HDB pilots new open concept ‘white flats’ in October BTO exercise
HDB is going to pilot a brand-new open concept design in the October Built-To-Order (BTO) event, declared Desmond Lee, Minister of Nationwide Development, at a speech on May 27.
“Public housing flats that feature the white scheme can be a novelty for some prospective buyers”, claims Sun.
According to the HDB, the non-provision of internal dividing wall surfaces for such white condos will certainly be factored right into the prices. Buyers may decide right into the brand-new style when they are invited to book their flat.
Christine Sun, primary researcher & strategist at OrangeTee Group, explains that such “white plan” approaches that give homebuyers the possibility to customise the style of their units were available only in high-end special homes prior to.
Regardless of this, Sun forecasts that any possible price variation would certainly not be considerable as the building of non-structural wall structures is more economical.
A good example is Far East Organization’s Inessence label of ultra-luxury residences, such as Alba, Blvd Vue and Skyline @ Orchard Boulevard in the prime communities of Orchard Roadway. The “white plan” concept permitted purchasers to customise their units.
He mentions that those who wish to revamp their brand-new level might even see price benefits as they won’t require to demolish walls, unlike those acquiring the typical HDB apartments.
For instance, four-room apartments nowadays have three rooms. Young pairs with no children yet might not require all three rooms now. A white flat enables them to dividing the space with furniture pieces or glass partitions. In the future, when they have kids, the area could be repurposed, and the bed rooms added, includes Lim.
“It gives the layout of the HDB flat to be personalized and re-configured as family needs change,” comments Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Singapore.
In contrast to occurring condos, these “white condos” will definitely have contiguous living and bedroom area without columns or partition wall structures. The very first set of such white flats will be presented at the Kallang-Whampoa BTO venture, with 310 three- and four-room units.
Nonetheless, she includes that the new design may have a possible drawback when offering the unit in the future as it can interest a smaller pool of homebuyers.
