HDB pilots new open concept ‘white flats’ in October BTO exercise
Christine Sun, chief investigator & strategist at OrangeTee Group, explains that such “white strategy” approaches that give buyers the possibility to personalize the design of their units were offered only in luxury private homes before.
According to the HDB, the non-provision of internal partition walls for such white flats will certainly be factored right into the rates. Homebuyers might opt into the brand-new style when they are invited to reserve their level.
Despite this, Sun anticipates that any potential price variation would certainly not be substantial as the building of non-structural walls is more economical.
“It allows the design of the HDB flat to be customised and re-configured as household needs adjustment,” comments Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Singapore.
HDB will pilot a new open idea format in the October Built-To-Order (BTO) event, reported Desmond Lee, Minister of State Development, at a speech on May 27.
However, she includes that the brand-new layout might have a potential disadvantage when marketing the unit in the future as it can interest a smaller pool of buyers.
He points out that those who wish to remodel their new flat could also see price savings as they will not need to demolish walls, unlike those buying the basic HDB apartments.
A good example is Far East Company’s Inessence brand of ultra-luxury residences, for example, Alba, Boulevard Vue and Skyline @ Orchard Boulevard in the prime communities of Orchard Road. The “white plan” concept permitted customers to personalise their units.
“Public housing flats that feature the white scheme can be a novelty for some prospective buyers”, states Sun.
For example, four-room flats nowadays have 3 rooms. Young partners without any children yet may not want all 3 bed rooms now. A white flat enables them to partition the area with furniture pieces or glass partitions. In the future, when they have kids, the space could be repurposed, and the rooms put in, includes Lim.
Compared to existing apartments, these “white condos” will have contiguous living and bed rooms space without columns or dividers wall surfaces. The very first collection of such white flats will be offered at the Kallang-Whampoa BTO project, with 310 three- and four-room units.
