Major BTO Release Expands Housing Options Across Singapore
Singapore’s Housing & Development Board (HDB) expanded home ownership possibilities with a larger Build-To-Order (BTO) sale, introducing 9,144 flats across 10 projects. The package includes the debut of two new estates: Mount Pleasant in Toa Payoh and Berlayar on the former Keppel Club site in Bukit Merah. This marks a significant step in the government’s housing strategy, blending new neighborhoods with established town plans to serve a broad spectrum of buyers.
New Estates, New Subsidy Structures
Berlayar Residences, the first project in the new Berlayar estate forming part of the Greater Southern Waterfront, features 870 units ranging from two-room flexi to four-room flats. The projected wait time for Berlayar is around four years and eight months. The subsidy clawback rate for Berlayar is set at 14%, the highest to date, reflecting the extra subsidies attached to the property’s privileged location. Other projects carry varying clawbacks, with Mount Pleasant Crest in Toa Payoh and Redhill Peaks in Bukit Merah at 12%, and Bishan Terraces at 10%. Oak Ville @ AMK, a Plus project with 1,425 units, carries a 7% clawback and a 10-year minimum occupation period (MOP).
Standard-class flats—without a subsidy recovery clause—are also on sale, with a five-year MOP. The scheme continues to balance affordability with policy-driven equity by tiering subsidies and MOPs across different projects and locations.
Understanding Prices and Unit Mix
The Berlayar development offers a diverse price range (before grants): two-room flexi flats from $218,000 to $369,000; three-room flats from $420,000 to $562,000; and four-room flats from $578,000 to $788,000. Berlayar’s blocks will rise between 19 and 46 storeys and include one block dedicated to rental flats, contributing to the 3,000 private homes and 7,000 HDB flats planned for the Greater Southern Waterfront site.
Mount Pleasant Crest, located on Thomson Road in Toa Payoh, will house 1,350 two-room flexi, three-, and four-room flats, plus 270 public rental units. Prices ởbefore grants range from $209,000 to $373,000 for two-room flexi, $411,000 to $552,000 for three-room, and $558,000 to $787,000 for four-room units. The wait for Mount Pleasant is approximately four years and 11 months. To provide context, three-room resale flats in Toa Payoh recently traded between $768,000 and $850,000, while four-room resale flats ranged from about $1.07 million to $1.19 million, illustrating the long-run value of HDB purchases in mature estates.
Other Projects and Shorter Wait Times
Beyond Mount Pleasant and Berlayar, the October sale encompasses four projects in Bedok, Sengkang, and Yishun with shorter waits of under three years. Notably, Yishun’s Chencharu Grove and Yishun Glade offer a combined 1,395 units with waits of about two years and seven months. Fernvale Plains in Sengkang, an 830-unit Standard project, offers a two-year and eight-month wait and includes 207 community care apartments designed for seniors, featuring senior-friendly fittings and integrated health and social services to support independent living.
Prices for Chencharu Grove’s flats (before grants) range from $154,000 to $226,000 for two-room flexi, up to $597,000 for five-room units, while Bedok’s Ping Yi Court presents 862 units with a two-year and nine-month wait. Fernvale Plains’ community care apartments underscore HDB’s ongoing emphasis on inclusive housing and elder support within new developments.
Application Window and Next BTO Cycle
Applications close at 11:59pm on October 22 via the HDB Flat Portal. In the next BTO exercise slated for February, HDB will offer around 4,600 flats in Bukit Merah, Sembawang, Tampines, and Toa Payoh, with roughly 3,000 additional balance flats also on offer. A new component of the Family Care Scheme will be introduced, granting priority to applicants who jointly apply for two units in the same BTO project with their parents, including singles under certain conditions. This policy update follows July’s expansion of priority access for first-time singles purchasing a two-room flexi near their parents.
What This Means for Buyers
Overall, the October BTO sale reinforces Singapore’s ongoing strategy to widen home ownership access while managing subsidies and occupancy terms. Prospective buyers should prepare to compare clawback rates, MOP requirements, and unit types across the new Mount Pleasant and Berlayar estates alongside established sites. The diverse mix—from compact two-room flats to larger four-room homes and rental blocks—helps address a spectrum of family sizes and budgets, reinforcing HDB’s role in shaping sustainable, inclusive urban living.