SINGAPORE - Close to 40 per cent of appeals by Singapore citizens and permanent residents to buy a Housing Board flat while holding on to private property were approved in the last two years.

Of the 1,587 appeals received, 486 came from those who owned private property in Singapore while 1,101 owned property overseas.

A total of 606 appeals were approved and these were all appeals from Singapore citizens.

Minister of State (National Development) Desmond Lee said this in Parliament on Friday in response to questions by Member of Parliament (Jurong GRC) Ang Wei Neng.

Mr Ang also asked what criteria was used to decide when approving an appeal.

Mr Lee replied that HDB will assess each appeal on a case-by-case basis.

"For example, if a resident were to have an extenuating circumstance such as financial hardship and needs to buy a HDB flat while the private property is undergoing mortgage sale - this could be a circumstance that would be looked into," he said.