Singles Buying Resale HDB Flats

Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for National Development (a) what has been the annual number of singles who buy resale flats since the rule was changed to allow singles to buy HDB resale flats; (b) whether there is a rising trend of such transactions by singles; (c) what has been the total number of such transactions by singles for each flat type; and (d) whether there is any rising demand for a particular flat type by singles.

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Singles have been able to buy resale flats since the introduction of the Joint Singles (JS) Scheme in 1990 and the Single Singapore Citizen (SSC) Scheme in 1991.

Between 1992 and 2011, singles bought an average of 4,600 resale flats yearly. There is no rising trend of more singles buying resale flats. In fact, the number of singles buying resale flats has fallen from an average of 5,600 flats a year between 2002 and 2006 to an average of 4,300 flats a year between 2007 and 2011.

Singles have been allowed to buy any flat type on the resale market since 2004. Prior to this, they were only allowed to buy 3-room or smaller resale flats. 3-room flats remain the most popular flat type purchased by singles, although the proportion of singles-buyers buying 4-room and 5-room flats has increased. In 2005, 60% of singles-buyers bought 3-room flats, 26% bought 4-room flats, and 9% bought 5-room flats. In 2011, 48% of singles-buyers bought 3-room flats, 33% bought 4-room flats and 13% bought 5-room flats.

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