HDB pilots new open concept ‘white flats’ in October BTO exercise
HDB is going to pilot a brand-new open concept layout in the October Built-To-Order (BTO) activity, announced Desmond Lee, Minister of National Development, at a speech on May 27.
As an example, four-room apartments today have three bedrooms. Young couples without any kids yet might not want all 3 bedrooms currently. A white flat enables them to partition the room with home furniture or glass dividers. Down the road, when they have youngsters, the area could be repurposed, and the rooms added, includes Lim.
According to the HDB, the non-provision of internal dividers wall surfaces for such white flats will be factored into the rates. Property buyers might choose into the brand-new layout when they are welcomed to reserve their level.
Meyer Blue UOL Group & Singapore Land
Compared to existing condos, these “white apartments” are going to have contiguous living and bedroom spot without columns or partition wall surfaces. The initial set of such white flats are going to be made available at the Kallang-Whampoa BTO plan, with 310 three- and four-room units.
Nonetheless, she adds in that the brand-new design might have a potential disadvantage when offering the unit in the future as it may interest a smaller pool of investors.
An example is Far East Company’s Inessence brand of ultra-luxury homes, for example, Alba, Blvd Vue and Skyline @ Orchard Boulevard in the prime neighborhoods of Orchard Road. The “white plan” concept permitted purchasers to personalise their units.
Regardless of this, Sun forecasts that any type of potential cost variation would certainly not be significant as the design of non-structural wall structures is cheaper.
He explains that those who wish to renovate their brand-new level could also see price savings as they will not need to break partitions, unlike those purchasing the common HDB apartments.
“Public housing flats that feature the white scheme can be a surprise for some buyers”, states Sun.
“It allows the format of the HDB flat to be customised and re-configured as family wants modification,” remarks Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Singapore.
Christine Sun, primary researcher & strategist at OrangeTee Group, mentions that such “white strategy” concepts that give buyers the choice to personalize the layout of their units were offered just in high-end private homes before.
