The bumper supply of public housing this year has given more chances for both first-timers and second-timers to own their own homes, according to National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan in his latest blog post.
“The mega launch in March of a combined BTO (Build-to-Order) and SBF (Sale of Balance Flats) offering with 8,000 new flats, gave us an opportunity to test out the revised balloting rules, to favour second-timers in non-mature estates,” noted Mr Khaw.
He said that application rates showed that second-timers received more chances to own a flat while figures for first-timers remains satisfactory.
As of 5pm yesterday, the overall application rate for first-timers stood at 1.6, while it was 8.8 for second-timers. This is notably lower than the numbers in March which stood at 2.2 and 10.8 for first- and second-timers respectively.
At the same time, first-timer application rates in non-mature estates slipped to 1.3 from 1.9 in March.
“If first-timer application rates hold steady at below 2, I will be able to help even more second-timers get their new flats … This is much to be cheerful about,” said Mr Khaw.
“As planned, more second-timers, too, will be able to select a flat. Their application rate in non-mature estates is at a single digit level of 7.3, which is similar to the rate of 7.0 in March.”
He also made reference to the controversial Toh Yi studio apartments which saw around 220 applications for 132 units. Approximately 12 percent are existing Toh Yi residents.
“The new Ageing-in-place Priority Scheme has ensured that all the Toh Yi residents who applied got a chance to select a unit, allowing them to age in place. This is a truly cheerful result!” he said.
Source : PropertyGuru – 2012 Jun 6
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