Large flats in mature estates most popular in Nov BTO exercise

SINGAPORE : Large flats in mature estates have proven to be the most popular among home buyers in the November Build—To—Order (BTO) exercise.

In the last BTO exercise for the year, there were three first—time buyers for each four—room flat in Toa Payoh.

The same goes for five—room flats in Bedok.

In Bedok’s Fengshan GreenVille, there were 3.8 first—time buyers and 51.6 second—time buyers for each five—room unit.

And in Toa Payoh’s Joo Seng Green and Toa Payoh Crest, there were 3.3 first—time buyers and 34.2 second—time buyers for each 4—room flat.

HDB launched seven BTO projects last week.

The projects offer 6,463 new flats in non—mature and mature towns, bringing the total BTO flat supply in 2012 to a record 27,084 units.

According to analysts, this has helped stabilise demand for BTO flats.

Overall application rate (excluding studio apartments) for this month’s exercise is 2.8 buyers for each unit, slightly higher than 2.7 from the previous launch in September.

Mr Eugene Lim, Key Executive Officer of ERA Realty Network, said: "The chances of first—timers securing a flat is very high. That has helped to stabilise prices quite a bit. Perhaps going forward, the government could address the needs of the second—time home buyers and perhaps the other group would be the singles."

He added: "I think a tweak in policy may help to increase their chances of securing a flat in the BTO programme and that may therefore help to stabilise prices in the resale market. The simplest method will be to tweak the ratio for second—timers perhaps in mature estates, where it’s 95 per cent for first—timers and only 5 per cent for second—timers.

"And if they tweak the ratio for mature estates, I think they should also look at non—mature estates. Different buyers have different needs. Some may prefer mature estates, some may prefer non—mature estates."

— CNA/il