More BTO options for young couples with easing of income assessment rules

The Housing Board will relax the way it assesses the income of young couples when they buy a Build-To-Order (BTO) flat, making it easier for those who are still studying or just started working to buy their preferred units.

- Isabelle Liew

From the next BTO exercise in July, couples can choose to delay their income assessment for a housing loan until just before they collect the keys to their flat, as long as one party is a full-time student or national serviceman.

This would effectively mean that couples would be able to qualify for a higher loan amount, as they would have been working for some time by then.

National Development Minister Desmond Lee announced this on March 26 during an engagement session about public housing at the National University of Singapore.

Mr Lee also said the authorities are ramping up the supply of BTO flats with shorter waiting times of below three years.

Some 12,000 such flats will be launched from 2025 to 2027—more than what HDB put out over the past five years. They will be among the more than 50,000 flats that the authorities will roll out in that period.

On relaxing the deferred income assessment criteria, Mr Lee said this would help couples settle down earlier and buy a four- or five-room flat if they plan to have children.

To qualify for deferred income assessment before this change, both parties would have to be either full-time students or national servicemen, or have completed their studies or national service in the 12 months before they applied for an HDB flat eligibility letter.

At least one of them must also be aged 30 or below.