Success Rates for Applicants for HDB's Fresh Start Housing and Two-Room Flexi Schemes

Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for National Development (a) how many successful applicants have benefited from HDB's Fresh Start Housing Scheme and Two-Room Flexi scheme respectively since their launch; (b) of the unsuccessful applicants under the Two-Room Flexi scheme, how many of them are (i) aged 55 years and below and (ii) aged 55 years and above; and (c) whether HDB intends to increase the supply of such flats.

First, the 2-Room Flexi Scheme. HDB has offered close to 7,800 2-room Flexi flats since its introduction in the November 2015 sales exercise. Of these, about 3,700 flats have been booked and about 4,100 flats are still undergoing selection.

To date, flat selection has been fully completed only for the November 2015 BTO exercise. For that exercise, more than 70% of the applicants are aged below 55, and these are applications for the 2-room 99-year lease flats. The remainder 30% is aged 55 or above, who mostly opt for the 2-room short lease flats. Among the unsuccessful applicants, about nine in 10 are aged below 55 and the majority of them are singles.

HDB will continue to monitor the demand from all buyer groups and calibrate the flat supply judiciously.

Second, the Fresh Start Housing Scheme. The Fresh Start Housing Scheme is not yet available for application. We target to initiate the application process by end-2016. More details will be announced nearer to the date.