Tuesday, February 12, 2008

278 Surplus HDB Flats In Mature Towns Up For Sale

Source : The Straits Times, Feb 11, 2008

THE Housing Board on Monday offered 278 four-room and bigger surplus flats for sale in established towns like Bedok, Bukit Merah, Geylang and Toa Payoh.















This batch of surplus units is the smallest number offered so far under the HDB's bi-monthly sales programme, but is expected to meet high demand because of their location in mature estates surrounded by amenities.

The previous batch of 316 flats offered in outlying towns of Hougang, Punggol and Sengkang alone drew 5,147 applications, while about 840 other flats offered in two prior sale exercises were fully taken up.

In this current batch, the four-room flats cost $141,000 to $398,000, while the five-room units are priced at $218,00 to $532,000. The executive units are going for $333,000 to $470,000.























Those interesting in booking the units have until Feb 18 to submit their application online, after which a computer ballot will determine their position in the queue to pick a flat.

The HDB said: 'Given the overwhelming popularity of new flats in established towns and the limited number of new flats available here, HDB would like to encourage flat buyers to consider flats in non-mature estates as well.'

For the first half of this year, the HDB will offer about 4,500 new flats under its build-to-order system, where flats are built only when the majority of units are taken up.

There is 'ample supply' of new HDB flats under the BTO system, said the Board. About 200 flats in its 698-unit BTO project in Sengkang called Coral Spring were not taken up after the booking exercise ended last month.

The HDB also said it was conducting a review of the bi-monthly sale programme for four-room and bigger flats, under which it has offered 3,350 flats since last year.

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