http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_572653.html

Aug 30, 2010

More help for first-timers

By Irene Ngoo


OWNERS of non-subsidised Housing Board flats will have to occupy it for at least five years - up from three years - before they can sell the unit.

The HDB, which announced the new measure along with several others on Monday morning to help first-time home buyers, will also disallow concurrent ownership of both HDB flats and private residential properties within the minimum occupation period.

In yet another significant step, households earning between $8,000 and $10,000 can now buy flats built under the Design-Build-and-Sell Scheme (DBSS), as well as enjoy a $30,000 CPF housing grant.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced some of the new measures to ensure that public housing will always remain within the reach of first-time Singaporean flat buyers in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday night.

To meet the housing needs of first-time flat applications, the HDB said on Monday it will substantially ramp up the supply of new flats, including DBSS units and Executive Condominiums.

It will offer more than 16,000 new flats this year. If demand remains strong, it is prepared to launch up to 22,000 new flats next year.

'These numbers are substantial,' said the HDB. The flats to be offered this year and next are more than the 35,400 flats in Toa Payoh town today.

It will also release more land for tender later this year to yield a further supply of 3,000 DBSS flats and 4,000 ECs.

The HDB will also release land sites for another 4,000 DBSS flats and 4,000 ECs, if demand is sustained.

'This injection of 7,000 DBSS flats and 8,000 ECs over two years is also significant. In comparison, 4,000 DBSS flats and 10,000 ECs have been launched for public sale so far,' added the HDB.

The new income ceiling cap for households with monthly income of between $8,000 and $10,000 - described as the 'sandwich class' by PM Lee - will enable such applicants to buy an EC with a CPF Housing Grant of $30,000.

To widen their housing options, HDB will allow these households to buy new DBSS flats with the $30,000 CPF Housing Grant too for projects launched for sale after Monday.

But such buyers will not be eligible for HDB concessionary loan, just like the EC applicants. They will also to arrange their own financing.

To help households get their new flats faster, HDB has also streamlined the BTO processes to allow flat buyers collect keys to their new homes six months earlier.

Buyers of projects launched in mid-2011 onwards will generally need to wait for 2 1/2 years to collect the keys instead of the current three years.