August BTO exercise sees strong demand for larger Ang Mo Kio and Tampines flats
Large apartments in mature estates saw the highest application rates. Four- as well as five-room apartments at Sun Plaza Spring in Tampines saw application rates of 22.3 as well as 26.3 for the 150 as well as 177 available condos, each. For Central Weave@AMK in Ang Mo Kio, the 398 four-room apartments registered a 12.6 application rate, while five-room as well as Three-Generation (3Gen) flats amounting to 372 units received a 17.5 application rate.
While PLH units were oversubscribed, Sun claims the application rate was less than in previous PLH debut. “Possibly the pool of buyers has shrunk considering that many PLH design apartments have been launched over the past year, and also some individuals may have currently purchased a unit in the earlier BTO exercises,” she opines.
Sun connects the popularity of the properties in developed estates to the ample features and proximity to MRT stations. “The Tampines project additionally has among the quickest completion periods, around 36 months,” she adds.
She adds that the 10-year minimum occupation period for PLH apartments and extra stringent selling standards might have deterred buyers. PLH apartment owners are subject to a clawback aid of 6% when they sell their houses for the very first time.
The August 2022 BTO exercise closed on Sept 5, with 39,136 applications for the 4,993 units released to sell. This is about 30% more than the roughly 27,000 applications earned during the May BTO exercise when 4,583 units were released, indicates Christine Sun, senior vice president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie.
The two projects launched under the prime area public housing (PLH) version– Havelock Hillside and Alexandra Vale, both situated in Bukit Merah– saw application rates of 2.7 for three-room flats and also 6.1 for four-room condominiums. A total amount of 8,883 applications were obtained for the 1,651 PLH units launched.
Among the condos in non-mature estates released, the project in Woodlands saw the highest possible application rates at 6.6 for two-room Flexi apartments, 8.1 for three-room flats, and 11.7 for four-room homes. Meanwhile, flats at the projects introduced in Choa Chu Kang saw application rates in between 2.0 to 2.6, while the project in Jurong East saw application rates in between 4.1 to 6.7.
Sun believes the better range of applicants may show more customers turning to the BTO market, considered that BTO units are presently more budget-friendly contrasted to climbing rates of resale apartments and also exclusive residences. “There have actually not been lots of new exclusive residence launches in recent months. Consequently, purchasers now have much less real estate alternatives, specifically for cash-strapped purchasers,” she includes.