Review of HDB town classification likely to come with policy changes

This is to ensure flats stay affordable, says minister, as relevance of labelling is relooked

- Michelle Ng

Any adjustment to the classification of public housing estates as mature or non-mature, which is now being studied, is likely to come with other policy changes to ensure that flats remain accessible and affordable to a wide spectrum of Singaporeans, said National Development Minister Desmond Lee.

"The current classification causes a bit of disjoint in people's minds because there are some non-mature estates that command very high application rates," said Mr Lee in a wide-ranging interview with The Sunday Times and Lianhe Zaobao on Nov 30 on the present and future of public housing in Singapore.

Sometimes, the high demand is because the Housing Board hasn't built new flats in these areas for some time, but more often than not, it is because some Build-To-Order (BTO) projects in non-mature estates come with very attractive attributes, said Mr Lee.

In comparison, some BTO projects in mature estates may not be close to amenities, or have attributes that make them less popular, and command less market value than these attractive BTO projects in non-mature estates, he added.

A review of the mature versus non-mature classification could end a decades-long yardstick by which prospective home buyers judged HDB locations, with mature estates perceived as having better amenities and transportation networks, among other things.

While the classification is often taken as a shorthand for a flat's attractiveness and, therefore, affordability, developments over the years may make it less relevant now, said Mr Lee.