Commentary on the July 2025 BTO and SBF Exercise Outcome

SINGAPORE, 31 July 2025 – HDB’s July 2025 (Build-to-Order) BTO exercise, coupled with the second Sale of Balance (SBF) exercise in the year concluded at 2359 hours the day before. In total, 10,209 HDB homes were available for application island wide.

We saw a 1.4 median first-timer application rate for 3-room and larger flat types across all the BTO projects, with a further 8.4 median first-timer application rate for 2-room flexi BTO flats. This was a substantial increase in applicant activity as compared to the previous February BTO and SBF exercise.

As of 2pm on 31 July 2025, publicly available HDB data shows that there were 15,814 applicants for the 4,226 units (3-room and bigger BTO units) across seven residential towns – Bukit Merah, Bukit Panjang, Clementi, Sembawang, Tampines, Toa Payoh, and Woodlands. The 2-room Flexi units saw 7,347 applicants for 1,321 units.

“We observed a higher median application rate for July 2025 BTO projects compared to the February 2025 launch. While the previous exercise saw attention diverted from the BTO to the SBF market, the wider range of locations provided in this exercise, which consisted of popular areas such as Toa Payoh and Tampines led to a greater interest in the BTO projects.” said Eugene Lim, KEO, ERA Singapore.

Under the SBF exercise, flats in mature estates that were launched prior to October 2024, will adhere to the standard HDB resale restrictions such as 5-year MOP instead of the 10-year MOP under Plus or Prime categories. This makes them appealing to buyers who do not want to be restricted by the longer MOP.

“This exercise, we saw new highs for the subsidy recovery rates for Prime flats (there were no Plus flats included in this exercise). These rates were at 11% for projects in Bukit Merah and Toa Payoh, while Clementi, which was both a Prime and Shorter Waiting Time (SWT) project had a record high 12% subsidy clawback rate.”

“Alexandra Vista and Alexandra Peaks, a pair of Prime projects located in Bukit Merah, received an underwhelming response, with a 2.2 application rate for first-timer families. Meanwhile, the other two prime projects, Clementi Emerald (Clementi) and Toa Payoh Ascent (Toa Payoh) received a more positive response with application rates of 3.1 and 6.4 respectively.

The pair of projects in Bukit Merah featured less attractive locational attributes than its peers in the Prime flat category, such as a substantial walking times to nearby MRT stations. Coupled with a new high subsidy recovery rate for the residential town (at 11% subsidy clawback), this has led to lower interest among homebuyers.”

We saw the inaugural launches of BTO projects in the new neighbourhood of Sembawang North (Sembawang), as well as the second BTO project in Woodlands North Coast (Woodlands). These new locations offered attractive and affordable BTO prices and larger floor plans, including 5-room and 3-gen layouts. They were moderately received, with a 1.5 and 2.1 overall application rate in Sembawang and Woodlands respectively.

2-room flexi BTO and new FCS scheme

Under the BTO sales launch, 2-room Flexi flats saw 7,347 applicants for 1,321 units. This is due to the concurrent SBF exercise offering 896 2-room Flexi flats, which drew in a staggering 6,811 applicants and helped ease pressure on the BTO launch.

“Among July 2025’s projects offering 2-room Flexi units, Simei Symphony, Bangkit Breeze, and Toa Payoh Ascent saw the most first-timer single and senior subscribers. All three projects also recorded double-digit application rates from first-time single applicants.”

“While Toa Payoh Ascent drew the highest number of two-room applicants in the July BTO exercise (1,753 applicants), Simei Symphony was by far the most oversubscribed project among first-timer singles (43.9). This strong demand was likely driven by Simei Symphony being Simei’s first BTO launch in a decade, along with its close proximity to Upper Changi MRT.”

“Since two-room Flexi flats across all locations became available to first-timer singles, application rates for these units have risen significantly. Singles are also now more incentivised to apply due to the Family Care Scheme, as it offers them priority when choosing to live with or near their family in a 2-room Flexi flat.”

SBF

“Overall, we also saw strong interest for the SBF for 3-room and bigger, with first-timer application rates upwards of 5.0 for popular housing towns such Bishan, Hougang, Pasir Ris, Punggol, Sengkang, and Tampines.

For the SBF exercise, 2-room Flexi flats attracted 6,811 applications in total. Additionally, first-timer single applicants for 2-room Flexi flats in Hougang, Kallang Whampoa, Punggol, and Woodlands saw application rates exceeding 200.”

SBF flats have been popular as they offer a wider variety of projects as compared to those in the BTO exercises. SBF flats that saw high application rates were in towns not featured in this current BTO exercise, such as Bishan, Pasir Ris, Sengkang, and Hougang.

“Majority of these SBF flats in mature estates, will follow the standard 5-year MOP, unless they were previously launched under the Plus or Prime classifications, making them attractive to buyers which explains their high oversubscription rate. Furthermore, some of the SBF flats are already completed, with others offering shorter waiting times compared to BTO flats, they could meet the demands of homebuyers with urgent housing needs.”

As the second SBF exercise of the year concludes, all demand will fall back onto the BTO market for the final launch of the year, which promises around 9,100 units. We expect to see interest among applicants for the exercise, which will feature debut projects in Mount Pleasant and the Greater Southern Waterfront.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Lisha Rodney
Public Relations Manager, ERA Singapore

Email: [email protected]

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