SINGAPORE: About 19, 600 Build-to-Order ( BTO ) flats will be launched in 2025, as part of the government’s efforts to boost public housing supply and meet rising demand.
According to Minister for National Development Desmond Lee in an interview with CNA Digital, the Straits Times, and Lianhe Zaobao earlier this month, 3, 800 apartments, or nearly 20 %, may have shorter waiting times of less than three years.
In contrast, the Housing Board plans to offer more than 5, 500 products in February via its largest-ever Price of Balance Flats training. This brings the total amount of apartments for sale this year to over 25, 000.
The cottages may involve Standard, Plus and Prime cottages – the three divisions under a revised classification construction– in areas such as Kallang/ Whampoa, Bukit Merah, Queenstown, Mount Pleasant, Woodlands, Yishun and Sembawang.
With this year’s giving, the government is on track to start about 102, 300 BTO cottages between 2021 and 2025, exceeding its earlier devotion of 100, 000 products over the five-year time, said Mr Lee.  ,
” We have ramped up supply rather dramatically”, he told reporters.
He added that the government’s second objective is to build 130, 000 new condos by 2027, which means another 30, 000 condos can be expected to go on sales in the next two decades.
TACKLING PANDEMIC-INDUCED CHALLENGES
This increased housing supply addresses problems brought on by the COVID-19 crisis, which disrupted design, materials and workers, causing delays in BTO tasks. At the same time, require surged owing to demographic shifts and pandemic-related elements, driving up selling charges after decades of stagnation.
About five years on, Mr Lee said the state has resolved many of these problems, including clearing , the delay of prolonged jobs. The next batch of pandemic-delayed condos may be handed over to home users within days, he said.
The ramp-up in stockpile has also lowered the ordinary application level for first-time customers. Across all level forms, the rate fell to 2.1 in 2024 from 3.7 in 2019.  , For three-room and larger cottages, the price dropped to 2.2 from 4.0 in the same time.  ,