Upcoming Flat Supply

To address the robust demand for housing, HDB launched a total of 22,780 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats for sale in 2023. Including the 1,500 and 167 flats offered under the Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercise and open booking of flats respectively, HDB’s total flat launch for 2023 stands at 24,447 flats.

2 The median first-timer (FT) application rates for 3-room and bigger BTO flats have been moderating. In the 4Q 2023 sales launches in October 2023 and December 2023, the median application rate for FT applicants for 3-room and bigger flats were 0.9 and 0.8 respectively. These are significantly lower than application rates during the pandemic years (2020 to 2022) which ranged from 2.0 to 6.8.

3 HDB is committed to providing affordable and accessible housing options to buyers, and will continue to monitor the housing demand closely, making adjustments where necessary. As announced previously, in February 2024, HDB will offer about 4,100 flats in Bedok, Queenstown, Choa Chu Kang, Hougang, Punggol and Woodlands. The supply will be subject to review, as project details are firmed up closer to the launch date. We encourage all flat buyers to apply for an HFE letter¹ early and submit all required documents by 15 January 2024 if they are interested to participate in the February 2024 sales launch. More details on the flat supply for 2024 will be announced soon.

HDB Resale Market

4 Flat buyers also have the option of purchasing resale flats. The rate of increase in resale prices has continued to moderate following the Government’s implementation of a strong pipeline of supply, as well as the introduction of cooling measures to promote a stable and sustainable property market. The measures to moderate demand in the HDB resale market and encourage prudent borrowing included a wait-out period of 15 months before private property owners are allowed to purchase a non-subsidised HDB resale flat, as well as the lowering of the Loan-to-Value (LTV) limit for HDB housing loans from 90% to 85%, and further to 80%. More broadly, as global economic activity is expected to ease further into 2024, with domestic mortgage rates at elevated levels, households should continue to exercise financial prudence in their flat purchases.

5 HDB’s flash estimate of the 4th Quarter 2023 Resale Price Index (RPI) is 180.2, an increase of 1.0% over that in the 3rd Quarter of 2023 (see Annexes A1 and A2). This is lower than the 1.3% growth in 3rd Quarter 2023 and lower than the average quarterly growth of 2.5% in 2022. Based on the flash estimate, resale flat prices for 2023 have risen by 4.8%, less than half of the 10.4% increase in 2022.

6 The resale volume in 4th Quarter 2023 (up to 28 December) is 6,440. This is 2.3% lower than the previous quarter (6,592 up to 28 September). It is also the lowest 4th Quarter volume compared to the last three years since 2020. For the full year up to 28 December 2023, the total resale volume is 26,628, which is 3.8% lower than the corresponding period last year (27,686 cases).

7 The RPI provides information on the general price movements in the resale public housing market. The transacted prices of individual flats (by block and flat type) can be found via the e-services on HDB InfoWEB.

¹More information on the HFE letter is available on the HDB InfoWEB.

Upcoming Flat Supply and Flash Estimate of 4th Quarter 2023 Resale Price Index