Since 2-room flexi flats were introduced in November 2015, 16,169 units that have been taken-up to date. 54 percent were purchased by those aged 55 and above, according to an update provided by the Housing and Development Board (HDB).
Since 2-room flexi flats were introduced in November 2015, 16,169 units have been taken-up to date. Of this, 54 percent were purchased by those aged 55 and above, according to an update provided by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Friday (22 Feb).
In turn, 91 percent of this age group opted for 2-room flexi flats with shorter leases ranging from 15 to 45 years (by increments of five years) due to the significant savings they offer.
HDB revealed that of the 7,945 buyers of units with shorter leases, most (2,545) went for 40-year leasehold flats. Another popular option is the 35-year lease (2,154), followed by the 30-year lease (1,344). In comparison, only 139 buyers chose the flat with the shortest lease of 15 years.
Among the elderly buyers of such flats are Chen Yuxian, 58, and her husband Tan Hiok San, 68, who downsized from their 3-roomer in Chai Chee. Initially, the couple wanted to use the proceeds from the sale of their coffee shop business to purchase a bigger HDB flat with a 99-year lease.
But they eventually bought a 2-room flexi flat with a 45-year lease for around $120,000. In comparison, a similar unit with a tenure of 99 years is priced from about $230,000 to $250,000.
“We don’t really have much use for a 99-year lease as we have no children to pass the flat on to. Moving to a smaller flat was not a problem for us and we are still in Chai Chee, which we are very familiar with,” Chen told the Straits Times.
Tan noted that their move to a 2-room flexi flat with a shorter lease encouraged some old friends and former coffee shop clients to do the same.
According to HDB, it plans to offer 2-room flexi flats in Tengah, Woodlands and Kallang/Whampoa during its next Build-To-Order (BTO) sales exercise in May. It also released 937 such units for sale in Sengkang at Jurong West during its sales exercise in February.
Find HDB flats for sale or read our HDB guides. Can you afford an HDB flat? Check your affordability now.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
