BTO Exercise Update: 55 singles vying for each two-room flat on offer

View of some blocks of flats that make up The Coris, a Build-To-Order (BTO) project in Sengkang. Around 55 singles have applied for each two-room flat on offer in the Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise which closes at midnight on Monday, Aug 5, 2013, late
View of some blocks of flats that make up The Coris, a Build-To-Order (BTO) project in Sengkang. Around 55 singles have applied for each two-room flat on offer in the Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise which closes at midnight on Monday, Aug 5, 2013, latest figures showed. -- FILE PHOTO: HDB

Around 55 singles have applied for each two-room flat on offer in the Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise which closes at midnight on Monday, latest figures showed.

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said on his blog that the strong response countered skeptics' views.

He added that the flood of applications from singles has not affected the first-timer families applying for two-room flats. Their application rate, or number of applications per flat, is below one. This means they will very likely get to select a flat.

Sengkang's two-room flats were particularly popular, attracting 77 singles per flat - twice as high as the 36.6 per Yishun flat.

The launch was the first time singles could buy new Housing Board flats. Up to 30 per cent of the 519 two-room flats in Sengkang and Yishun will be reserved for them.

"Over the next few weeks, we will analyse the BTO data in greater detail to see how we can refine our next BTOs," said Mr Khaw.

He revealed that the median age of the singles who applied was 43, and their median monthly median income $1,800.

"Our decision to focus on the singles aged 35 years and above and up to $5,000 income level, was therefore appropriate," he said.

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