Some 19,600 new Housing and Development Board (HDB) public housing flats will be launched in three batches in February, June and October 2024.

Feb. 2024 BTO exercise

About 4,100 build-to-order (BTO) flats will be offered in the February 2024 BTO exercise, HDB said on Jan. 8.

These flats will be in Bedok, Queenstown, Choa Chu Kang, Hougang, Punggol and Woodlands.

Around 1,500 sale of balance units will also be available in February.

Median number of applicants per unit fell

The reduction in the number of BTO launches this year comes as application rates for first-timer buyers for all flat types continue to moderate, HDB said.

The HDB will hold three instead of four BTO sales exercises in a year in 2024, the first time it has done so since 2015.

HDB said "home buyers can look forward to a bigger housing supply at each launch", allowing them to choose "from a wider range of flats and locations".

In 2023, HDB launched 22,800 BTO flats across four sales exercises.

Applicants at every BTO launch “will now be able to enjoy a higher chance of success in finding a flat that meets their budget and needs”, HDB said.

“In addition, this will reduce the extent of overlap between the selection exercises and provide greater certainty for home buyers.”

Most flat buyers purchase flats under BTO exercises.

The median number of applicants in 2023 for each available unit was 1.9, a drop from the 3.7 in 2019 before the pandemic.

HDB said BTO application rates for 2023 was lower than recent years.

Waiting times for flats back to pre-pandemic levels

The waiting times of flats has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

In 2023, almost 70 per cent of the flats had waiting times of four years or less.

HDB said it would work towards having 75 per cent of the new flats slated for launch in 2024 to have waiting times of four years or less.

More than 2,800 flats, or about 14 per cent, of the new flats slated for launch in 2024 will be shorter waiting time flats with a waiting time of less than three years.

There were 732 shorter waiting time flats offered in 2023.

HDB completed about 21,400 flats across some 23 housing projects in 2023.

The remaining 19 pandemic-delayed projects remain under construction.

Standard, Plus & Prime categories

The October 2024 sales exercise will also see the implementation of the new classification and the launch of flats under the Standard, Plus and Prime categories, which depends on location and other attributes.

The reclassification will not apply to existing flats or those already launched.

The new categorisation will replace the current mature or non-mature housing estates categorisation.

Top photo via Unsplash