SINGAPORE - The upcoming Build-to-Order (BTO) sales exercise in August has been pushed back to end-September or early October, the Housing Board said on Friday.
This is because the ballot results for the May BTO launch have been delayed to the first week of August instead of July, while those who applied for Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) will get their ballot queue number only in the last week of August.
HDB said the new timeline would allow interested flat applicants to know their queue position before deciding whether to apply for a flat in the next sales launch.
This will also give the board more time to finalise the system changes needed for the new First-Timer (Parents & Married Couples) priority category and other changes which will take effect from the next sales exercise, it added.
Home seekers will be able to apply for flats from end-September or early October, instead of the usual end-August or early September.
The delay in ballot results for the May BTO sales exercises stemmed from system glitches, with some potential buyers waiting for up to two hours in a virtual waiting room before they could access the HDB flat portal on day one of the launch, among other issues.
HDB cited three reasons for the long wait to apply for a flat – higher application volume due to the combined BTO and SBF launch, popular projects in the mature estates of Bedok and Serangoon, and high online traffic as people went to the flat portal to browse the flats on offer.
In the May exercises, more than 20,000 people applied for BTO flats, and more than 17,000 people submitted applications in the SBF exercise. HDB said it has since reconfigured the virtual waiting room to minimise waiting time for all applicants.
The launch in May was also the first time that applicants had to complete a preliminary assessment for the HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter before applying for a flat.
The HFE letter, which replaces the HDB Loan Eligibility letter, was introduced to streamline the purchase process.
Buyers just need to make a single application to obtain the letter informing them if they are eligible to buy a new or resale flat, how much of the housing grants they can use and the HDB loan amount they qualify for.
Those who intend to apply for a flat in the upcoming BTO launch should apply for their letter by mid-August, HDB said.
The HFE letter is valid for six months.
HDB will be offering about 6,700 flats in estates such as Choa Chu Kang, Kallang/Whampoa, Queenstown and Tengah in the next BTO exercise.
The final sales exercise of 2023, which will be held in December 2023, will offer about 6,300 flats in Bedok, Bishan, Bukit Merah, Bukit Panjang, Jurong West, Queenstown and Woodlands.
HDB said it remains on track to launch a total of 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025.
