The Housing and Development Board (HDB) said on Friday that the first Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise of the year will be launched in February, offering up about 3,100 flats in Jurong West, Kallang/Whampoa and Sengkang. There will also be a concurrent reoffer of balance flats exercise, HDB said, adding that it plans to launch about 15,000 new flats for sale in 2019.

Also, in its latest figures released on Friday, HDB said that the resale price index (RPI) fell by 0.2 per cent, from 131.6 in the third quarter of 2018 to 131.4 in the fourth quarter of 2018. The RPI for the full year of 2018 registered a decline of 0.9 per cent.

Resale transactions fell by 20.2 per cent, from 7,063 flats sold in the third quarter of 2018 to 5,637 in the fourth quarter. Compared to the same quarter in 2017, resale transactions in the final three months of last year were 1.8 per cent lower.

For the full year of 2018, resale transactions increased by 4.6 per cent, from 22,077 cases in 2017 to 23,099 cases.

As far as the rental market is concerned, the number of approved applications to rent out HDB flats rose by 2.3 per cent - from 11,216 cases in the third quarter of 2018 to 11,479 cases in the fourth quarter.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2017, the number of approved applications to rent out flats in the last three months of 2018 was 1.8 per cent higher.

Source: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/3100-flats-to-be-launched-in-first-bto-exercise-of-2019

Adapted from The Business Times 26 January 2019