HDB: 13,000 BTO flats to be offered in 2nd half of 2023

SINGAPORE: Good news for homebuyers: the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said on Monday (July 3) that there are 13,000 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats to be offered for sale in the latter half of this year.

This is nearly a third, or 31 per cent, more than in the first six months of the year, when 9,923 BTO flats were offered, making a total of almost 23,000 flats for all of 2023. However, this number will be finalised as launch dates are confirmed.

HDB noted in its statement that the supply of BTO flats had steadily increased since 2021 when 17,100 flats were put up for sale. This marks a 35 per cent increase from two years ago.

The Board “will continue to monitor the housing demand closely and continue to maintain a steady pipeline of supply. Meanwhile, we remain on track to launch a total of 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025,” it added.

Here are more details about upcoming BTO flats for sale:

• August—6,700 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats in towns/estates such as Choa Chu Kang, Kallang Whampoa, Queenstown and Tengah.
• November— 6,300 flats in towns/estates such as Bedok, Bishan, Bukit Merah, Bukit Panjang, Jurong West, Queenstown and Woodlands.

On Monday, National Development Minister Desmond Lee noted that Singapore is “continuing to see signs of moderation in the property market, based on the 2Q2023 flash estimates for the Property Price Index (PPI) and the Resale Price Index (RPI) released this morning.”

Flash estimates released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Jul 3 show that while home prices had gone up by 3.3 per cent in the first quarter of the year, they’ve gone down by 0.4 per cent in the second quarter.

This is the first time a decline has occurred since the first quarter of 2020.

Bloomberg quotes Wilson Ng and Derek Chang, analysts at  Morgan Stanley, saying, “We believe the recent moderation in prices was driven by the latest round of property cooling measures in April, and we expect prices to edge up for the rest of the year.”

Morgan Stanley has projected a 5 per cent price increase for 2023, Bloomberg added. /TISG

‘Would you get married just to own BTO and then split ways after “earning through the house”?’ — Netizen