NEW APPLICANTS FOR 3-, 4- AND 5-ROOM HDB FLATS (Waiting time)

Mr Liew Kok Pun asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the estimated average waiting time now for new applicants of three-, four- and five-room Housing and Development Board home-ownership apartments; and (b) whether this waiting time will be shortened over the next two years when more HDB apartments are completed and, if so, by how much.

Mr Lee Yock Suan (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, Sir, on 3rd December last year, I told the House that the waiting time for sale flats was 3 1/2 - 4 years in 1981. The situation has improved slightly and new applicants of 3-, 4- and 5-room flats need to wait an average of 3 - 3 1/2 years today.

Over the next three years, i.e. between now and 1985, the HDB will be completing 120,000 units of public housing. The waiting time for flats will be shortened progressively over this period. After 1985, when the backlog of applicants now on the waiting list is cleared, the waiting time for new applicants will be about two to three years.