Categorised of flats
Towns will no longer be demarcated as mature and non-mature which introduced in 1992. From the second half of 2024, new BTO flats launched by the Housing Board will be categorised into Prime, Plus and Standard flats.
Standard flats will continue to form the bulk of the housing supply. These will come with the standard five-year minimum occupation period (MOP) and have no restrictions on the pool of resale buyers.
The new Plus category, which are flats in attractive locations within each regionacross Singapore, such as those near the MRT station or town centre. Such flatsare less centrally located than Prime flats, but more desirable than Standardflats. Hence, Plus flats will come with restrictions less strict than those forPrime flats, but tighter than those for Standard flats.
Prime flats, which are located in the choicest locations close to the city centre, have the tightest restrictions. These flats are currently offered under the Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) model and have the most subsidies applied to keep launch prices affordable.
How it affect to your resale flat price?
Please note that the new policies mentioned above do not affect the current resale flats. This means that even if you have a flat in a Prime or Plus location, you are not restricted by these new rules. However, these policies might still influence the price of your flat.
When the government announced that they will use the terms Standard, Plus, and Prime instead of mature and non-mature estate, they are officially saying that the advantages of living in a mature estate is past. In the past 5 to 8 years, many younger buyers have been more concerned about how close their flat is to the MRT and shopping malls, rather than coffee shops and wet markets. Over the years, some non-mature estates have even bigger malls than certain mature estates.
On the other hand, many buyers are worried that the age of the flat will affect their loan, how they can use their CPF funds, and ultimately the price of the flat. The advantages of living in a mature estate are becoming smaller and smaller. With the introduction of these new policies, it's clear that the advantages are disappearing. This might even be a bit of a disadvantage, as most flats in mature estates are older.
Another important point is that if your flat is in a good location similar to the Plus category, such as being close to the MRT, large shopping malls, and Safra facilities, you don't have the same restrictions. This means you can still rent out your entire unit, and the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) is still 5 years. In comparison, if you were to choose the Plus Build-To-Order (BTO) option, you would have a MOP of 10 years plus a BTO waiting period of 3 to 5 years, which means you can sell your flat 3 times earlier by going for the resale option. Additionally, there's no need to repay any subsidies upon resale, so suddenly the Non-Plus yet near MRT/ Mall resale flat will becomes very attractive.
If I were a buyer, I would think twice about applying for the Plus BTO. For example, if I have a new born baby and apply for the new Plus BTO now, the earliest time I could move to a bigger house would be when my child is in the middle of secondary school.
Feel free to contact me to discuss about your housing plan.
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