THE Housing and Development Board (HDB) will offer 8,000 new flats this year, or more if the pick up is stronger, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan on Wednesday.

Mr Mah said the Board is monitoring demand and will 'calibrate its supply of new flats' to meet some of that demand, but not all.

The HDB launched about 1,300 new flats in the first quarter of the year under its build-to-order (BTO) system where units are only built when certain demand is reached.

It plans to launch a further 2,400 such flats from April to September, subject to demand. The bulk of these will be in Punggol.

Last year, the HDB launched about 7,800 new flats under its BTO system.

Mr Mah, who was speaking on the sidelines of an industry event, said prices in the HDB resale market have stabilised.

Recent HDB flash estimates showed that resale flat prices rose 1.2 per cent in the second quarter to hit a record high after dipping 0.8 per cent in the first quarter.

It surprised analysts and industry observers, who had expected prices to fall amidst Singapore's worst recession.

But Mr Mah said: 'The fact is that the HDB market is a large market... with prices going up or down by one per cent, I would term it a stable market, not a rising market.'

He also said that the HDB will continue to supply new flats but 'we cannot be building new flats to cater to every last person who wants a new flat... because if you do that, then obviously you are over building'.

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.