Future Housing Board flats built in prime, central locations will be subjected to a 10-year minimum occupation period (MOP) and the Government will claw back additional subsidies upon their resale.
These measures, announced yesterday under a new prime location public housing (PLH) model, are aimed at keeping prime HDB flats affordable and inclusive.
The pool of resale buyers of these prime HDB flats will also be limited to households that earn not more than $14,000 a month and include at least one Singapore citizen as an applicant.
Fewer flats may be set aside under HDB's Married Child Priority Scheme, which gives priority to applicants whose parents or children live in the same area.
National Development Minister Desmond Lee said yesterday the new model aims to keep prime HDB flats accessible to Singaporeans, both during the initial purchase and at subsequent resales on the open market.
The PLH model will apply only to future public housing in prime locations, such as the Greater Southern Waterfront, and not to existing flat owners.
The first Build-To-Order (BTO) project under this model will be located in Rochor and launched next month.
There will be at least one prime location public housing project launched each year, depending on site availability and the overall supply of flats across all towns, said Mr Lee.
To prevent the "lottery effect" when owners resell these flats on the open market, additional subsidies provided for these flats will be clawed back by the Government.
All subsidies are factored into flat prices when they are launched as BTO flats.
Flat owners will pay a percentage of the resale price to HDB when they resell their home on the open market for the first time. This does not apply to subsequent resale transactions.
The move comes as a record number of HDB flats have changed hands for at least $1 million this year, on the back of a buoyant HDB resale market that has seen overall flat prices hit a record high in the third quarter of this year.
Buyers who want one of these prime flats on the resale market will have to meet the prevailing eligibility conditions, including income ceilings and citizenship.
Singles above 35 years old will not be allowed to buy these PLH flats. This is in contrast to current rules that do not place limitations on singles above the age of 35 buying resale flats.
"Without such restrictions, the resale prices of these homes in prime locations may rise beyond the reach of many Singaporeans over time," said Mr Lee.
The MOP for prime location HDB flats will be extended to 10 years, up from the current five. Owners will also not be allowed to rent out their whole flat at any point in time, even after the MOP is over.
These conditions will apply to all flat owners who purchase BTO and resale flats under the PLH model.
They will be in place for at least half of the 99-year lease of each prime location HDB flat before the Government considers whether to review them.
"These policies will help to strengthen the owner-occupation intent of public housing and also seek to deter speculative demand and moderate resale prices," said Mr Lee.
He added that the new PLH model, which comes after almost a year of public consultations, strives to balance the many considerations and trade-offs, while fulfilling the key social objectives of public housing.
"As with all our policies, the new PLH model is not cast in stone. It is very new and we will continue to review the parameters over time, based on our experience from the projects that are launched along the way," he said.
