UNSOLD HDB FLATS (Number)

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked the Minister for National Development (a) how many Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats are unsold to date; (b) what are the measures taken to sell these flats; and (c) whether HDB will be building any new flats from 2002 to 2004.

The Minister for National Development (Mr Mah Bow Tan): Mr Speaker Sir, at the beginning of this year, HDB had about 17,500 unsold flats in the non-mature estates available for sale to the public. In the first quarter of this year, HDB offered these unsold flats to all the Registration for Flat Scheme (RFS) applicants on the queue.

After RFS applicants had selected their flats, the remaining unsold flats were then offered to the public on a monthly basis under the Walk-In Selection (WIS) process from April this year onwards. For the convenience of buyers, HDB organised roadshows, conducted bus tours, opened up showflats and sample units and set up on-site sales offices to facilitate their flat purchase. So far, WIS exercises in five towns have been launched - Sengkang, Choa Chu Kang, Sembawang, Punggol and Woodlands.

Through these measures, HDB has sold more than 7,000 flats in the non-mature estates from January to the end of July, leaving about 10,000 flats still available for sale. These flats will continue to be made available through the WIS on a monthly basis. HDB will assess the unsold flats supply when all the unsold RFS flats have been released under the WIS, before deciding if additional measures are necessary.

In addition, HDB has sold more than 1,300 of the 1,900 flats that were offered in the first of the twice-yearly Balloting Exercises for flats in mature estates. This was held in January this year. These flats were built to re-house lessees affected by HDB's redevelopment programmes such as the Selective En-Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS). HDB intentionally built these surplus units so as to optimise the land use in these popular estates and is now able to release them to the public in batches.

As I had announced in Parliament in May, HDB will offer 1,300 new flats for sale in Punggol and Sengkang under the Build-To-Order (BTO) System in the 4th quarter of this year. As nearly all the unsold flats in the non-mature estates are 5-room and Executive Flats, only 4-room flats will be offered under this exercise. If the take-up rate for the flats in these sites is good, HDB will proceed with the construction.

HDB will study the response to its ongoing sales measures and the BTO offer in the 4th quarter of this year, as well as the economic conditions next year before determining the building plans for 2003 and beyond. 2.00 pm

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question time.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No. 21(3), Written Answers to Question Nos. 16, 17, 21, 23, 25 and 28-33 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the section,"Oral Answers To Questions Not Reached" (Cols. 941-945). Question Nos. 12-15, 18-20, 22, 24 and 26-27 have been postponed to the sitting of Parliament on 28th August 2002.]