HDB pilots new open concept ‘white flats’ in October BTO exercise

In contrast to existing condos, these “white flats” are going to have contiguous living and bedroom spot without columns or dividers walls. The first collection of such white flats will be featured at the Kallang-Whampoa BTO plan, with 310 three- and four-room units.

HDB is going to pilot a brand-new open idea design in the October Built-To-Order (BTO) event, announced Desmond Lee, Minister of National Development, at a spiel on May 27.

“Public housing flats that provide the white plan can be a novelty for some buyers”, says Sun.

As an example, four-room flats these days have 3 bed rooms. Young couples with no children yet may not require all 3 bedrooms now. A white flat lets them to dividing the room with home furniture or glass dividers. Later on, when they have kids, the area could be repurposed, and the bed rooms created, includes Lim.

An example is Far East Company’s Inessence brand of ultra-luxury houses, such as Alba, Boulevard Vue and Skyline @ Orchard Blvd in the prime communities of Orchard Roadway. The “white plan” concept permitted customers to personalise their units.

Christine Sun, primary researcher & strategist at OrangeTee Group, points out that such “white strategy” approaches that give buyers the option to customise the layout of their units were offered only in luxury special homes before.

However, she adds that the brand-new format might have a potential downside when selling the unit in the future as it can attract a smaller pool of investors.

According to the HDB, the non-provision of internal dividing wall surfaces for such white condos will certainly be factored into the rates. Homebuyers may choose right into the brand-new layout when they are welcomed to reserve their level.

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He points out that those who intend to remodel their brand-new level could even see expense reductions as they won’t need to break walls, unlike those acquiring the standard HDB flats.

In spite of this, Sun predicts that any potential price variation would certainly not be significant as the construction of non-structural dividers is more economical.

“It allows the format of the HDB flat to be tailor-maked and re-configured as family needs change,” comments Eugene Lim, major executive officer at ERA Singapore.