Artist’s impression of Kallang Residences, a new BTO project located near Kallang MRT station. Source: HDB
The 4-room Build-To-Order (BTO) flats in Kallang have emerged as the main attraction in the latest exercise by the Housing and Development Board (HDB), with 271 applications submitted for the 158 units during the first day of launch on Tuesday (22 November), reported TODAYonline.
The 4-room units in Bidadari also witnessed strong interest, with 481 applications submitted for the 587 units on offer.
Demand for the units was mainly driven by second-timers, with nearly seven applicants from the group for every Kallang unit available, and 2.8 applicants for each Bidadari unit.
The exercise, which is the biggest this year, saw the government release a total of 10,118 BTO and balance flats.
With flat types ranging from 2-room flexi to 3Gen flats, the 5,110 BTO flats were spread across the mature estates of Kallang Whampoa, Bedok and Bidadari, as well as the non-mature estate of Punggol.
The 5,008 balance flats, on the other hand, are located in 11 non-mature and 14 mature estates, including Tampines, Kallang and Ang Mo Kio.
The latest launch brings the total number of flats offered this year to 28,026 units. The next exercise in February 2017 will see the HDB launching 4,100 BTO flats in Woodlands, Tampines, Punggol and Clementi.
Meanwhile, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong revealed that the government tried to launch more BTO flats within mature estates this year.
“But given limited land and the popularity of projects in these mature areas, we can expect application numbers to exceed the units available,” he said in a Facebook post.
“So I encourage those who need flats more urgently to consider non-mature estates, where the chances of getting a flat are much higher. There are over 2,000 flats in Punggol in this BTO exercise, and there will be many more in other towns next year.”
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
