Tag Archives: The Peak @ Toa Payoh

Condo-style HDB flat prices going up

Increases of up to $20k surprise analysts, given buyers’ income ceiling

The 480-unit Natura Loft at Bishan – an example of HDB’s Design, Build and Sell Scheme – is now more than 80 per cent sold, up from 75 per cent just a month or so ago. Developer QingJian Realty has raised prices by between $5,000 and $20,000 on the back of an improved market. — PHOTO: QINGJIAN REALTY

PROPERTY developers have raised the prices of condominium-style public flats for the first time since their inception, in a bid to ride the mass market property boom.

A check by The Straits Times revealed that prices of flats at Natura Loft at Bishan and The Peak@Toa Payoh have risen by up to 3 per cent, or $20,000, depending on the attributes of the flats.

This move has surprised industry analysts, as buyers of such hybrid flats under the Housing Board’s Design, Build and Sell scheme (DBSS) have a fixed household income ceiling of $8,000.

‘The prices are higher but the income ceiling is still the same. These buyers are unlikely to have seen their wages rise, given the recent recession,’ said one industry analyst who declined to be named. Continue reading