It’s BTO season! We update our HDB BTO reviews as well as guides. Also, we review the upcoming launches like The Reserve Residences.

Among its many features, the Reserve Residences booking will begin soon and will also include a 20,000 sqm shopping mall. This will allow residents to shop for all their household needs and more.

We are a property portal and we cannot help but notice the record-breaking prices for BTO flats that were sold after their Minimum Ownership Period (MOP).

These are a few transactions that caught our attention.

A 1,216 sqft Sembawang resale apartment sold for S$746k, surpassing last week’s record.

We reported last week that a 5-room Sembawang apartment was sold for an unprecedented S$745,000. This transaction is notable for its location, floor range, and the fact that it is a newly MOP-ed BTO apartment. Based on the BTO price range, it has a paper gain of S$373,000-S$430,000.

In less than two weeks we have learned that the record was broken by a 5-room, recently MOP-ed flat selling for S$746,000. This is a thousand-dollar more.

The property measures 113 square meters (1,216 sq feet) and the price per square foot is around S$613.

It is located at Blk 129C Canberra Street, EastCrown@ Canberra BTO. It’s about an 11-minute walk from Canberra MRT or Canberra Plaza.

The lease for this flat began in 2018, just like the record-setting flat. It’s slightly older and has a lease remaining of 95 years, which is 5 months longer than the lease remaining on the previous flat.

It’s on the 10th-12th floor. This flat is more expensive than the S$745k one that’s located in the 7th-9th floors. Despite being on the 13th floor, the flat is not the highest. Blocks at EastCrown BTO can be found up to that level.

In last week’s article on recently MOP-ed BTO project flats selling at twice their BTO price, we previously highlighted EastCrown. We highlighted a record-breaking sale of a Sembawang 2-room flat in that development.

The selling price of 5-room EastCrown flats for sale was S$313,000 to S$376,000. It was launched during the March 2014 BTO Sales Exercise. The owners realized a profit of S$370,000 to S$433,000 with a sale price of S$746,000. This does not include other administrative costs such as legal fees, Buyers Stamp Duty (BSD), and renovation.

The price of HDB resale flats has increased by 22.89% over the last 10 years. At 40.83%, the price rise has been the most dramatic in the past two years.

The price rise in 5-room flats over the past decade is also 18.50%. In 2012, it was S$406 per square foot and in 2012, it was S$481. The average price per square foot has increased by 40.39% in the past two years, going from S$343 to S$481 per square feet.

732 sq ft Ang Mo Kio flat for sale at S$710k

A 68m sq ft (732 sq ft), flat at Ang Mo Kio just sold for S$710,000. This is an unprecedented price for a 3-room HDB flat. This is a staggering S$970 in terms of price per square foot.

This flat is located at Blk 590A Ang Mo Kio Street 51. It’s on the 25th through 27th floors. It is a 7-minute walk from Ang Mo Kio MRT, and AMK Hub.

The flat was only leased in 2019 and has 95 years, 4 months remaining lease.

The previous record for Ang Mo Kio’s highest 3-room flat is found in the same block on a higher floor between the 28th and 30th floors. The price difference between the transactions was S$40k.

This all-time high was also discussed in our last week’s article about the transactions of newly MOP-ed BTO apartments. Cheng San Court BTO was our first choice because it had the highest prices ever for 3- and 4-room flats, respectively, in Ang Mo Kio at that point.

The 3-room BTO flats in Cheng San Court, which were launched in September 2012, sold for S$282,000 to S$344,000. This means that the latest record sale saw a paper gain between S$366,000 and S$428,000 without considering other costs such as renovation.

The HDB resale price at Ang Mo Kio has seen a slower appreciation of 9.34% over the past 10 years. This could be due to the fact that there are more older flats in this area. However, prices have risen by 26.96% over the past two years.

The average price per square foot for 3-room flats in this area has not increased that much. It ranges from S$488-S$497, which is an increase of 1.84%. After a seven year price slump, the most dramatic price rise in the past two years has been from S$387 to S$497 per square foot, an increase 28.67%.

Since the BTO system was established, only eight BTO projects have been implemented in Ang Mo Kio. The most recent one is Central Web, which was launched in August 2022.

Only four of these projects have completed their MOPs and are now available for sale on the resale marketplace. These BTO flats are often sold at a premium because there isn’t enough new housing in the area.