A CLEARER picture emerged yesterday about the people in the queue to buy new Housing Board (HDB) flats.
Couples who are engaged or already married and applying to buy for the first time are now older, and many hope to live near their parents.
Fresh information from HDB on the profile of buyers spurred National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan to give the strongest hint yet that the income ceiling for those buying new flats - which has been unchanged for the last 17 years - will be raised.
Writing in his blog yesterday, he said there was a strong case for raising the income ceiling, given that today's first-time applicants are older than before and likely to be earning more too.
At present, a couple's combined monthly income must be below $8,000 to qualify for a new HDB flat.
Mr Khaw's predecessor, Mr Mah Bow Tan, had indicated earlier this year that the next time the income cap is raised, it could be to $10,000.
Mr Khaw also noted that two in five first-time applicants wanted to live near their parents, and this underscored the need to build as many homes as possible within mature HDB estates.
In his post, entitled 'Know Our Customers', he said: 'The first rule of good customer service is to know our customers. Who are they? What are their needs?'
To this end, he had asked for the figures from HDB after overseeing his first launch of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats last month - 3,957 homes in Tampines, Pasir Ris, Punggol and Woodlands.
BTO projects, HDB's main conduit for new flats, are typically built when a certain demand level is reached. Last month's launch of nearly 4,000 units pulled in almost 14,000 applications - making the homes 31/2 times oversubscribed.
It was a reflection of the sustained demand for public housing, which emerged as a hot topic in the recent general election.
The unhappiness among home buyers came from either being priced out of the HDB market, or from repeated failure in balloting for a flat.
Currently, 95 per cent of flats in BTO launches are reserved for first-timers.
The numbers yesterday showed that two-thirds or 65 per cent of all applicants were first-timers; the remaining 35 per cent were buying homes for the second time.
The Ministry of National Development told The Straits Times that these proportions were similar to BTOs launched in recent months.
Mr Khaw noted that among all first-timers, more than half had applied under HDB's Fiance-Fiancee Scheme. The median age for this group was 27. The median age of the remaining applicants - those already married - was even higher, at 34.
'There is therefore justification to revise the HDB income ceiling, given the rising age of applicants,' he said.
Turning to those who have been unsuccessful in balloting for a flat, Mr Khaw noted that the situation has improved somewhat, although 'we have much work to do still'.
In the May launch, 45 per cent of the applicants had been unsuccessful in previous attempts. In the previous quarter, the figure was 60 per cent.
Reacting to the figures, PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said: 'Home buyers who failed to get their flats will be able to see that there are many others facing a similar plight. It makes the process more transparent.'
Dennis Wee Group director Chris Koh said the information confirmed his agency's observation that young couples are busting the income ceiling as salaries have gone up.
If the ceiling were raised, it would make sense to also consider raising that for higher-end flats, such as executive condominiums and HDB's Design, Build and Sell Scheme.
Key executive officer of C&H Properties Albert Lu said application numbers were likely to stay high, especially if HDB starts offering flats in mature estates.
This will certainly temper the prices of resale flats, he said.
Mr Khaw said yesterday that HDB is processing the applications and that he will analyse the profiles of successful applicants when that is complete.
'I am sure the analysis will provide further insight,' he said.
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