By Kenny Chee

MORE flats will be put up for sale in the last quarter of this year than originally planned, to meet high demand, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday.

Initially, the Housing Board was going to offer just 4,000 more build-to-order (BTO) flats - built based on demand - in this quarter. It had already launched 4,000 such units earlier this year.

But now, the HDB will release an additional 3,000 flats into the market this quarter.

Of these, 1,000 will be BTO flats in Punggol, Sengkang, Jurong West, Sembawang, Bukit Panjang and Dawson estate in Queenstown.

At least two BTO launches will be made each month.

The remaining 2,000 units - from two-room to executive flats - are completed flats in mature estates like Ang Mo Kio and newer estates like Jurong.

More than 90 per cent of the flats are new, with the rest repossessed.

They will be sold through a system called the sale of balance flats exercise, which came into effect yesterday.

This merges and replaces the balloting exercise along with the quarterly and half-yearly sale exercises of selling completed flats.

The new exercise will be held as and when there are sufficient flats for sale, and will be conducted at least once a year.

Mr Mah said that he expects the increased supply of flats to divert demand from resale flats, and to result in 'some moderation' of their prices.

The demand for flats has grown in recent months along with the recovery of the economy.

Flash estimates released by the HDB yesterday show that its average resale flat prices rose by 3.2 per cent in the third quarter from the second quarter this year, surpassing even peak prices seen prior to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

But Mr Mah said that new flats will remain affordable, as they will continue to be priced at rates that are discounted from prices of resale flats nearby.

Bank executive H. S. Wui, 30, who, with his fiancee, was unsuccessful in two flat-balloting exercises this year, welcomed the increase in the supply of flats.

'This will give people like us who are actively looking for flats more chances to have a place of our own,' he said, adding that he would be happy with any new flat, regardless of the estate it was located in.

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