19,600 BTO flats to go on sale in 2024 across three exercises

Launches down from 4 a year; 2,800 of the flats will have shorter waits of under 3 years

Some 19,600 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats will be launched in 2024, including 2,800 flats with shorter waits of below three years.

These will be launched across three sales exercises in February, June and October, down from four launches a year, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said in an interview with The Straits Times and Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao on Dec 28.

The new classification of flats into Prime, Plus or Standard categories will take effect from the October launch, which will also be the largest in 2024, he added.

HDB towns are now categorised as mature or non-mature.

From 2016, BTO launches had typically happened in February, May, August and November. But buyers can expect three launches yearly from 2024.

The Housing Board said in a statement that the Sale of Balance Flats exercise will happen once a year from 2024, with the next round in February.

Such launches previously took place twice yearly – in May and November – but the latter launch in 2023 was pushed to 2024.

About 4,100 flats will go on sale in Bedok, Queenstown, Choa Chu Kang, Hougang, Punggol and Woodlands in the February BTO exercise. Another 1,500 Sale of Balance flats in various towns will be released.

Mr Lee said the number of BTO sale exercises was adjusted to give applicants a wider range of projects in each launch. The larger number of units means they have a higher chance of balloting for a flat.

A wider gap between each launch will also reduce overlaps, where an applicant may have obtained a queue number in one launch but may not have been invited to book a unit when the next launch comes.

“It will not entirely eradicate the overlap because of the sheer number of units, and people come one by one to select a unit... But it will reduce the overlap,” Mr Lee said.