 years.
Prime Location Public Housing
The October sales launch will have two projects — Verandah @ Kallang and Tanglin Halt Cascadia — offered under the Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) model.
HDB said that it will set aside 20 per cent of the PLH flats in the two projects for first-timer families, and two per cent for second-timer families under the Married Child Priority Scheme. This is lower than the usual priority quotas, as priority quotas for other BTO flats in mature estates are typically 30 per cent for first-timer families and 3 per cent for second-timer families.
Also read: Rejuvenation of Queenstown HDB estate: More senior-friendly amenities to be built
Also read: Close to 13,000 BTO flats offered by HDB for the last 2 sales launches of 2023
Also read: Up to 14,000 2-room HDB BTO flats to be launched in the next 3 years: Desmond Lee
First-time HDB buyers
The October 2023 BTO sales exercise will also see the introduction of a new subset of first-timer families, known as the First-Timer (Parents & Married Couples) (FT(PMC)) priority category. The category was first announced during the Committee of Supply debates earlier this year.
Eligibility criteria for this category would include families with at least one Singapore citizen child aged 18 years or below, or married couples aged 40 years and below, married couples who have never owned or sold a residential property before and did not have a chance to book a BTO or Sale of Balance (SBF) flat in the past five years before their flat application.
For first-timer applicants who wish to improve their chances of securing a flat, HDB has encouraged them to apply for a flat in the non-mature towns of Choa Chu Kang and Tengah, where at least 95 per cent of the four-room and bigger flats are set aside for first-timer families.
HFE letter required for October BTO sales exercise
Applicants who wish to participate in the October 2023 BTO sales exercise must have a valid HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter when submitting a flat application. Given that it takes about a month to process an HFE letter application after the submission of required documents, HDB said that flat applications should have applied for an HFE letter and submitted all required documents by August 2023 in order to participate in the current sales exercise.
Flat applications can be made online through the HDB Flat Portal from Wednesday to Tuesday (10 October). HDB advised that there is no need to visit HDB Hub to get the information or make an application, as applicants will be shortlisted using a computer ballot and not on a first-come-first-served basis.
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