Serangoon, Bedok to build first BTO flats since 2016, including 5-room units

SINGAPORE — The mature estates of Bedok and Serangoon will get new Housing Board flats for the first time in about seven and nine years respectively, as 1,960 flats will be launched across both towns in the next Build-To-Order (BTO) sales exercise in May.

Both BTO projects will have five-room flats, which are more commonly offered in non-mature estates and selected mature estates located further from the city centre.

In Bedok, HDB will build around 1,630 two-room flexi, three-room, four-room, five-room and three-generation flats on a site near Tanah Merah MRT station. The site is bounded by Bedok South Road and Bedok South Avenue 3.

In Serangoon, 330 four-room and five-room flats will be launched on a site bounded by Serangoon North Avenue 1 and Yio Chu Kang Road. This will be the first provision of larger flats in the mature estate since the BTO system was fully implemented in 2002.

HDB had last launched new flats in Bedok in November 2016, when it offered 1,655 BTO flats across three BTO projects. Of the three, only one project had five-room flats.

In January 2014, 150 studio apartments for the elderly were launched in Serangoon.

One Global Group senior analyst Mohan Sandrasegeran said the inclusion of five-room flats in both mature estates will likely generate considerable interest from potential buyers who have been waiting for such an opportunity.

“This presents an excellent opportunity for home buyers who are interested in securing a spacious flat,” he added.

HDB typically offers five-room BTO flats in mature estates such as Tampines, Pasir Ris and Ang Mo Kio, and not in those that are more centrally located such as Queenstown, Bukit Merah and Bishan.

In the August 2022 sales exercise, BTO projects in Ang Mo Kio and Tampines included five-room flats.

Five-room flat prices in the Ang Mo Kio BTO project — Central Weave @ AMK —  ranged between $713,000 and $877,000, which raised some eyebrows. Despite that, there were more than three first-time applicants vying for each available flat at the close of the sales exercise.

In May 2023, HDB will offer BTO flats in Tengah and Kallang/Whampoa in addition to Bedok and Serangoon.

The Board will offer between 5,200 and 6,200 flats in August 2023, in Choa Chu Kang, Tengah, Bukit Merah, Kallang/Whampoa and Queenstown.

HDB said it is monitoring demand closely and is prepared to launch up to 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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