11,420 applicants applied for the 459 four-room units available at Hougang Citrine and Kovan Wellspring. Source: HDB
The Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) latest sales exercise saw greater demand for Build-To-Order (BTO) flats within non-mature estates, with four-room flats in Hougang registering the highest demand, reported Channel News Asia (CNA).
Of the three BTO exercises conducted this year, this was the first time demand for HDB flats in non-mature estates outstripped those in mature estates.
This comes as mature towns traditionally command higher demand due to their amenities, said ERA Singapore Chief Operating Officer Thomas Tan.
The August 2021 BTO sales exercise also registered the highest number of applications since August last year, which was the first BTO launch following the COVID-19 Circuit Breaker.
For instance, the 459 four-room units in Hougang received over 11,400 applications, which means every applicant only has a 4% chance of securing a unit.
Among the key draws of Kovan Wellspring is its location next to the MRT station, said Huttons Asia Senior Director of Research Lee Sze Teck.
OrangeTee & Tie’s Senior Vice President of Research and Analytics Christine Sun noted that the Kovan development is also “highly popular”, given the limited number of new BTO flats within the area.
For Hougang Citrine, she pointed to the development’s proximity to Maris Stella High and Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School, which are both choice primary schools that are “popular among parents”.
Four-room units at Toh Guan Grove in Jurong East also witnessed huge demand, with the 240 units receiving 3,628 applications. This means every applicant only has a 6.6% chance of clinching a unit.
Lee and Sun said demand in Jurong East had been “pent-up” since there have not been many BTO launches within the area.
In fact, this is the first BTO project to be launched in Jurong East in 10 years, and it is also near a station on the future Jurong Region Line.
Both Toh Guan Grove and Hougang Citrine have a relatively shorter average construction period of about four years.
“The shorter construction period is the draw and the cash over valuation in the resale market is the push,” said Lee as quoted by CNA.
Overall, the three-room or larger BTO units in non-mature estates received more than 18,600 applications, even as only 1,064 flats were offered. This translates to more than 17 applicants for each unit.
Over in the mature estates, the 2,883 three-room or bigger flats offered in Queenstown, Tampines, and Kallang/Whampoa drew almost 15,000 applicants or about five applicants for each unit.
The 226 four-room units in Towner Residences in Kallang/Whampoa posted the highest demand within the mature estates, with 1,928 applications received or more than eight applications for each unit. This means each applicant gets an 11.8% chance of securing a unit.
The 534 units at the Queen’s Arc development attracted over 4,000 applicants, which means each applicant have a one in eight chance of success.
Sun described the higher demand for a BTO unit within non-mature estates as “an exception rather than the norm”.
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Cheryl Chiew, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this story, email: cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg.
