Out of more than 5,200 two-room Build-To-Order (BTO) flats in non-mature estates available, 2,765 units have been bought by singles since they were allowed to buy such properties directly from HDB last year, said media reports.
This surpasses the 1,550 units allocated for this group. These include applications under the Joint Singles Scheme, Non-Citizen Spouse Scheme and Single Singapore Citizen Scheme.
Under the existing scheme, 30 percent of two-room flats are reserved for singles. In addition, remaining units not taken up by families will also be made available for singles. However, this scheme is only open to Singapore citizens who are buying their first HDB flat. Besides a monthly income ceiling of $5,000, they must be at least 35 years old.
According to Mohamed Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex Realty, the robust demand from is likely to continue. He said recent two-bedroom BTO flats in Yishun are only priced from $76,000 to over $80,000, while a similar resale unit in nearby Marsiling goes for $230,000 to $250,000. In addition, singles can get up to $30,000 in government grants depending on their income.
“Therefore, a person who is able to buy a two-bedroom flat is getting a discount of more than 50 percent compared to the resale price… so more or less about 20 percent of the singles who have no alternative but to buy resale flats in the past would be considering taking up the BTO flats,” he added.
Meanwhile, singles are hoping the government would permit them to buy two-room HDB flats in mature estates, said Member of Parliament Gan Thiam Poh, who is a member of Parliamentary Committee for National Development.
“I think their suggestion can also be considered because we also want singles to stay near their parents,” Gan added.
Image (by HDB): Artist’s impression of BTO flats with two-room units
Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email muneerah@propertyguru.com.sg
