By January, almost 10,000 couples will have benefited from a Housing Board scheme which gives priority to first-timer married couples who have or are expecting young children, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in a blog post on Thursday.

Under the Parenthood Priority Scheme, launched in January this year, 30 per cent of Build-To-Order flats and 50 per cent of balance flats are set aside for such families.

This was one of three policies which Mr Khaw said he adopted with two important social objectives in mind: encouraging marriage and encouraging couples to have children as soon as they get married.

The others were ramped-up construction of new flats, and the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) which gives families the option to rent an HDB flat while waiting for their new flat to be ready. Of 1,150 flats launched under the PPHS in January, almost 800 have been taken up.