HDB pilots new open concept ‘white flats’ in October BTO exercise
According to the HDB, the non-provision of internal partition wall structures for such white apartments will certainly be factored into the rates. Homebuyers may decide right into the brand-new style when they are invited to reserve their level.
“Public housing flats that provide the white plan can be a novelty for some prospective buyers”, says Sun.
HDB will pilot a new open idea layout in the October Built-To-Order (BTO) activity, revealed Desmond Lee, Minister of National Development, at a keynote on May 27.
Despite this, Sun predicts that any type of possible cost difference would not be considerable as the design of non-structural dividers is less costly.
For instance, four-room apartments these days have three bedrooms. Young couples with no children yet may not need all 3 bedrooms now. A white flat lets them to partition the area with home furniture or glass partitions. In the future, when they have youngsters, the space could be repurposed, and the bed rooms added, adds Lim.
He points out that those who wish to revamp their new flat could even see price savings as they won’t need to have to break wall surfaces, unlike those buying the conventional HDB apartments.
Christine Sun, chief researcher & strategist at OrangeTee Group, points out that such “white plan” concepts that offer homebuyers the option to customise the style of their units were offered just in luxury exclusive homes prior to.
A good example is Far East Organization’s Inessence brand of ultra-luxury homes, such as Alba, Boulevard Vue and Skyline @ Orchard Blvd in the prime districts of Orchard Road. The “white plan” concept permitted purchasers to customise their units.
However, she adds that the new layout might have a possible downside when selling the unit in the future as it can attract a smaller pool of investors.
Compared to occurring flats, these “white flats” will definitely have contiguous living and bedroom space without columns or parting wall surfaces. The first series of such white flats are going to be presented at the Kallang-Whampoa BTO plan, with 310 three- and four-room units.
“It lets the layout of the HDB flat to be customised and re-configured as family requires alteration,” remarks Eugene Lim, primary executive officer at ERA Singapore.
