2,110 flats in August 2023 BTO launch within walking distance of Kallang or Commonwealth MRT station
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A 3.5ha site in Kallang Airport Way, near the Singapore Sports Hub and Kallang MRT station, that is set to be launched in the August BTO exercise.
ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
SINGAPORE – About 40 per cent of some 6,700 flats to be offered in August’s Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise will be in Kallang-Whampoa, with one project within 200m of Kallang MRT station.
The Housing Board on Tuesday released details of the six projects it plans to launch in August – three are in Kallang-Whampoa, with one project each in Queenstown, Choa Chu Kang and Tengah.
The Kallang-Whampoa project that is near Kallang MRT station will have about 1,140 units of two-room flexi, three- and four-room flats.
Sandwiched between Geylang Road and Kallang Airport Way, the project site is a 500m walk from the Singapore Sports Hub, and close to a bus terminal.
Analysts said the Kallang site and another project in Queenstown located about 300m from Commonwealth MRT station could fall under the prime location public housing (PLH) model, citing their proximity to train stations and nearby BTO developments that have come under the scheme.
The Queenstown project will offer 970 units on a former Commonwealth Drive Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) site next to the Rail Corridor.
Property portal Mogul.sg’s chief research officer Nicholas Mak said BTO sites in these locations are “hard to come by”.
He added that the site near Kallang station – one of six areas that were being prepared for housing by the Urban Redevelopment Authority last week – will likely come under the PLH model, given that it is located in the city fringe and within a few MRT stops of the Central Business District.
Huttons Asia senior director of research Lee Sze Teck agreed, citing the 477-unit Kallang Horizon project – next to Kallang MRT station and launched in November 2022 – which came under the model.
PLH flats come with stricter resale conditions, including a subsidy clawback and 10-year minimum occupation period.
Elsewhere in the town, HDB is slated to launch two projects in Whampoa.
A 1,040-unit project comprising three- and four-room flats will be launched in Jalan Tenteram, on a plot next to Kallang River.
About 600m away, another project will be launched in Jalan Rajah at a former school next to Whampoa River. It will have about 730 units of two-room flexi and four-room flats. Future residents will be near a bus terminal and a 600m walk from Whampoa’s neighbourhood centre, which has a wet market and a hawker centre, as well as other shops.
In Queenstown, HDB will build flats on the site that previously housed Blocks 74 to 80 Commonwealth Drive, which were identified as a Sers project in August 2008. The blocks, which comprised 669 households, were demolished from 2016.
Mr Mak said this project will likely come under the PLH model as it is near an MRT station. He noted that the Ghim Moh Natura project, which is located farther from the city centre, is under the scheme.
Mr Lee highlighted that flats at the nearby Block 50 Commonwealth Drive have been sold for more than $1 million. Between November 2021 and January 2023, three five-room flats in the block crossed the mark.
The fifth project to be launched in August will be the largest at 1,870 units. It will include a range of flat types – two-room flexi, three-, four- and five-room, and three-generation flats.
To be integrated with a section of the Rail Corridor, the project located along Woodlands Road will have a linear green area that runs along Pang Sua Canal.
Pang Sua Canal lies next to a woodland, which will be redeveloped for a Build-To-Order project.
PHOTO: ST FILE
The project in Tengah will have 1,010 units, with a mix of two-room flexi, as well as three-, four- and five-room units. About 250 will be rental flats.
It will be located next to a Jurong Region Line MRT station that is slated to open in 2028, and within walking distance of Pioneer Primary School, which will be relocated to Tengah in 2026.
August’s launch will add to about 9,900 BTO flats already launched in 2023 – 5,495 on Tuesday and 4,428 in February.
New measures that prioritise first-time BTO flat applicants will take effect from the August launch, along with tightened flat selection rules aimed at reducing the number of people who decline to pick a flat.
HDB said on Tuesday that it will offer about 6,300 flats in November. These will tentatively be in Bukit Panjang, Jurong West, Woodlands, Bedok, Bishan, Bukit Merah and Queenstown.
