NATIONAL Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has refuted claims by some first-time buyers that they could not get an HDB flat despite repeated applications.
Mr Mah said on Wednesday that some of the assertions that have appeared in media reports recently were 'not entirely truthful'.
Home seekers had claimed that they were unsuccessful despite making several applications, while one hopeful said he lodged 18 attempts but still did not secure a home.
But Mr Mah said: 'What is actually happening, is not a matter of buyers getting a flat, it's a matter of them getting it and not selecting it for one reason or another.'
HDB figures on Wednesday showed that eight in 10 first-timers could get a flat on their first try if they were not choosy; the success rate was 96 per cent for the second try.
This is under the build-to-order (BTO) scheme, the HDB's main supply of new flats. Projects get built when a certain demand is reached and flats typically take three to four years to be built.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:37 am