Almost all applicants may select BTO flats if…

Almost all applicants will get a chance to select a build-to-order (BTO) flat when there are two applicants for every one unit, data from the Ministry of National Development indicate.

National Develoment Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in his blog post on Sunday that this high rate was because not all who are asked to select flats end up doing so.

According to MND, 92 percent of those who applied were able to select one of the 1,728 flats put up on offer at the Bukit Batok and Yishun estates in January. He pointed out that even 84 percent of the second-timers were able to choose a flat.

However, as the number of applicants per unit rises, the chances of choosing a flat falls sharply.

This was evident during the BTO launches at Sengkang and Bukit Panjang in February, when the application rate grew to five per unit, the proportion of those who were asked to select the flats fell drastically to 34 percent.

According to Khaw, this justified the need for more launches so as to lower the application rate which in turn would increase the chances that applicants could select a flat.

"That is why we are ramping up BTO launches to reduce application rate, and hence raise the chances for our applicants," he said.

The number of those who were able to select the flats fell further as the application rate increased to eight for the BTO launches in Sengkang and Jurong held in March this year. Only 19 percent then had the chance to select a flat.

The minister also highlighted that first-timers and repeat applicants have greater opportunity to select a flat than others.

He said that the HDB loads the balloting in favour of first-timers. For instance, for the BTO launches in February, first-timers were three to five times more likely to be selected than second-timers.

Another measure, he added, was the loading of ballots in favour of those who had not been successful in earlier launches; which improves their chances of being able to select a flat.

Meanwhile, he also revealed that those who had previously applied but failed to be offered the chance to select a BTO flat, were more likely select a flat when given the chances to do so.

Khaw also pointed out that applicants to choice BTO launches as well those who earlier failed in their bids are more likely to select the flats.

"We are trying to offer larger BTO launches. This way, we hope to provide more choices and reduce the odds of repeated disappointment," he said.