SINGAPORE: Singles who are at least 35 years old will soon be able to apply for new two-room Housing Board flats in any location, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at the National Day Rally on Sunday (Aug 20).
Currently, they can only apply for Build-to-Order (BTO) flats in non-mature estates, which are usually further from the city centre.
From the second half of 2024, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) will no longer be categorising housing estates as mature or non-mature. Instead, flats launched from then will be classified Standard, Plus or Prime depending on their location and other attributes.
The reclassification is not retrospective and will not apply to existing flats or those already launched.
The bulk of HDB’s flats will be Standard flats with the current subsidies and restrictions, including a minimum occupation period of five years.
Plus flats, which will be in “choicer locations” such as near an MRT station, will have more subsidies from HDB but also more restrictions. The minimum occupation period for these flats will be 10 years, and there are tighter resale conditions.
Prime flats will have the same restrictions as Prime Location Housing projects, which were introduced in November 2021. These include the 10-year minimum occupation period and a clawback of subsidies on resale. In addition, Prime flat owners can only sell their flats in the future to owners who meet BTO eligibility criteria such as the prevailing income ceiling.
When the new classification is launched, singles will be able to apply for BTO flats in any category – Standard, Plus or Prime.
These changes to public housing were announced by Mr Lee, who said that more and more Singaporeans are choosing to be single and want their own homes.