IN THE last exercise before the classification of Housing and Development Board (HDB) Build-To-Order (BTO) flats changes, the number of applicants in June jumped by more than 100 per cent compared with the previous application in February.
As at 5 pm on Wednesday (Jun 26), there were 21,827 applicants vying for the 6,938 new flats offered for sale, or an application rate of 3.1.
The application rate is the highest since May 2023’s BTO exercise, at 3.8 times.
Huttons Asia’s senior director of data analytics Lee Sze Teck noted that this application has the highest number since the November 2022 BTO exercise, which attracted 24,562 applicants.
Lee attributed the spike to this being the last BTO launch where buyers will face fewer restrictions on the subsequent sale of their flat, before the classification of flats change to Standard, Plus or Prime for the October 2024 BTO exercise.
Ismail Gafoor, PropNex chief executive, pointed out that the response is not entirely surprising given the areas offered, including Tampines and Queenstown.
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“This may possibly be one of the reasons why the Tampines project attracted an application rate of 9.1 times; perhaps some applicants had perceived that this location could be a Plus-equivalent project in view of its proximity to the MRT station and an upcoming mixed-use development next door,” Gafoor said.
The BTO application rate at 9.1 times for Tampines GreenTopaz is the highest for a town since a project in Serangoon garnered an application rate of 14.5 times in May 2023, according to PropNex.
The next most popular project was Holland Vista in Queenstown with an application rate of 7.3 times (as at 5 pm), the highest application rate for a prime location public housing (PLH) project since Kallang Horizon (10.7 times) in November 2022, based on PropNex data.
Huttons Asia’s Lee pointed out that the demand for five-room flats among first-time buyers has stayed high. The application rate for five-room flats in February 2024 ranged between 1.6 and 3.3. For the June 2024 BTO launch, the application rate for five-room flats ranged between 0.5 and eight as at 5 pm on Wednesday.
“This shows that applicants are looking for a big space to accommodate their future family needs.”
Gafoor of PropNex said that first-timer families who applied for non-mature estates presently stand a relatively good chance of securing a BTO flat, as the application rates were mostly below two times.
However, first-timer application rates were the highest for Tampines GreenTopaz, at 7.8 times for four-room flats and eight times for five-room units.
Conversely, second-timer families face stiffer competition, especially over the larger flat types – 102.5 times for five-room flats in Tampines GreenTopaz.
The application will close at 11.59 pm on Wednesday.
