Dear readers, yesterday, the Housing and Development Board announced the pilot of a new open-concept layout for a BTO project in the Kallang-Whampoa area, called the White Flat layout concept. Under this concept, flats will not have internal walls partitioning the living and bedroom spaces, hence allowing home owners the flexibility to configure their spaces.
Personally, I find the White Flat HDB concept will appeal to a niche market of buyers who are very intentional and deliberate in the design of their HDB flats.
I would think that there is scope for the piloting of the white flat concept to be extended to condominiums. Condominiums these days are priced more competitively and prices per square foot for all condominiums (CCR, RCR and OCR) have been steadily increasing. For HDB home owners with a traditional typical Singaporean dream to upgrade to a condominium, a 3-bedroom condo which easily costs more than $1 million, could usually be one of the first considerations given the lower price tag compared to larger condos.
However, what is not attractive for a 3-bedroom condo for households with family or households planning a family, will be the size of the condo. Space in the 3-bedroom condo may even be more constrained with all the built-in furniture and carpentry.
Hence, if the white flat HDB concept can similarly apply to 3-bedroom condo, the white flat 3-bedroom condo could become more attractive to Singapore HDB households intending to upgrade from HDB to condo, as it definitely means more freed-up space. This will then make it more attractive for HDB owners to upgrade to condo, fulfilling the typical Singaporean dream of owning a condo, even though the 5 Cs (Cash, Condo, Credit Card, Country Club, Career) could be aspirations that are less sought after today.
In gist, white flat HDB will appeal to younger couples with plans to configure their spaces. And I humbly think that white flat 3-bedroom condos will be attractive to HDB households looking to upgrade to a condo that does not overly stretch too much of their budgets while allowing more space for a living.