THE average waiting time for rental flats has fallen from 21 months a year ago, to about 13 months now.

Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of National Development Mohamad Maliki Osman said in Parliament yesterday that this was due to better management of the demand-andsupply of rental flats.

On the supply side, the HDB has added 1,400 rental flats since 2007, bringing the total number to 42,000 now. It will build 8,000 more new rental flats by 2012.

To better control demand, it tightened rental eligibility criteria in February.

For instance, those who previously owned private properties will not be eligible for rental flats.

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