Photo credit: Shawnanggg/unsplash
When I successfully balloted for my 3-room BTO flat back in September 2014, well-meaning relatives strongly urged that I should consider a 5-room BTO flat instead. There were indeed 5-room flats in Bukit Batok and Buangkok available during that HDB BTO sales launch. They put forth the key argument that a 5-room BTO flat, based on their experience, always make the most resale profit when sold. Much to their exasperation, we stood by our decision because we really like the central location offered at St George’s Towers. Now that these BTO projects have finally crossed their respective Minimum Occupation Periods (‘MOP’), there are at least some data to test this hypothesis- “Does a 5-room BTO flat make more resale profit than a 3-room BTO flat?” It turns out that this is not always the case.
HDB BTO Sales Launch Sep 2014
I explained in a previous blog post that I bought a 3-room BTO flat to significantly boost my chance of securing a flat in St George’s Towers. That is because most couples tend to try their luck on 4-room flats as they are bigger and hence more popular. The average price of 3-room flats in St George was around $360,000.
Diagram 1: Site map of St George Towers (Source: HDB)
On the other hand, the average price for a 5-room BTO apartment at West Terra @ Bukit Batok was around $410,000. This was the project my relatives liked as it was near to their existing location as shown in Diagram 2.
Diagram 2: Site map of West Terra @ Bukit Batok (Source: HDB)
Finally, the average price for a 5-room BTO apartment at Buangkok Edgeview was around $390,000 during sales launch.
Diagram 3: Site map of Buangkok Edgeview
