Written Answer by Ministry of National Development on the median, lower and upper quartile actual waiting time for HDB BTO flats in the past 10 years

Jul 4, 2022

Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for National Development what is the median, lower and upper quartile actual waiting time for HDB BTO flats each year based on those who collected their keys in the past 10 years.

Answer:

1         There are various factors that affect the construction time of each Build-To-Order (BTO) project, including site conditions and the height of the buildings. Projects with difficult site conditions or with very high storey-heights will require more construction time, and consequently, a longer waiting time for buyers.

2          The median, lower and upper quartile actual waiting time for flat buyers who collected the keys to their BTO flats in the past decade are set out in Table 1.

Table 1: Waiting time for BTO flats by year of key collection 

Notes:

1. Waiting time for BTO flats is defined as the number of months between the flat booking date and the original appointment date scheduled for the buyers to collect their keys.
2. Disruptions (e.g. manpower and supply-chain) arising from the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in delays to the completion of BTO flats of about 6 to 9 months. This affected buyers who collected their keys in 2020 and 2021.

3          Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the actual waiting time for BTO projects was about 3 to 4 years. The pandemic has affected the construction industry and BTO waiting times. On average, there was a delay of about 6 to 9 months in the flat completion, which resulted in longer waiting times in the past two years. Besides the significant delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and supply chain disruptions over the last two years caused by both the pandemic and current geopolitical uncertainties, the longer median waiting time now can also be partly attributed to higher-rise HDB developments as HDB intensifies housing yield to meet the strong housing demand.

4          With the improving COVID-19 situation and a more positive outlook in the construction industry, construction projects are gradually regaining momentum. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we expect construction progress to improve going forward. HDB will continue to work hard to further minimise delays and deliver new BTO flats to buyers as soon as possible, while ensuring that the safety and quality of our projects are not compromised.