Minister of National Development, Khaw Boon Wan, hopes to announce changes in the balloting rules for the sales of HDB’s built-to-order (BTO) flats to be launched in March.
The first batch of HDB’s BTO projects for 2012 will offer 4,000 new homes. The project closed on Tuesday and posted an application rate of 1.5 first-timers for every available flat.
“The first-timer application rate is currently a comfortable 1.5. Not surprising. This is similar to the rate of 1.6 in the November BTO. Both are good rates; they mean that practically all will get a chance to choose a unit,” noted Mr Khaw.
As for second-timers in the January BTO launch, the application rate was 23.9 against the 25.9 seen in November.
A first-timer refers to an applicant who has never bought a HDB flat directly from the HDB, nor received a CPF Housing Grant.
“Our goal to help young couples get their first homes is coming true,” Mr Khaw said, adding that “we can now move on to better help the second-timers.”
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