Prime flats in Tanjong Rhu among 5,032 units up for sale in February BTO launch

SINGAPORE: Prime flats in Tanjong Rhu were among a total of 5,032 BTO flats launched in February's Build-to-Order (BTO) sales exercise.

Tanjong Rhu Parc Front in Kallang/Whampoa is the only project out of the five on offer that is under the Prime category, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said on Monday (Feb 10).

Bounded by Tanjong Rhu Road, Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) and East Coast Parkway (ECP), this project features 812 units of two-room Flexi, three-room and four-room flats across four residential blocks. One of the blocks will also include 203 rental flats.

Prices for Tanjong Rhu Parc Front, excluding grants, range from S$211,000 to S$364,000 for a two-room Flexi flat, S$399,000 to S$519,000 for a three-room flat and S$548,000 to S$727,000 for a four-room flat.

Prime and Plus flats are those with superior locational attributes. They are priced with more subsidies than Standard flats to ensure affordability but also come with tighter restrictions on resale and rental to reduce the “lottery effect”.

The subsidy clawback – derived as a percentage of the flat’s resale or valuation price, whichever is higher – is one such restriction.

The clawback for this sales exercise’s sole Prime project – Tanjong Rhu Parc Front – is set at 9 per cent, while it is set at 8 per cent for the sole Plus project – Stirling Horizon in Queenstown. 

It is proportionate with the "extent of the additional subsidies provided for the respective projects", said HDB.

"The additional subsidies, along with the more stringent ownership conditions, will help to keep these Plus and Prime HDB flats affordable, both at initial sale and subsequent resale." 

Christine Sun, senior vice president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, PropNex's head of research and content Wong Siew Ying, Huttons Asia's senior director of data analytics Lee Sze Teck, and SRI's head of research and data analytics Mohan Sandrasegeran all noted that the number of applicants for the previous Tanjong Rhu BTO project was high.

Tanjong Rhu Parc Front is expected to attract similar interest, they said.

STIRLING HORIZON

Bordered by Queensway Road and Mei Chin Road, and in the vicinity of Queenstown MRT station, Stirling Horizon comprises three residential blocks, ranging from 35 to 47 storeys, with 1,126 units of two-room Flexi, three-room and four-room flats.

Prices for this project, excluding grants, range from S$224,000 to S$365,000 for a two-room Flexi flat, S$408,000 to S$529,000 for a three-room flat and S$554,000 to S$749,000 for a four-room flat.

Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Singapore, noted that Stirling Horizon is the first Plus project in Queenstown.

"Compared to the most recent Prime Queenstown BTO project launched in June 2024, we observe lower starting prices for four-room units compared to the BTOs offered at Holland Village and Tanglin last year," he said. "There are also three-room units, which were omitted in last year’s project."  

Two projects in Yishun and one in Woodlands North Coast fall under the Standard category in February's BTO sales exercise.

Chencharu Vines and Chencharu Greens – both in Yishun – will together feature 1,531 units of two-room Flexi, three-room, four-room and five-room flats.

With 1,563 units ranging from two-room Flexi to five-room flats, Woodlands North Verge is the biggest of the five projects to be launched in February. 

Located in the vicinity of Woodlands North MRT station as well as Admiralty Park, this is also the first BTO project to be launched in the new Woodlands North Coast precinct.

WAITING TIMES

Eight out of 10 BTO flats in February's sales exercise will have a waiting time of four years or less, said HDB.

At around 37 months, buyers of Chencharu Vines flats will have the shortest wait period out of the five projects.

Buyers can expect a waiting time of four years and seven months for Stirling Horizon – the longest wait in this sales exercise – while the flats at Woodlands North Verge and Tanjong Rhu Parc Front have a waiting time of around four years.

In addition to the 5,032 BTO flats that are being offered for sale in this exercise, another 5,590 Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) units islandwide are also up for sale in the largest SBF exercise to date.

"Flat buyers who are looking to move into their flats sooner can also consider applying for balance flats in the SBF exercise, where four in 10 flats are already completed," HDB said. 

It added that first-timer singles now have greater access to choose from the 2,759 two-room Flexi flats in the latest BTO and SBF exercises.

"While the new flat classification framework will not apply to the SBF units that are re-offered for sale for this SBF exercise, eligible first-timer singles can still apply for any of the two-room Flexi SBF flats islandwide," HDB added.

Flat applications can be made online via HDB's Flat Portal from Feb 10 to Feb 17, and this can be done any time during the eight-day period.

Applicants must have a valid HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter before they can apply for a new flat and processing time may take longer during peak periods like a BTO sales launch.

HDB added that to maintain fairness, applicants who get a queue number but do not book a flat will be ineligible for future BTO or SBF exercises until after their booking appointment.

This is to ensure that they do not crowd out other applicants who have not secured a queue position.

JULY 2025 BTO LAUNCH

Due to the large supply in February's BTO and SBF exercises, HDB said that it expects to receive a high volume of flat applications. 

In order to allow more time to process the applications, the next BTO exercise will be held in July, HDB said. 

"This ensures that there is sufficient time to complete the flat selection exercises, thus providing flat applicants with greater certainty on their application outcomes before the next BTO exercise is held," it added. 

About 5,400 flats in Bukit Merah, Bukit Panjang, Clementi, Sembawang, Tampines, Toa Payoh and Woodlands will go on sale in the next exercise.

In an interview with CNA Digital, the Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao in January, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said that HDB will launch about 19,600 BTO flats in 2025.  

Among them, 3,800 flats – or nearly 20 per cent – will have shorter waiting times of under three years.

With this year's offering, the government is on track to launch about 102,300 BTO flats between 2021 and 2025, exceeding its earlier commitment of 100,000 units over the five-year period, Mr Lee then said. 

From February's sales exercise, HDB will shortlist flat applicants up to 200 per cent of the total flat supply, instead of up to 300 per cent.

This will improve efficiency, enabling HDB to serve shortlisted applicants faster and complete flat bookings sooner, providing applicants with greater certainty as they will receive the outcomes of their flat applications earlier.

"Since the tightening of non-selection rules of new HDB flats in the October 2023 BTO sales exercise, the proportion of BTO flat applicants who did not book a flat when invited has halved – from 40 per cent previously to about 19 per cent over the past three BTO launches where booking exercises have been completed," it said.

"This has enabled flat buyers to secure their flats more quickly. With the lower non-selection rate, almost all flats are now booked by applicants within the first 200 per cent of the flat supply."