An executive condominium (EC) penthouse from HDB (Housing Development Board) public housing project was sold at a record price of S$2.05 million. A spokesman for the CityLife Tampines housing project said the sale was made within the second hour after the show flat was opened for public viewing. The unit with a huge roof top deck and about 2,800 sq ft of living space was sold to a young twenty something couple. Read more »

There are over 26,000 applications for 8,000 new HDB Build-To-Order (BTO) flats. Many of the applicants made use of the priority schemes which enable married children and parents to stay close to each other. There is one in three chance that these applicants would get the dream homes. Read more »

Resale prices of HDB flats rose in the first quarter of 2012. Numbers from HDB showed that public housing flats from HDB saw and increase of slightly more than half a percentage point (up 0.5%). The price increase was also lower than the 1.7% increase registered in the fourth quarter of 2011. Read more »

About 800,000 HDB (Housing Development Board flats) households to receive SGD $40 Million of U-Save rebates. The U-Save rebates in January 2012 are the final batch of the five years of rebates that were granted as part of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Offset Package beginning in 2007. Read more »

Punggol Waterfront Town was an ambitious project to transform what some residents have described as a backwater town into a “New Waterfront Town”. It has been four years in the making and was envisioned by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The town, one of the biggest in Singapore, will house some 23,000 families by the end of 2011. Nicknamed “Venice of Punggol”, it was built at a cost of S$225 million, lets hope the new waterway built by the Housing and Development Board don’t get flooded during the rainy season. Read more »

Laguna Park, a previously public housing turn private located along the “prime” Marine Parade Road, is up for en bloc sale at an expected price of S$1.33 billion. This is the second time the 33-year-old development which has a land area of 63,000 square metres has been put up for sale. The last time Laguna Park made an attempt was in September 2009. It however raised an environmental concerns of Singapore over the needless destruction of good architecture and our limited resources (construction materials like sand, concrete and steel) with perhaps decades of useful longevity ahead.. The property is still in a fairly good condition, so the Singapore Government should consider introducing a 50-year age limit before any development could be considered for collective sale (En Bloc). Read more »

A balloting exercise was conducted to allow applicants of the newly-launched Esparina Residences to book their units as over 1,150 people applied for the 573-unit executive condominium. The EC site is only 5 minutes walk to Buangkok MRT station and has full condominium facilities.

Parliamentary Secretary for National Development Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman announced at 14 per cent of 162 Housing Development Board (HDB) neighbourhoods reached ethnic quota. The Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP), which began in 1989, stipulates ethnic quotas in HDB estates to prevent the creation of ethnic enclaves. Dr Maliki was responding to public concern that for flat owners who said they had sold their property below market valuation because the buyer had to be from a particular ethnic group. The problem was especially acute for flat owners from minority ethnicities and feel that they are disadvantaged as a result of their ethnic minority status.

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The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has launched two new BTO projects in Punggol. They are Punggol Emerald and Punggol Waves which offered a total of 1,429 HDB flats. It comprises of of studio apartments, three-room apartments, four-room apartments and five-room apartments. 95% of the supply of will be set aside by HDB for first-timer home owners.

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has committed $1 billion to upgrade eight towns. The eight towns are in the Central zone like Ang Mo Kio, Toa Payoh, Bishan, Serangoon, Kallang/Whampoa, Queenstown, Bukit Merah and Central. This upgrade plan was announced by Deputy PM and Minister for Home Affairs, Wong Kan Seng announced this at the HDB’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

HDB Launch 2 BTO (Build-To-Order) Projects, Sembawang RiverLodge and Fernvale Ridge. The Sembawang RiverLodge Housing Complex will comprises of 432 units 2-room, 3-room and 4-room Standard flats. Under this launch, 306 units are offered for sale and 126 units will not be offered for public sale at this time as it will be set aside to meet the housing needs of lower income families at a later date. The Fernvale Ridge Housing Complex will comprises of 522 units 5-room, 4-room and 3-room Standard flats.

The Singapore Government announced that they will build more Executive Condominiums (ECs) to meet the housing needs of what is described as the “sandwiched group”. The so-called sandwiched group are those family that are earning betwen S$8,000 to S$10,000 per month. The Government also promised that they will give the S$30,000 housing grant for first time home owners. For the year 2010, ECs will make up 10 per cent of about 12,000 new flats to be built by HDB.

The en bloc sale of Laguna Park has been called off as the sales committee found it was not able to get consent level from owners at a lower proposed price of $967 million down from the original $1.2 billion. Read more »

The Singapore GST (Goods & Services Tax) rate increased by two percentage points to 7%. A GST Offset Package to be given to Household would cost the Government $4 billion in total over five years.

The Premiere with eight 17-storey blocks is the Housing Board’s first privately developed flat under its Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS). There were two-, four- and five-room flats on offer at prices from $138,000 (500 sq. ft.) to $450,000 (1,200 sq. ft.) at that time. But unlike a condo, Premiere at Tampines does not have facilities such as a gym, tennis courts or a swimming pool. The project was an instant hit, with 5,914 applications pouring in over just two weeks.

The Housing Board (HDB) unveiled a new type of housing – studio apartments targeted at Singaporean HDB flat-owners aged 55 or older. For a start, it would build 580 units at four sites in Tampines, Bedok, Yishun and Jurong East. Minister for National Development Lim Hng Kiang said the partially-furnished studio apartments would have elderly-friendly features and would be sold on 30-year leases which could be renewed for another 10 years.

The Executive Condominium (EC) is a HDB scheme that provide home owners with 99-year leasehold apartments with all the appearance and facilities of a private condominiums. However, it will be governed by similar HDB’s policy of subsidy and conditions on application and re-sale. The scheme is to cater to the well-to-do household and as a bridge between private and public housing.

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A new Housing Development Board (HDB) town will be emerging from the sands in the rural district of Pasir Ris. Estimated to be more than twice the size of Marine Parade housing estate. Pasir Ris will have a population of more than 150,000 when fully developed. The Pasir Ris new town is bounded by Loyang Halus on the west and Loyang River in the east and Tampines town in the south. A new Tampines Expressway (TPE) will link to other town like Yishun and Woodlands. Read more »