HDB to launch 2 BTO projects in Queenstown and Bukit Merah under PLH model

National Development Minister Desmond Lee had just announced in a Facebook post that two Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) projects will be launched in the upcoming May 2022 BTO exercise.

PLH projects were first announced in October 2021 for BTO projects located in prime locations. These flats come with several restrictions, such as a 10-year MOP and a subsidy clawback. The new model came as an increasing number of resale flats were sold for at least a million dollars, with last year recording a record high of 259 transactions.

The first PLH project was launched in November 2021 at Rochor, while the second one was launched during last February’s BTO launch. This means that the upcoming May BTO exercise would be the first time two PLH projects will be launched in the same exercise.

On top of that, the minister announced that one of the Bukit Merah sites would be pushed to the next launch in August.

PLH projects may be located in Bukit Merah and Queenstown: Analyst

In our review, we predicted that the two Bukit Merah sites announced in February could both be PLH sites. However, this would no longer be the case given that one of them would be pushed to the next launch.

Christine Sun, Senior Vice President of Research and Analytics at OrangeTee and Tie, believes that the two PLH projects may be in Bukit Merah and Queenstown. This is because both sites are considered prime locations, given their proximity to the city centre, CBD and Orchard shopping belt.

“For the BTO in Bukit Merah, the site is zoned under District 3, categorised as RCR or the Rest of Central Region, a proxy for the city fringe area. The BTO site in Queenstown should be under District 10 when we look at URA Space (map), and it is categorised under CCR or Core Central Region, which is a prime district for many luxury homes. It is near Buona Vista MRT station and Holland Village, where many private condos are built.”

She expects that given the prime location, both sites will be highly popular, noting that only a few new HDB projects are being built in these areas.

“As prices of private condos and new ECs are still climbing, PLH flats may be a good alternative for the sandwiched class. Some young Singaporeans may feel that they have been priced out of the market, especially the ability to purchase a home in the prime districts.”

Bukit Merah site to be launched in this May 2022 BTO may be the one along Henderson Road

According to Minister Lee, around 4,500 units will be launched in Bukit Merah, Jurong West, Queenstown, Toa Payoh and Yishun.

Previously, given that there were two sites in Bukit Merah, the estimated total number of flats to be launched was 5,330. The reason given for the shift was that more time is needed to review the project, and to better spread out the location of projects in mature and non-mature estates in the launches.

At the same time, there is no major change in the total number of flats to be launched this year, with HDB on track to launch up to 23,000 new flats this year.

In our opinion, the difference of 830 flats meant that the Bukit Merah BTO site that will be pushed back to August 2022 would be the one along Alexandra View. This site is located next to Redhill MRT.

This would mean that the Bukit Merah BTO site in this month’s launch will be located along Henderson Road. Notably, this site is just opposite City Vue @ Henderson, which recently made headlines for a record S$1.4 million resale flat that was sold in the SERS project.

Given that the month is ending, the May 2022 BTO sales launch is expected to start very soon. Meanwhile, check out our in-depth reviews for the sites in Bukit Merah, Jurong West, Queenstown, Toa Payoh and Yishun, which we will update with more information once the launch starts.

There will also be the Sale of Balance Flats exercise happening simultaneously, offering flats in various estates islandwide. These balance flats include those that were not selected in the BTO exercises, surplus SERS replacement flats and flats that were repurchased by HDB.

This article was first published in 99.co.