Potential home buyers in Singapore must be rejoicing over the news of the “mega launch” of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats set to be released in November.
Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan, in a blog post on 23 September when he was still National Development Minister, said that the September BTO exercise was delayed to give time for the implementation of new housing policies, namely a new Two-Room Flexi Scheme, an increase in the income ceiling and enhanced benefits to the Special CPF Housing Grant.
This delay will result in the amalgamation of the last two BTO exercise for the year, resulting in a “bumper crop” of about 12,000 new flats in November.
While many Singaporeans are happy over the increased income ceiling for buying public housing, this also means more competition over limited supply of flats.
In fact, a quick look at statistics provided by the Housing Development Board points to the big margin of demand exceeding supply – the BTO exercise in May showed an average oversubscription of 4 applications to 1 flat, excluding studio apartments.

New Policies Increase HDB Eligibility

At the National Day Rally this year, Prime Minister Lee announced that the household income ceiling for HDB and Executive condominiums (EC) will be raised by $2,000, to $12,000 for HDB flats and $14,000 for ECs.
What this means is that those who were earning slightly more than $10,000 as a household will now be eligible to apply for public housing.
In 2014, about 99,600 households had monthly incomes ranging from $10,001 to $12,000. Assuming just 10% of this number applied for the new BTO in November, it will already make up more than 50% of the total applicants seen in the May exercise.
Being the kiasu Singaporeans we are and the currently high demand for HDBs, we can safely expect a “bumper crop” of demand for the November BTO launch as well.

Why Wait Till 2016?

Many may not be aware that come next year, the residential property market will see a huge supply of new projects coming up.
There will be an expected completion of 28,000 HDB units, up 2,000 from 2015.
Executive condominiums will see the largest increase in supply, more than double the current numbers of 2,854 to 6,371 units next year.
Earlier this year, Minister Khaw Boon Wan reiterated that stock of housing in Singapore will increase by about 11% till 2018.
With 2014 being the first year to see home prices decline, there is definitely more room for property prices to fall next year.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in July that it was "still premature" to lift property cooling measures implemented in the last few years.
If economists are right, the overall housing market can still fall by up to 15%.
So for those who are considering to buy their new HDB flats soon, it makes sense to wait till 2016, given that prices have more room to fall, as well as not having to waste your BTO application chances in the November launch with an expected increase in number of eligible applicants!

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/wh...inkId=17866780