EXPLORING THE DESIGN BUILD SELL SCHEME (DBSS) DEMAND PHENOMENON

Abstract

There are numerous housing products serving the different market needs of Singapore’s various market segments. One of them, the Design Build Sell Scheme (DBSS) flat was a product to fulfill the needs of the ‘sandwiched’ class of home buyers who were looking for something beyond Built to Order (BTO) flats but could not afford private housing. DBSS was meant to bridge this gap serving as an interim product. However in recent times, DBSS flats have seen a surge in prices placing them within range and even surpassing prices of the next tier of housing, Executive Condominiums (EC). ECs were usually priced above DBSS because they offer more benefits yet now their price ranges were converging and this was attributed to strong DBSS location. The surveys and interviews conducted in this study discovered that while location was important, there were other salient factors that accounted for the high sustained DBSS demand. These were the higher loan to value (LTV) Housing Development Board (HDB) loans, expected capital appreciation, perceived superior design, floor level and a major shortage of flats in mature and desirable areas that led to this. The conclusive findings and analysis point that these other factors also played a strong role and that besides location, buyers were also highly sensitive to these factors thus accounting for this seemingly unexplainable market phenomenon.