THE Housing & Development Board (HDB) will launch about 19,600 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats across three sales exercises in February, June and October this year.

In a press release on Monday (Jan 8), HDB noted that this number is above the 16,000 to 17,000 BTO flats launched per year pre-Covid. It also remains on track to offer 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025.

Among these flats, 2,800 will have a waiting time of less than three years, which is close to four times that of the 732 such flats offered in 2023.

“With this, HDB will achieve our target of launching around 2,000 to 3,000 Shorter Waiting Time (SWT) flats per year, one year ahead of schedule in 2024, instead of 2025,” it said.

Furthermore, HDB said, it will work towards having three out of four new flats with waiting times of four years or less.

It noted that close to seven in 10 of the 22,800 flats launched in 2023 had waiting times of four years or less, which is back to pre-pandemic levels.

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To achieve this, HDB said that it has prioritised sites where construction work can begin earlier and broken up larger BTO projects into smaller projects so that contractors can more efficiently manage resources.

On the application front, HDB said that it will conduct three BTO exercises and one sale of balance flats (SBF) exercise from 2024. In 2023, BTO launches were held in February, May, October and December.

It noted that BTO application rates have fallen, with an application rate of 1.9 for first-timer home buyers for all flat types in 2023, lower than the pre-pandemic rate of 3.7 in 2019.

In particular, the December 2023 sales launch had a median application rate of 0.8 for three-room and larger flats.

This comes after changes were introduced to the BTO application process, including stricter rules for applicants who reject an offer to book units since the October 2023 BTO launch.

“With three BTO launches instead of four, home buyers can look forward to a bigger housing supply at each launch. This means that applicants at every BTO launch will now be able to enjoy a higher chance of success in finding a flat that meets their budget and needs,” HDB said.

It added that flats launched from October 2024 will be classified under the Standard, Plus and Prime categories.

The new classification model will replace the current classification of mature and non-mature estates. Plus and Prime BTOs will be subject to 10-year minimum occupation period (MOP) and subsidy clawbacks when sold in the open market, among other restrictions.

For prospective homebuyers, HDB advised that they should apply for a HDB Flat Eligibility letter by Jan 15, 2024 to be eligible for the upcoming BTO and SBF launches in February.

In February, 4,100 BTO flats will be offered in Bedok, Queenstown, Choa Chu Kang, Hougang, Punggol and Woodlands.

An additional 1,500 SBF flats will also be available across different towns and estates. More than a third, or 670 flats, are located in Yishun.

As for home completions, HDB said that it expects to complete all pandemic-delayed projects by early 2025.

It completed 21,400 flats across some 23 housing projects in 2023 and has delivered about eight in 10 pandemic-delayed projects between October 2020 and December 2023.