Overwhelming demand for 2-room flexi flats in October BTO launch

Overall surge driven by pent-up demand from first-time single buyers, says HDB

- Joyce Lim

Two-room flexi flats are seeing overwhelming demand from first-time single home buyers in the ongoing October HDB Build-To-Order (BTO) sales exercise, with as many as 20 applicants per flat in some projects.

Singles were behind the surge in BTO applications, said the Housing Board, which had received nearly 28,200 applications across all flat types as at 5pm on Oct 21. It is the highest number of applications since the November 2022 BTO exercise.

In a Facebook post on Oct 21, HDB said it expects to receive about 35,000 to 40,000 applications by the time the sales exercise closes at 11.59pm on Oct 23 - it would work out to about four or five applicants per flat.

The latest launch in October saw more than 8,500 flats put up for sale under a new framework, which classifies projects as Standard, Plus or Prime, based on factors like proximity to the city centre and transport connectivity.

BTO units closer to amenities such as MRT stations and town centres will fall under the Prime and Plus categories, which come with stricter resale conditions such as a 10-year minimum occupation period (MOP) and a subsidy clawback of between 6 per cent and 9 per cent.