First smart HDB flats to go on sale

The Housing and Development Boards (HDB) May Build-to-Order (BTO) exercise launches tomorrow, offering a total of 4,040 BTO units and 5,000 balance flats from previous sales exercises, media reports said.

These include BTO flats in Tampines, Clementi, Sembawang and Punggol Northshore, one of the seven waterfront residential districts in Punggol Eco Town. Punggol Northshore is the first new HDB estate where smart technologies will be tested.

Details and prices of the smart units set to go on sale at the Northshore Residences I and II projects were revealed by the housing board on Monday.

Located next to Samudera LRT station, both developments have a total of 546 two-room flats, 112 three-room units, 519 four-roomers and 222 five-room flats.

Given the unusually high number of two-room flats, experts believe these units are mainly intended for tech-savvy singles who are likely to benefit from the homes, which come with additional infrastructure that allows residents to easily install smart systems.

These include a Home Energy Management System that enables homeowners to track and manage the energy consumption of their appliances through the internet.

Another target group are families with elderly members who can easily install remote monitoring systems and other smart technologies for taking care of patients.

In terms of cost, the two- and three-room flats at both projects are priced from $28,000 and $132,000 respectively for eligible first-timer families after taking into account their Additional CPF Housing Grant (AHG) of up to $40,000 and Special CPF Housing Grant (SHG) of up to $20,000.

Image: Artist's impression of BTO projects at Punggol Northshore. (Source: HDB)

Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg

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