Written answer by Ministry of National Development on proportion of HDB resale and BTO flat transactions by Singaporeans and PRs from 2010

Nov 8, 2022

Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for National Development in each year from 2010 to 2022, what is the proportion of HDB resale and BTO flat transactions where (i) all applicants are Singapore citizens (ii) at least one applicant is a permanent resident and (iii) all applicants are permanent residents respectively.

Answer:

Public housing in Singapore primarily caters to the housing needs of Singaporeans. Subsidised BTO flats can only be purchased by households with at least one Singapore citizen (SC). This means that the main applicant must be an SC, and his/her co-applicants, if any, must be SC or Singapore permanent residents (SPRs). This extends to first-timer households applying for a CPF Housing Grant when purchasing a resale flat. SPR households are allowed to purchase resale flats without housing grants, but they must have been SPRs for at least 3 years.

2        In each of the last ten years, between 2011 and 2021:

a)       Between 84% and 90% of all BTO flats booked were by households where all applicants were SCs. The remainder of between 10% and 16% of the BTO flats were booked by households with SCs and SPRs.  

b)       Between 65% and 83% of the resale flats bought were by households where all applicants were SCs, and the percentage generally increased across the years. The remainder of between 17% and 35% of the resale flats bought were by households where at least one applicant was an SPR. The share of resale flats bought by SPR households fell from about 27% in 2011 to 7% in 2021. This could be attributed to the implementation of the condition in 2013 that SPR households are required to wait three years from the date of obtaining SPR status before they can purchase a resale flat.