High number of BTO applications does not equate to urgent housing need
Slightly more than half of first-timer applicants invited to book a flat under HDB’s Built-To-Order system between May 2008 and June 2009 did not book a flat, although this rejection rate is lower than before HDB refined its BTO application process in May last year.
That fine tuning saw HDB removing first-timer priority for those who had turned down two chances to select a flat.
Ninety per cent of flats in each BTO project are set aside for those who have first-timer priority.
HDB issued figures yesterday to debunk the perception that a high number of applications for BTO projects equates to urgent housing need, given the relatively still high rates of rejections by first-time applicants.
The average rejection rates furnished by HDB yesterday refer to BTO flats in non-mature estates, where the vast majority of such flats are located, and exclude studio apartments. HDB’s figures yesterday showed that between March 2007 and March 2008, before the application process was refined, 9,088 or 67 per cent of the 13,605 first-timer applicants invited to make their selection did not book a flat. Between May 2008 and June 2009, the rejection rate had fallen to 52 per cent or 6,747 of the 13,080 first-timer applicants invited.
The rejection rate for first-half 2009 has declined to 45 per cent. Continue reading
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