HDB to launch 17,000 new flats in 2018, keeping supply steady
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — The Housing and Development Board (HDB) will put up 17,000 new flats for sale in 2018, slightly fewer than the 17,584 flats launched in 2017.
Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong made the announcement on Thursday (Dec 14).
Home hunters can expect a "good spread of projects across mature and non-mature estates", including in Tengah, which will have Singapore's first car-free town centre, he added.
In a blog entry titled Another Fruitful Year for Public Housing, Mr Wong said: "We will continue to calibrate our flat supply carefully, taking into account underlying demand and the stability of the HDB resale market."
The news that Build-To-Order (BTO) flat supply will be kept steady came one day after the Ministry of National Development said it will keep the supply of development land for private housing steady for the first half of 2018, despite strong demand from developers in recent tenders and a pick-up in transaction volumes.
In November, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, in its periodic financial stability review, warned of excessive exuberance in the property market, and urged prospective buyers to be prudent in their buying decisions.
As announced earlier, the first batch of BTO flats with a shorter waiting time of about 2½ years, compared with the typical three- to four-year wait, will be launched in the second half of next year. About 1,000 of these units will be put up for sale in Sembawang, Sengkang and Yishun.
Property analysts said that by keeping supply steady, the Government was "playing it safe" on both the private and public housing fronts.
Nevertheless, they noted that while there is a risk of oversupply in the private residential market — given the large potential supply of around 20,000 units from awarded en bloc sales and government land sales sites that have not yet been granted planning approval — the picture is less clear for HDB flats.
ERA key executive Eugene Lim noted that "more time is needed" to monitor the impact of new HDB schemes including the shorter waiting times, and the Re-offer of Balance Flats (ROF exercise which was conducted for the first time in August. The ROF exercise aims to help those with more urgent housing needs, and/or those who are less particular about location and attributes, to quickly get a flat.
On the Government's move to keep steady the supply of public and private housing, International Property Advisor chief executive Ku Swee Yong said: "Keeping supply constant is a clear signal that the policy planners want to maintain a consistent but small oversupply in order to prevent prices from going up."
On next year's BTO supply, Mr Ku felt that it could contribute to a supply glut from 2020 onwards.
He noted that the HDB stock has increased by almost 130,000 units from 2011 till now, which works out to average a release of 18,570 new units. "We have probably another 50,000 units under construction today," he added.
Public housing supply peaked between 2011 and 2013, with about 25,000 BTO units coming onstream each year. The supply tapered off to 22,400 units in 2014, 15,000 in 2015, and 18,000 last year.
However, the other analysts said there were no signs yet of a public housing glut, although demand has slowed, as evidenced by a steady drop in BTO application rates of three-room and bigger flats from 3.3 in February to 1.5 in the latest exercise last month.
Mr Wong Xian Yang, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie, felt that demand remains healthy, given that four-room flats in general as well as projects located close to MRT stations are still highly sought after. "It's still all about location, location, location and Singaporeans are willing to pay a premium for projects which have good locational attributes," he added.
Dr Lee Nai Jia, who is the head of South-east Asia research at Edmund Tie & Company, reiterated that public housing projects in prime locations are still popular. "The demand for mature estates is strong especially for four- and five-room HDB flats," he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Wong underlined his ministry's efforts to help first-timer families move into their own homes more quickly.
In February, the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Housing Grant was increased from S$30,000 to S$40,000/S$50,000 to allow first-timer couples the ability to buy a flat on the open market more affordably. As a result, these couples can now receive up to S$110,000 in grants when buying a resale flat.
To date, close to 6,900 first-timer households have benefitted from the enhanced CPF Housing Grant, Mr Wong said.
He added that about 840 households have benefitted from enhancements to the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme. The scheme lets couples who are waiting for their new flats to be ready to co-rent and co-pay a flat to reduce their rental expenses.
Mr Wong also touched on the launch of the first Re-offer of Balance Flats exercise that was conducted in August, which pools unsold flats for sale to those with more urgent housing needs, or who are less particular about location.
"While the flat selection exercise is still ongoing, about 800 households have already managed to book a flat," said Mr Wong.
He added that the ministry will continue its efforts to ensure that the housing policies remain inclusive and "enable families to live closer together for mutual care and support".
