• Singapore’s HDB launched the BTO Scheme on 15 April 2001.
• The BTO Scheme replaced the Registration for Flat System (RFS), implemented on 1 October 1994, which allowed homebuyers to apply for flats in HDB estates that were not yet fully developed. Compared with the BTO Scheme, the RFS only provided buyers with the general location of the flats, which were mainly divided into the North, Northeast and West regions. Other information such as completion time and down payment was only made known later.
• During the property market boom of the 1990s, HDB built more flats to meet housing demands. However, in 1997, the Asian Financial Crisis caused the demand for flats to plummet, resulting in HDB taking more than five years to sell off the remaining 31,000 units. To avoid a repetition of this oversupply, HDB launched the BTO Scheme.
• Under the BTO Scheme, the HDB only commences the construction of flats when applications reach 70%, enabling it to better gauge the demand for new flats.
• The average waiting time for a BTO flat is around four to five years, depending on the attributes of the individual projects, such as the number of units, design, site conditions and limitations.
• Conditions for applying for a BTO flat include the following: Applicants must be unmarried or married couples, widows/widowers, orphans or single parents, all of whom have to be at least 21 years old. For applicants who are single, they must be 35 years old and above. At least one of the applicants must be a Singapore citizen.
• In 2020, driven by rising rates of marriage and family formation, the demand for BTO flats increased by 70% compared to 2019, with applications reaching 87,800 – significantly higher than the 16,800 flats launched.
• To give first-time applicants a higher chance of success, HDB adjusted the priority system to reserve more units for them.

Under the current Build-To-Order (BTO) Scheme, homebuyers are faced with waiting times of up to five or six years, from the point of application to the collection of their keys. (Lianhe Zaobao, 11/10/2016)

During the property market boom of the 1990s, HDB built more flats to meet housing demands. However, in 1997, the Asian Financial Crisis caused the demand for flats to plummet, resulting in HDB taking more than five years to sell off the remaining 31,000 units.