Over 50,000 flats to be launched in three years; HDB to beat earlier target

19,600 of the units will be launched in 2025, says minister Desmond Lee

- Isabelle Liew

Build-To-Order Some 19,600 (BTO) flats will be launched in 2025, as part of continued efforts by the authorities to address shocks to the housing market caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

These flats will be among more than 50,000 units that the Housing Board will launch from 2025 to 2027.

The figures, revealed by Minister for National Development Desmond Lee in a media interview on Jan 13, will mean that the authorities would have launched around 102,300 new flats from 2021 to 2025, exceeding their target of 100,000 flats.

This was an effort to ramp up housing supply after the pandemic caused construction to come to a halt, which led to delays for many BTO projects some for up to 12 months.

Mr Lee said that keys to the last pandemic-delayed BTO project will be handed out "in a matter of weeks".

"I wouldn't say we entirely resolved everything, but I think after a few years, we've not just addressed the issue of pandemic-delayed flats, but also addressed (demand from first-timer applicants)." The 2025 flat supply includes 3,800 flats with shorter waiting times of below three years. The number of flats that will be aunched in 2025 is similar to the 19,637 units released in 2024.

In February, HDB will launch 5,000 BTO flats and another 5,500 balance flats for sale - the largest exercise for these flats to date.

Mr Lee said that beyond 2027, the Government will study the demand for homes before deciding how many flats to launch.

He noted that the Covid-19 pandemic was the "crisis of a generation", which had a significant impact on construction and housing, and created challenges both in terms of supply and demand.

"We had the challenge with supply... because we shut down construction for the first time in our history," Mr Lee said, adding that constraints on supply chains and manpower meant also that the pipeline of new flats was affected significantly.