HDB to commence construction of selected BTO projects

This is to shorten waiting time for BTO flats.

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) of Singapore announced the details of two measures that will be in place to help young couples get their new homes sooner.

In a statement, HDB said it will offer some Build-To-Order (BTO) flats with shorter waiting time. The board will commence construction of selected BTO projects ahead of their sales launch. The tender for the construction of the first batch of 1,000 flats will be called this month, and construction works are expected to commence in 4Q17.

The flats, spread across three projects in the non-mature estates of Sembawang, Sengkang and Yishun, will be launched for sale in the second half of 2018.

"Flat buyers can look forward to the flats completing between 4Q20 and 1Q21 – about 2.5 years from the time they apply for the purchase of the flats, instead of the typical waiting time of about 3 to 4 years for standard BTO projects," HDB said.

The other measure is the introduction of new sales mode for unsold balance flats. Dubbed as the “Re-Offer of Balance Flats” exercise, or ROF for short, this new mode will pool together all flats that remain unsold at the conclusion of the previous sale of balance flat exercise.

This will help those with more urgent housing needs and/or are less particular about location and attributes to have quicker access to a flat.

"The two measures together will widen the range of housing options for first-timers, and enable them to move into their first homes sooner. HDB will monitor the response and make refinements where necessary," HDB said.

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