Debated in Parliament on 30 Nov 2022.
Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for National Development with regard to HDB's BTO applications in mature estates in each of the last three years (a) how many applicants are successful in their BTO flat application at their first attempt; (b) what is the median number of attempts for a BTO flat before obtaining a successful application; (c) how many applications required more than five attempts for a successful application; and (d) what is the maximum number of failed attempts that an applicant put in for a BTO flat.
Generally, we see high demand for Build-To-Order (BTO) flats in the mature estates (MEs). Given the strong demand and limited flat supply, not all flat applicants applying for BTO flats in the MEs can secure one. As such, we encourage applicants to apply for flats in the non-mature estates (NMEs) in order to improve their chances of securing a BTO flat. Virtually all first-timer (FT) families who apply for NME BTO flats were given a chance to select a flat within their first three tries, and almost 90% were given a chance to select a flat within their first two tries.
From 2019 to 2021, the percentage of all FT families who were successful on their first ME BTO attempt was between 20% and 24%.
Of all FT families who were successful for ME BTO flats in each year from 2019 to 2021, the median number of ME BTO attempts before a successful ME BTO application was one. It would not be representative to look at the maximum number of unsuccessful ME BTO attempts made by an FT family before they succeeded. This is because there are some applicants who may not have an urgent need for a BTO flat and may be applying exclusively to ME BTO projects or more attractive BTO projects only. Nevertheless, our records show that over the past three years, of all FT families who were successful for ME BTO flats, less than 2% took more than five tries.
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