Over 5,500 sale of balance flats in Feb 2025 launch
The Housing Board will offer more than 5,500 Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) in February 2025, which will be the largest exercise for these flats to date, even as prices continue to rise in the resale market for an 18th consecutive quarter.
About four in 10 of the SBF will be units that are already completed, with the remaining to be completed progressively from 2025 to 2028, HDB said on Oct 25.
In February’s sales exercise, about 5,000 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats will also be launched in Kallang/Whampoa, Queenstown, Woodlands and Yishun.
Meanwhile, in the resale market, prices of HDB resale flats rose 2.7 per cent from July to September, which is a quicker pace than the 2.3 per cent growth in the previous quarter, according to data released by HDB on Oct 25.
A total of 8,142 HDB resale flats changed hands in the same period, up 10.7 per cent from 7,352 units in the previous quarter.
HDB attributed the increase in resale prices and transactions to strong broad-based demand and supply tightness in the market, as fewer new flats would meet its minimum occupation period in 2024, compared with the year before.
It added that the “vast majority” of resale flat transactions in the third quarter of 2024 were sold for “much lower” than $1 million. Resale flats that were sold for $1 million and above continued to make up a small proportion of total resale transactions.
HDB said the latest quarterly figures largely reflect the market conditions before the cooling measure implemented on Aug 20, which tightened the loan-to-value limit for HDB loans from 80 per cent to 75 per cent.
“The Government will continue to monitor the property market closely and adjust its policies as necessary to promote a stable and sustainable property market,” it said.
It advised households to be financially prudent in their flat purchases as the property market moves in cycles and “those who buy high will be hit harder when prices eventually come down”.
In February, the BTO and SBF offered will make up more than 10,000 new flats put up for sale.
SBF launches give applicants a chance to apply for balance flats from earlier BTO sale exercises. These homes are usually already under construction, near completion or completed.
In January, it was announced that SBF exercises will happen only once a year, down from twice yearly previously.
HDB advised home seekers to apply for an HDB Flat Eligibility letter by Dec 15, so that they can take part in the upcoming sales exercise.
HDB said it remains on track to launch 100,000 BTO flats from 2021 to 2025.
In 2024, 19,637 flats were released for sale. To reach the 100,000-flat goal, about 17,300 flats would have to be rolled out in 2025.
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