S’pore HDB to offer 20,000 flats in 2013

SINGAPORE: The Housing Board (HDB) will deliver at least 20,000 new flats next year.

That is the promise National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan has given to Singaporeans in a bid to increase home ownership.

“I expect this sustained supply to firmly stabilise the housing market. This will give Singaporeans many options as they make their flat purchases prudently and wisely,” said Khaw on his Housing Matters blog.

The latest infusion of flats comes on the back of the 50,000 flats already promised for the past two years.

The government was also making steady progress in helping newly-wed first-timers land their HDB flats, going by the application rates for the latest Build-To-Order launch, he said.

Application rates for first-timers, or those that have yet to take up a housing subsidy, is 1.7.

“This means that almost all first-timers will get the chance to select a flat when they apply for one, especially in non-mature estates,” he said.

By The Straits Times/Asia News Network