SINGAPORE - Flats in Tampines and Toa Payoh were the most popular among first-time home buyers in the latest Build-To-Order (BTO) sales exercise.

For three-room and larger BTO flats, there was a median of 1.4 first-timer family applying for each of these units, according to the Housing Board’s figures as at 5pm on July 30.

National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat said in a Facebook post that the first-timer family application rate in the latest exercise was slightly higher than the 1.1 in February’s exercise.

But the rate was lower than that of the three sales launches in 2024, which ranged from 1.6 to 2.6, he added.

Mr Chee said that as at 5pm, there were about 22,000 BTO applications, higher than the 13,200 applications received in the February sales exercise.

Applications show the most popular units were the four- and five-room flats at Simei Symphony in Tampines. The project had nearly eight first-time applicants vying for each of the 100 five-room flats, and more than six first-timers for each of the 140 four-room units.

Simei Symphony, located in Simei Road and Upper Changi Road East, is among four Standard projects on offer in July. Flats in these projects will not have additional restrictions upon resale, and come with a minimum occupation period (MOP) of five years instead of the 10 years for Plus and Prime projects.

Mr Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at real estate firm Huttons Asia, said there was pent-up demand for the Simei BTO project as it is the first public housing project in the area in more than 10 years.

He added that the firm demand for five-room flats as well as the project’s proximity to Upper Changi MRT station could have contributed to high application rates. The Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Expo and Changi Business Park are also located near the development.

At Toa Payoh Ascent, 6.1 first-time applicants were vying for each of the 468 four-room flats in the Prime project. The subsidy recovery for this project upon resale has been set at 11 per cent.

Ms Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at Realion Group, said Toa Payoh Ascent was the most popular among the four Prime projects as it is centrally located and near transport nodes and amenities, as well as schools such as CHIJ primary and secondary schools and Raffles Girls’ School.

“The BTO project also provides a good alternative for first-time buyers, as HDB flats in Toa Payoh tend to command high resale prices,” she said.

The latest HDB launch is the third under

the new flat classification system

, which sorts BTO projects into Standard, Plus and Prime categories based on their proximity to the city centre, transport connectivity and amenities.

Plus and Prime flats, which are in more attractive locations, come with a subsidy clawback clause and a 10-year MOP.

Some 5,547 flats are on sale across eight projects in Bukit Merah, Bukit Panjang, Clementi, Sembawang, Tampines, Toa Payoh and Woodlands. Applications will close at 11.59pm on July 30 on the HDB Flat Portal.

July’s exercise included 775 BTO flats from the first project in the new Sembawang North neighbourhood. The development is bounded by Admiralty Link, Admiralty Lane and Canberra Road.

At the Sembawang Beacon project, five-room and three-generation units were under-subscribed among first-time applicants, all of whom will get a chance to select a unit.

The first-timer application rate for this project was 1.2 for three-room flats while the rate for four-room units stood at 1.1.

At two projects with shorter waiting times of less than three years – Bangkit Breeze in Bukit Panjang and Clementi Emerald – some flat types were over-subscribed.

At Clementi Emerald, a Prime project in Clementi Avenue 9, there were 2.9 first-time applicants vying for each of the 420 four-room flats.

Four- and five-room flats in Bangkit Breeze, a Standard project in Bukit Panjang Ring Road, had first-timer application rates of above one.

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Three-room flats were under-subscribed among first-timers across both projects.

Meanwhile, demand for two-room flexi BTO flats remained strong among singles and seniors. As at 5pm, there were more than 7,000 applicants for the 1,321 two-room units on sale.

The median application rate across the seven projects offering two-room flexi flats was 8.4 for singles and 2.5 for seniors.

Huttons Asia’s Mr Lee noted that more favourable policies for singles could have led to the higher application rate, compared with the rate of 5.2 in February’s sales exercise.

Application rates for single home buyers have surged since the sales exercise in October 2024, when singles could apply for two-room flexi flats across all locations, instead of being restricted to non-mature estates.

The new Family Care Scheme also kicked in from July’s BTO exercise. Under the scheme, first-timer singles will be granted priority access within the existing quota for single buyers when they buy a two-room flexi flat near or with their parents.

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A second component of the scheme, which grants singles priority if they jointly apply for two units in the same BTO project with their parents, will kick in from the October sales exercise.

PropNex chief executive Kelvin Fong said the Prime projects in attractive locations and the priority access for singles led to more flat applicants.

“More than half, or 56 per cent of total applicants, applied for Prime projects,” he said, adding that this was driven by the strong demand for the Toa Payoh Ascent project.

As for Sale of Balance Flats, the median application rate for first-timer families applying for three-room and larger flats dropped to 1.8 from 2.6 in February, Mr Chee said.

In October, HDB will offer about 9,100 flats in Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bishan, Bukit Merah, Jurong East, Sengkang, Toa Payoh and Yishun.