October BTO exercise to include 7 Plus projects, 1 Prime project

SINGAPORE: Home buyers can look forward to seven Plus projects and one Prime project in the upcoming Build-to-Order (BTO) sales exercise next week, which will be the first to classify public housing under a new framework.
The Plus projects – defined as flats sited in “choicer locations with good connectivity and/or unique features” – will comprise 3,273 units in four towns, namely Kallang/Whampoa, Ang Mo Kio, Bedok and Geylang, announced the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Wednesday (Oct 9).
These include the Kallang View project, which is located between Kallang and Geylang Bahru MRT stations.
Two other BTO projects in the Plus category – Bayshore Vista and Bayshore Palms – are located slightly further from the city centre, but offer “a unique waterfront living experience, with sea view on the upper floors”, HDB said.
The sole BTO project to be labelled as Prime – a category for projects in “exceptionally good locations” – is situated in Kallang/Whampoa. Crawford Heights, located at the junction of North Bridge Road and Crawford Street, will have 312 flats on offer.
Another seven BTO projects are Standard flats located in five towns, namely Bukit Batok, Jurong West, Pasir Ris, Sengkang and Woodlands.
A total of 4,988 Standard flats – ranging from 2-room flexi to 3Gen flats – will be launched, accounting for more than half of the supply of new flats in the upcoming BTO sales exercise.
PRIME
Crawford Heights in Kallang/Whampoa – 312 flats
PLUS
Kallang View in Kallang/Whampoa – 271 flats
Towner Breeze in Kallang/Whampoa – 355 flats
Central Trio in Ang Mo Kio – 422 flats
Bayshore Vista in Bedok – 734 flats
Bayshore Palms in Bedok – 710 flats
Kembangan Wave in Bedok – 348 flats
Merpati Alcove in Geylang – 433 flats
STANDARD
West BrickVille in Bukit Batok – 689 flats
Taman Jurong Skyline in Jurong West – 1,844 flats
Costa Riviera I in Pasir Ris – 276 flats
Costa Riviera II in Pasir Ris – 491 flats
Fernvale Oasis in Sengkang – 851 flats
Fernvale Sails in Sengkang – 545 flats
Marsiling Ridge in Woodlands – 292 flats
In total, HDB will offer 8,573 flats across 15 projects in nine HDB towns in the upcoming BTO sales exercise.
This will mark the largest number of projects launched in a BTO exercise to date, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said at an HDB roadshow held at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
The number of new flats launched will also account for more than 40 per cent of the new HDB flat supply for 2024, HDB said in its press release.
 
In an overhaul to the classification of estates as either mature or non-mature, BTO flats launched from October will be classified as Standard, Plus or Prime.
Mr Lee said the flats are classified based on “a holistic assessment” of three key criteria – proximity to the city centre, transport connectivity and availability of amenities, such as social and commercial services that are typically found in town centres.
“Standard projects will be classified based on a holistic assessment of their locational attributes. They may have one or two good attributes, while Plus and Prime projects will generally have even more attractive attributes,” he said.
HDB said the new classification will also mean that there will be projects with “different classifications within the same town, due to variations in locational attractiveness”.
Taking the upcoming BTO sales exercise as an example, Mr Lee noted how Kallang/Whampoa will see “a bumper crop” of three BTO projects on offer.
Two of these projects – Kallang View and Towner Breeze – will be Plus flats due to their short commute to the city centre, good transport options, as well as accessible and developed amenities.
But the third project, Crawford Heights, is classified as a Prime project as it has locational attributes that are “one notch above”. The project is a five-minute walk to Lavender MRT station and is near Rochor River, Kallang Riverside Park, and the future Kallang Alive precinct, Mr Lee said.
“As you can see, there are variations in locational attractiveness even within the same town … and we should therefore expect different projects to have different classifications,” the minister said.
Likewise, Plus projects could also be launched in the same town as Standard projects.
HDB said this is similar to how projects under the Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) model and normal BTO projects have been launched in some mature estates like Queenstown and Kallang/Whampoa in recent years. 
The PLH model was launched in November 2021 to ensure that central areas do not become “exclusive neighbourhoods that only the well-to-do can enjoy in private housing”. It includes BTO projects located in prime areas and comes with a minimum occupation period of 10 years.
HDB said this means that Prime flats will not be limited to just the central area and towns immediately surrounding the city centre, such as Bukit Merah, Queenstown, Kallang/Whampoa.
The classification of each project will be announced at launch to ensure that buyers make an informed decision, it added.
Authorities have said that the new HDB classification framework is done to ensure home ownership is made affordable to all income groups, maintain a good social mix in every town and region, as well as keep the system fair for everyone.
Mr Lee reiterated this on Wednesday, noting that HDB will provide additional subsidies to those buying Plus and Prime flats to ensure that these flats remain affordable to a wider group of Singaporeans.
But tighter restrictions will also be imposed for these two flat categories “to limit the lottery effect and to be fair to buyers who do not receive such additional subsidies”, he said.
These restrictions include a 10-year minimum occupation period, instead of the usual five years, as well as a subsidy clawback upon the resale of these flats. These flats will also be bound by stricter resale conditions.
“These restrictions are intended to reinforce the concept of owner-occupation in public housing. They seek to reduce the investment value of a BTO flat and thereby, limit speculative gains or what we call the lottery effect,” Mr Lee said.
“Ultimately, this will allow us to provide home owners with a wide range of options across flat types, and across the island, to find the one that suits their budget and their needs,” he added.
Alongside the roll-out of the new classification system, HDB said “consequential alignments” will be made to various areas, such as the flat allocation quotas and ballot chances for first-timer applicants, as well as the proportion of flat supply set aside under the various priority schemes.
“In general, parameters that previously applied to non-mature estate flats will now be applied to Standard flats, and parameters that previously only applied to PLH flats will now only apply to Prime flats,” HDB said.
For instance, at least 95 per cent of four-room and larger flats in mature and non-mature estates are currently set aside for first-timer families. 
With the new classification, the same percentage of four-room and larger flats across the Standard, Plus and Prime projects will be set aside for first-timer families.
October’s BTO exercise will mark another first, by allowing singles to apply for two-room flexi flats in all locations across Singapore. 
More than 1,900 such flats will be on offer in 10 out of the 15 BTO projects that will be launched, HDB said on Oct 4. These flats are located in Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bukit Batok, Jurong West, Kallang/Whampoa, Pasir Ris and Sengkang.
Authorities also announced over the weekend that the upcoming BTO exercise will include 2,085 new flats with shorter waiting times across three projects in Bukit Batok and Sengkang.
In particular, the flats in West BrickVille@Bukit Batok will be completed within two years, making it “one of the shortest wait time projects” it has launched, HDB said on Oct 6.