What are Singapore's most popular BTO projects this month?

These locations are popular among first-time buyers.

According to OrangeTee Research, the most popular projects maybe Queen’s arc at Queenstown, Kovan Wellspring in Kovan, Towner Residences at Kallang Whampoa and Hougang Citrine in Hougang. 

All these projects are in mature estates, and some are very near MRT stations, good schools or at the city fringe. Based on past BTO launches, most of these locations have been popular among first-time buyers and we expect the trend to continue.

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For the Queenstown project, it is well located at the city fringe and near to Queensway shopping area, within a short driving distance to Orchard, Vivocity and NUS. Towner Residences BTO project is also near the city fringe.

For the project at Kovan, it will be highly popular as there are few new BTO flats in the area. A newly completed private condominium such as Stars of Kovan cost around S$1,650 psf for resale units this year which translates to about $1.5-1.7 million for a 1,000 sqft condo.  

For Hougang Citrine, it is located within 1 km from Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School and 2 km from Maris Stella High School, which will be popular among parents. New condo launches in the Bartley area is expected to be around S$1,500 psf and above. 

The application rate at mature estates is expected to remain healthy. Recent studies have shown that the application rates at mature estates have increased over the years and the trend indicates that many young people aspire to live in mature estates. Therefore, the BTO sites at Kovan/ Hougang, Queenstown, and Boon Keng may be higher than the other sites.

When we examine the application rates for BTO launches in mature estates from 2019 to May 2021, it averages around 7 times for 4 and 5 room flats for non-elderly first-timer balloting, with exception of Telok Blangah Beacon with an unusually high subscription rate of 30.6 in May 2021.  Non-elderly second-timer balloting for mature estates averaged around 78 times over the same period.  

Relatively less popular BTO projects 

Most of the projects in the current launch are well-located. However, when compared to the prime sites that we mentioned earlier, Tampines Green Jade, Tampines Green Quartz and Toh Guan Grove may see slightly lower application rates.

However, Tampines GreenJade and Tampines Green Quartz may still be popular among buyers who like nature and greenery, and some units may enjoy reservoir views. The sites are also within 10-minute walking distance to the Tampines West MRT station.

For Toh Guan Grove, there could still be some pent-up demand as there has not been many BTO launches in Jurong. The last launch in Jurong West was in Boon Lay Glade / Jurong West Jewel in February 2019. For Jurong East, the last launch was in 2011. 

The application rate for Boon Lay Glade was 4 for non-elderly first-timers while the average application for 4 and 5 room flats for non-elderly first-timers is about 3 from 2019 to May 2021. The application rates could be similar or slightly higher this time.

Estimated subscription rates, demand and waiting times

The waiting times seem to be slightly shorter for some launches. Most of the launches have a wait time of around 4 to 5 years. However, for buyers who are targeting the Queenstown BTO project, buyers must be prepared to wait longer when compared to other projects. 

The global economy including Singapore’s economy seems to be recovering well, therefore buyer’s confidence remains high and they will likely continue with their marriage plans, and proceed to apply for new flats.  The application rates could be quite similar to what we saw for May’s launch or slightly more than the last exercise as there is still a lack of supply in the market. HDB resale prices have also been rising over the past few months and it is more common to pay cash-over-valuation for popular resale flats now. Cash strapped buyers will continue to apply for BTO flats.