Singapore — About 300 couples have applied for a two-room Build-to-Order (BTO) flat in the July and September sales exercise, following a tweak in policy to allow a Singapore citizen with a foreign spouse to apply for such flats in non-mature estates.

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan revealed the figure in Parliament today (Oct 21) in response to Member of Parliament (Pasir Ris-Punggol) Gan Thiam Poh.

Mr Gan had asked for an estimate on the number of Singaporeans married to non-citizen spouses who are eligible to buy new HDB BTO two-room flats and whether all HDB blocks which have two-room flat types would include other flat types as well.

Mr Khaw said that there are about 7,000 marriages involving a Singapore citizen and foreign spouses every year, but due to the marriage register not capturing income or housing history, he was unable to share how many were eligible.

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) had announced this policy tweak during the July BTO exercise. Applicants have to be first-timer applicants with household income of not more than S$5,000 a month and are eligible for the same subsidies as singles under the Single Singapore Citizen Scheme.

Previously, this group could only buy from the resale market. They can also apply for a BTO flat of any size, if they have a child who is a citizen or a Singapore Permanent Resident.

In the July BTO application exercise, the HDB said it received 94 applications under the Non-Citizen Spouse Scheme (NCS) for two-room BTO flats in non-mature estates. They formed part of the 8,921 who have applied for the 155 units in Sengkang and Yishun.

Between 2008 and last year, an annual average of about 530 Singaporeans with non-citizen spouses applied to buy resale flats under the NCS scheme.