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SINGAPORE – Housing Board flats sold for at least $ 1 million accounted for 0.3 percent of total resale transactions this year, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said on Wednesday (October 14).
In August this year, 38 apartments were sold for a million dollars, out of a total of 14,400 resale transactions.
Mr. Lee gave the figure in response to Mr. Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio GRC), who asked how the Government plans to quell public anxiety and pent-up demand regarding those million dollar floors.
Earlier this month, flash estimates from real estate portal SRX showed eight HDB resale flats were sold last month for at least $ 1 million.
Of the eight units, the highest transaction price was $ 1.26 million for a five-bedroom apartment at The Pinnacle @ Duxton in Tanjong Pagar.
In 2019, 64 HDB floors were sold for more than $ 1 million, while 71 of those floors were sold in 2018.
On the price of built-to-order (BTO) flats, Lee said that prices remain around five times the average annual household income, compared to other major cities in the world, where the proportion can be almost 10 or 20 times higher. .
When HDB sets the price for new floors, it first sets the market value of the apartment by considering factors such as its individual attributes, nearby comparable resale apartment prices and prevailing market conditions, he said.
“A generous subsidy is then applied, so that the new flats are significantly discounted in the market. The pricing approach is the same for BTO flats on mature and immature farms,” he added.
He noted that first-time home buyers can also take advantage of CPF’s Improved Home Grant of up to $ 80,000.
Most first-time families can buy BTO flats in immature properties and pay their monthly mortgage payments using their CPF, paying zero or minimal cash, he added.
He said the government will continue to closely monitor the affordability of BTO and resale flats.
Separately, the Second Minister of National Development, Indranee Rajah, told the House that around 80 percent of the 1,000 flexible two-bedroom apartments launched in the first half of this year have been booked.
Of these, more than 90 percent were hired by seniors and singles, he said in response to Mr. Gan.
HDB released another 1,800 two-bedroom flexible floors in BTO’s August sales exercise.
He added that, on average, singles bought around 6,000 resale flats out of the 22,000 sold each year for the past five years under the Singapore Single Citizen Program or the Joint Singles Program.
Of these, about 46 percent were apartments with three bedrooms or smaller, 39 percent were apartments with four bedrooms and 15 percent were apartments with five bedrooms or more, he said.
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