In case you’ve missed it, HDB just dropped details about the very last BTO launch of 2022, scheduled for November.
There will be 9,500 new flats up for grabs in Bukit Batok, Kallang Whampoa, Queenstown, and Yishun, with more details scheduled to come in later on. This will wrap up 2022’s BTO offerings, after the ever-popular May 2022 and the upcoming August 2022 exercises.
November’s exercise will also see the return of the Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercise, which you might want to consider especially if you’ve been rather unlucky with past BTO launches and time is of the essence in securing a home.
Just to get a sense of what potential homebuyers might be interested in for the upcoming Nov 2022 BTO launch, we conducted a straw poll on the Uchify Telegram channel to find out which estates were the most popular, and the results from 2,668 respondents are in.
Kallang/Whampoa most popular amongst Singaporeans
It’s no surprise that the two top-voted locations are estates in central Singapore, with 44% of the votes for Kallang/Whampo followed by 28% for Queenstown. This is quite similar to a poll we did for the upcoming August 2022 launch, where 34% and 29% of respondents voted for Ang Mo Kio and Queenstown respectively.
You might also be interested to know that this is the second time in 2022 that BTOs in Kallang/Whampoa are up for sale. Back in February’s launch, there were 390 units of 3-room and 4-room units available under the project name King George’s Heights, and located just round the corner of King George’s Avenue.
While we don’t know the exact location of the new Nov 2022 BTO, some speculate that it might be located not too far away from Feb’s offerings, at the junction between King George’s Avenue and Crawford Street.
Image credit: HDB
Clearly, most Singaporeans prefer a relatively central location to live in, presumably due to how easy and convenient it is to connect to other parts of Singapore. Most, if not all, estates in the central regions are also mature estates, and so there would have been many amenities, dining and retail outlets, and other frills like recreational offerings developed over the years.
In the case of Kallang/Whampoa, you have a combination of easy accessibility to popular places like the city and East Coast Park, as well as the huge variety of food and retail outlets in the vicinity.
Something you might notice is that Queenstown came in second in both instances. You may or may not find this odd, but we certainly wondered why it did not come up ahead of the likes of Kallang and Ang Mo Kio. After all, Queenstown is definitely one of the very popular estates, home to many million-dollar flats and condos, including the most expensive resale HDB flat.
We’re not very certain why, but we suspect that respondents chose the likes of Ang Mo Kio and Kallang/Whampoa over Queenstown purely because of the perception that BTOs in Queenstown would be priced higher. Given that Ang Mo Kio and Kallang/Whampoa are also very decent central options, the potential price difference that you’ll pay for a flat in Queenstown isn’t all that justified.
Indicative prices
While we won’t know the prices of Nov 2022’s offerings, we can look at past launches in the same area for an indication.
Image credit: HDB
Back in February 2022, the prices of 3-room flats in Kallang/Whampoa went for upwards of $353,000, and 4-room units for upwards of $488,000. And so, we can probably expect prices to be fairly similar.
Also, bear in mind that the Kallang/Whampoa flats for Nov 2022 will most probably be launched under the Prime Location Housing (PLH) model, similar to Feb 2022.
We won’t delve into too much detail, but you’ll be pleased to know that BTOs under the PLH model will enjoy additional subsidies on top of existing ones for BTOs, though of course they’ll come with certain requirements when you choose to eventually sell it.
Looking at the recently-published 2Q 2022 Public Housing Data, the median resale prices of HDB flats in Kallang/Whampoa were as such:
- 3-room flats – $372,500
- 4-room flats – $780,000
- 5-room flats – $836,500
Looking at how close the starting price of Feb’s 3-room flats are compared to the latest median resale price of the same type, it’s clear that the prices of Kallang/Whampoa have been increasing, and will continue to rise as demand increases.
What to do if you’re interested
So what do you have to do if you’re interested in putting your name down for a Kallang/Whampoa BTO in November?
Well, it’s still too early to be putting an application in, given that the application window only opens in November and we still don’t know much details about the launch other than the number of flats up for sale. Just to remind everyone, there will be about 9,500 flats up for sale, across the 4 estates:
With that being said, you can already start to do the prepwork by checking your eligibility for a BTO flat. In addition, it won’t hurt to do a regular finance check to ensure that you can afford things that need to be paid upfront (e.g. downpayment), and that you’ll be able to service a home loan if you and your partner will be taking one up.
Given how home loans have been in the news recently because of the rising interest rates from banks, we recommend that you spend just a bit more time doing your homework in this area.
All in all, Kallang/Whampoa’s BTOs is shaping up to be a very popular choice this coming November exercise. What will be the subscription rate like for Kallang/Whampoa? More importantly, where on earth will these flats be located? We’ll have to wait and see.
Check out our other articles here:
- Why you should consider Jurong East for August 2022 HDB BTOs
- Clementi & Sembawang are most expensive & cheapest flats in Q2 2022
- Tengah Garden Residences – all you need to know
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