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We thank Mr Roy Ong Ban Guan for his feedback ( , Dec 17). In planning the supply of new Build-To-Order (BTO) flats, HDB adopts a comprehensive approach, and considers factors such as prevailing economic and housing market situations, and long-term demographic and socio-economic trends. Given Singapore’s land constraints, HDB has to strike a balance between the size of HDB flats and ensuring an adequate supply of flats. We offer a wide range of flats, from two-room flexi flats to three-generation flats, in various locations to cater to the different housing needs and budgets of first-timer families, second-timer families, the elderly and singles. Among the flat types, four-room flats remain the mainstay of HDB’s BTO supply, as they are an affordable option for families and popular with first-timers. Like five-room flats, four-room flats come with three bedrooms. HDB flat sizes have remained unchanged since 1997. Over the same period, the average household size of resident households living in HDB flats has decreased from 3.75 persons in 1997 to 3.09 persons in 2021 as more young couples, singles and their parents choose to have their own flats, instead of living together. Nevertheless, HDB continues to build five-room and three-generation flats to meet the needs of larger families and multi-generation families who wish to live together, a point which Mr Ong raised.  HDB stopped building executive flats and executive maisonettes after the Executive Condominium Housing Scheme was introduced in 1995. As there are already a wide range of flats available, there are no plans at this point in time to reintroduce such flats. Home seekers who wish to purchase executive flats can consider the resale market, where the proportion of five-room and larger flats transacted has remained fairly stable.  Over the years, we have improved our flat designs to better optimise the use of space and cater to flat buyers’ evolving lifestyle needs. For example, columns in some new flats are pushed to the edges where possible, to give flat owners more flexibility to reconfigure their flat layout. We are also exploring offering flats with open floor plans, which would enable flat owners to tailor spaces according to their needs, such as having a home office or a larger bedroom. We will continue to calibrate the BTO supply and flat types offered to keep pace with the housing needs of the population. Director (Marketing and Development) Housing and Development Board