Singapore cuts supply of new public flats to the fewest since 2021 as HDB fiddles with pipeline to ease housing prices
- Of the 19,600 flats to be launched this year, 2,800 are slated to be completed in less than three years
- From 2024, HDB will conduct three BTO exercises and one Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) a year
Singapore’s Housing & Development Board (HDB) has announced that it would launch about 19,600 new flats this year over three Build-To-Order (BTO) exercises.
This is the fewest number of new flats offered since 2021. For comparison, 17,100 flats were available in 2021; 23,200 flats in 2022; and 22,800 flats in 2023.
From 2024, HDB will conduct three BTO exercises and one Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) a year. From the October 2024 BTO sales exercise, HDB will implement the new classification of flats under the Standard, Plus and Prime categories.
Of the 19,600 flats to be launched this year, 2,800 are slated to be completed in less than three years. This is up from 732 flats in 2023 with a similar completion time. Moreover, 75 per cent of the BTO flats offered in 2024 are slated to be completed in four years or less, cutting the waiting time for BTO flats to pre-pandemic levels.
The reduction in the number of BTO launch exercises comes in response to the stabilisation of BTO application rates, the HDB said.
Overall BTO application rates have stabilised since October 2023, after HDB started enforcing a “tighter ruling” of BTO sales exercises, said Eugene Lim, key executive officer of ERA Realty, in a press release on Jan 8. In the event of the non-selection of a flat, HDB will cancel any existing applications by the same applicant for subsequent BTO/Sale of Balance Flat (SBF) exercise.
