THE Housing and Development Board (HDB) will supply about 19,600 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats across three sales exercises.
Including the more than 5,500 Sale of Balance Flats (SBF), over 25,000 new flats will be launched this year, it said.
The increase in supply comes amid a persistent increase in HDB resale prices, which rose 9.6 per cent in 2024.
Flash estimates released in early January showed that resale prices continued to rise in the last quarter of 2024, albeit at a slower pace of 2.5 per cent compared with the 2.7 per cent recorded in Q3.
On Thursday (Jan 16), HDB noted that with the planned offer of 19,600 BTO flats, it is on track to offer 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025.
Among the new BTO flats, 3,800 will have a waiting time of less than three years, up from the 2,876 of such flats offered in 2024. It is also more than HDB’s committed annual supply of 2,000 to 3,000 Shorter Waiting Time (SWT) flats.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Tuesday, 12 pm
Property Insights
Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.
The agency said it will continue to roll out more SWT flats each year and work towards reducing the waiting time of other BTO flats, to support first-timer flat buyers.
To achieve this, HDB said it has introduced the First-Timer (Parents and Married Couples) priority category, where married couples and families with young children receive an extra ballot chance for their BTO or SBF flat applications.
This means they receive a total of three ballot chances when applying for any flat type in any estate.
Married couples and families with young children also receive priority when they apply for a four-room and smaller Standard BTO flat.
On the application front, HDB said it will conduct three BTO sale exercises and one SBF exercise.
It noted that BTO application rates have fallen, with a rate of 2.1 for first-timer homebuyers across all flat types in 2024, lower than the pre-pandemic rate of 3.7 in 2019.
For three-roomers and larger flats, the application rate was down at 2.2, from four in 2019.
HDB added that it will continue to put out a “steady pipeline of flats to meet housing demand in the next few years”. It aims to launch more than 50,000 flats between 2025 and 2027.
To ensure that flats are allocated more efficiently, the government has tightened rules for non-selection of new HDB flats.
As a result, almost all flats are now booked by applicants within the first 200 per cent of the flat supply, said the agency.
National Development Minister Desmond Lee said: “From the February 2025 sales exercise onwards, HDB will shortlist applicants up to 200 per cent of the total flat supply, instead of up to 300 per cent.”
He added: “This change will improve system efficiency, enabling HDB to serve shortlisted applicants faster.”
In the February sales exercise, HDB will supply about 5,000 BTO flats in Kallang/Whampoa, Queenstown, Woodlands and Yishun. It will also hold its largest SBF exercise.
About four in 10 of the flats to be offered in the SBF exercise are completed units, while the remaining units are still under construction. They are slated for completion from 2025 to 2028.
