SINGAPORE: The Singapore government is reviewing the eligibility age for singles to buy Build-to-Order (BTO) flats, as well as overall income ceilings, with changes to these two public housing policies to be made at an “appropriate time”, said National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat.
Having enough supply will be key, which is why the Housing and Development Board (HDB) is ramping up plans to build more new homes, he told local media earlier this week.
This was Mr Chee’s first sit-down interview since taking over the national development portfolio after a post-election Cabinet reshuffle in May.
He said the government has worked to ramp up public housing supply to meet demand, after grappling with construction delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It has since completed all pandemic-delayed projects. It also earlier committed to rolling out 100,000 new flats from 2021 to 2025, but surpassed that by launching some 102,300 units in that period.
Moving forward, the government will be “building more and building faster”, Mr Chee said.
For a start, it will launch around 55,000 BTO flats from 2025 to 2027, 10 per cent more than an initial target of 50,000 flats over the three years.
These will be in new estates such as Mount Pleasant, Woodlands North Coast, Sembawang North and the former Keppel Club golf course.
Around 4,500 new flats with shorter waiting times of less than three years will also be put up for sale this year, up from an initial target of 3,800 and exceeding the 2,800 in 2024.
Over the next two years, HDB will then launch about 4,000 flats with shorter wait times annually – a third more than a previous commitment to offer 2,000 to 3,000 of such flats each year.
In the private housing market, the government will sustain a “steady level” of supply by launching more than 25,000 private residential units from 2025 to 2027, through the Government Land Sales programme.
Together with 45,000 units already in the pipeline, more than 70,000 new private housing units will be completed by around 2030, Mr Chee said.
