Debated in Parliament on 19 Nov 2018.
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the status of the backlog of unsuccessful applications for two-room BTO flats; (b) how many of these applicants are singles; (c) how many more two-room BTO flats will be available in the next three years; and (d) how does the Ministry plan to increase the supply of two-room BTO flats.
From 2015 to 2017, the proportion of applicants who were invited to book a 2-room flexi flat increased from 52% to 84%.
For singles, their application rate has come down steadily from 8.5 in 2015 to 4.4 for the Build-To-Order (BTO) launches in 2018 so far. This improvement was made possible through the Housing and Development Board's (HDB's) efforts to increase the supply of 2-room flexi flats in non-mature estates, from 320 in 2012 to an average of about 4,000 per year from 2014. HDB will continue to offer this same level of flat supply in 2018. Beyond that, HDB will continue to finetune its 2-room flexi flat supply to meet the demand from singles.
Besides buying a flat from HDB, singles can consider the option of buying a resale flat on the open market. The wide range of resale flats available, and housing grants totalling up to $60,000 for eligible buyers, will help singles to find a suitable flat within their budget.
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