Success Rate of First-time Applicants Eligible for Family Care Scheme (Proximity) in Securing HDB BTO and BTO and SBF Units

14 Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo asked the Minister for National Development in the recent HDB Build-To-Order (BTO) and Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) launch in July 2025, (a) what is the success rate for first-time applicants who are eligible for the Family Care Scheme (Proximity); and (b) what is the breakdown of successful applicants based on their number of prior unsuccessful attempts.

The Minister for National Development (Mr Chee Hong Tat): Mr Speaker, the Family Care Scheme (Proximity), or FCS (Proximity), was introduced in July 2025. Under FCS (Proximity), married and single children who choose to live with or near their parents, or the other way round, can enjoy priority access to flats launched in the Housing and Development Board's (HDB’s) Build-To-Order (BTO) and Sale of Balance Flat (SBF) exercises.

The flat selection process for the July 2025 BTO and SBF exercises will commence from November 2025. For the BTO exercise, about six in 10 first-timer families and two in 10 first-timer singles who applied under FCS (Proximity) received a queue number.

For the SBF exercise, about seven in 10 first-timer families who applied under FCS (Proximity) received a queue number.

Sir, among first-timer family FCS (Proximity) applicants who received a queue number in the July 2025 sales exercise, about eight in 10 were on their first attempt, and one in 10 were on their second attempt.

Mr Speaker: Ms Tan.

Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast): I thank the Minister for the reply. I just wanted to give some context in terms of my supplementary question. The reason why I asked this is I have seen several appeals with regard to the launch of the Simei Symphony that is part of that launch. Many families were coming to appeal because they do want to stay with their families.

I noted Minister's point about the numbers in terms of those who had a queue number because I had several residents who came to see me who had many more attempts, some with three or four attempts at BTO applications, and were not successful. To give the context, for inter-generational caregiving needs, many do want to stay within the area, not just in Simei, for my residents of course, but even in the East they have been applying. Given that these proximity schemes or other priority schemes are giving residents more ballot opportunities, would the Ministry of National Development consider refinement to the balloting process that would allow the Proximity Scheme to give real priority for those who have attempted several times within an area that is close to their family, or may be, perhaps, even in extending the proximity area, may be beyond the four kilometre?

Mr Chee Hong Tat: Mr Speaker, I understand the concerns that Ms Jessica Tan has raised. Indeed, we do want to encourage more families to stay near their family members, whether parents or children, so that the family can provide mutual support to one another.

HDB offers a range of priority schemes to enhance the ballot chances of certain groups. Please allow me to just share a little bit with the House.

For example, all first-timers receive one additional ballot. First-timer parents and married couples, eligible families receive an additional ballot. In other words, three ballots in total if they apply for a 4-room or a smaller standard flat. The first-timer families who have been unsuccessful in two or more BTO applications for standard 4-room smaller flats will receive an additional ballot chance for each subsequent BTO application for a standard flat. So, we do want to help them if they continue to apply for a standard flat, 4-room or smaller, to keep increasing their chances if they are unsuccessful.

On top of this, we give priority also under various schemes to further enhance chances of various groups. Of our available BTO flat supply, we set aside 40% for the Family and Parenthood Priority Scheme (FPPS) and 30% for the FCS (Proximity) that I just shared in my main reply. And the purpose is to support young parents and those who wish to live near their parents. Those who qualify for both schemes would be balloted twice. If you qualify for both, first, you ballot under FPPS and if you are not successful, then you have another go under FCS (Proximity).

Those who are unsuccessful in both ballots are then balloted again as a first-time, public applicant.

So, we offer higher chances to certain groups of buyers but to be candid, balloting outcomes cannot be guaranteed because there is an element of luck. This is especially so in popular projects, like the one that Ms Tan mentioned, and also in the larger flats such as 5-room flats or SBF flats, which the supply is smaller but the demand is high.

To improve the chances of more people being able to get the flat, we are building more flats. We are trying to launch more. We just announced the October launch, more than 9,000 flats, in total, including Shorter Waiting Time flats. And we want to encourage applicants to also consider applying for projects where there are larger supplies because the application rate would then be better.

During the application process, the application rates by estate and flat type would also be provided online and updated multiple times a day.