By SINGAPORE — Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong revealed new measures on 14 February in his delivery of Budget 2023 to address the issues of the long waiting time for BTO flats and high resale flat prices, by ramping up the construction of BTO projects and giving more housing grants.
Mr Wong announced that the housing grants for first-time families buying resale flats would increase by up to S$30,000.
For families purchasing Housing Board flats that are 4-rooms or smaller, the CPF Housing Grant would go up by S$30,000, making the total grant S$80,000.
Families buying flats that are 5-room or larger will get S$10,000 more, or S$50,000 in total.
To be eligible for the grant, first-time families should not earn more than S$14,000 a month and should not have any private property.
First-time singles would also get larger grant amounts, but at half that of families. The CPF Housing grant for eligible singles would go up to S$40,000 for 4-room and smaller flats, and S$25,000 for larger flats.
The increased grant will take immediate effect on Tuesday for resale applications submitted from 3.30 pm. The additional grant amount would be credited to their CPF account from April onwards.
Mr Wong added that with the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant and the Proximity Housing Grant, eligible families could receive up to S$190,000 in grants when buying a resale flat.
He also announced that the Housing and Development Board (HDB) would further fine-tune its Built-To-Order (BTO) balloting to help specific groups.
HDB had already set aside the bulk of its BTO flat supply for first-time families, which covers a wide range of applicants, for example, those who already have their own homes but have not received housing subsidies before, are also considered first-timers.
“We will therefore focus on first-timer families with children, as well as young married couples aged 40 years old and below, who are buying their first home,” said the Minister.
“We will do more to help such families secure their BTO flats in a timely manner, including by giving them an additional ballot for their BTO flat applications.”
This will be implemented later in the year, and more details will be covered by the Ministry of National Development (MND) at the Committee of Supply.
The Government is addressing two issues, the long waiting time for BTO flats and high resale flat prices, by ramping up the construction of BTO projects and giving more housing grants.
MND has said that the launch and completion of more BTO projects over the next few years will further ease demand and prices for resale flats. The Government also implemented cooling measures for the property market last year.