THERE IS welcome news for young couples wanting to settle down. More BTO flats are coming, and they are coming fast.
Some 791 Shorter Waiting Time (SWT) units were unveiled at the Marsiling Peak BTO project launch last week. They will range in size from 2-room Flexis to larger 3Gen units. Prospective homeowners will only need to wait 2 years and 11 months for them.
The PAP Government is on track towards fulfilling its promise to launch over 2,800 SWT flats this year, and 19,600 flats overall in 2024.
Source: Desmond Lee / Facebook
“Over time, we will recalibrate our building programme so that a larger proportion of new flats will have wait times of less than three years,” said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee on 16 June. “This will reduce overall wait times and better support the homeownership as well as marriage and parenthood aspirations of Singaporeans.”
This ramping up of new BTOs comes despite difficult conditions such as labour shortages in the building construction industry. Using measures like prioritising sites ready for early construction, the PAP government ensures that we can keep delivering safe, high-quality homes to Singaporean homebuyers.
PAP: 132,000 BTOs. Opposition: 63,000 BTOs
The PAP’s commitment to providing homes for Singaporeans stands in stark contrast to previous suggestions by the Opposition to build fewer HDB flats.
In 2019, the Workers’ Party (WP) recommended that the HDB build only 9,000 units per year.
Our Government did not think that was a good idea. In fact, our Government ramped up the BTO supply. We kept building 15,000 to 17,000 flats per year for Singaporeans — and increased the rate of construction when the COVID-19 pandemic abated.
As a result, by 2025, Singaporean families will have 132,000 new BTO flats to call home. The WP’s proposal from 2019 would have left us with a shortage of 69,000 units by 2025, increasing the backlog for young couples and raising wait times.
Source: HDB
“Had we tapered down on supply to the WP’s levels in 2019 or listened to you and your experts, I think our BTO shortage will be even greater today,” said Minister Lee to the Workers’ Party in Parliament last year (7 Feb).
The matter, really, is simple: Our PAP housing policies and efforts are giving young couples a firm foundation to start life together properly. The Opposition’s, however, are shifting sands.
