Oral Answer by Ministry of National Development on collective sales
Feb 6, 2018
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for National Development
(a) whether the Ministry will consider putting a minimum number of years before a development project can qualify for an en bloc collective sale;
(b) how many developments that are less than 30 years old have undergone en bloc sales in the past three years; and
(c) whether the Ministry considers this to be a waste of resources.
Answer:
The main objective of the collective sales framework is to give owners the choice on whether to go for redevelopment. Such redevelopment allows rejuvenation and land use optimisation in residential developments. The collective sales framework imposes higher consent thresholds for newer developments. The Land Titles (Strata) Act requires buildings less than 10 years old to obtain 90% consent from owners before allowing the collective sale to go through, compared to 80% for older developments.
Of the 40 developments sold en-bloc in the past three years, 13 were less than 30 years old at the point of sale. That said, most of them were more than 20 years old at the point of sale and were small developments of less than 20 units each. In terms of number of housing units, around 240 units, or 6%, of the approximately 4,000 units sold en-bloc in the last three years were less than 30 years old.