# Lower age limit, lower fees but Community Care Apartments unlikely to see surge in demand: Analysts

- **Source:** Channel NewsAsia
- **Published:** 2026-07-16T22:00:00.000Z
- **Author:** Erin Liam
- **Original:** https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/community-care-apartment-cca-age-fees-demand-hdb-6258251
- **Topics:** Private Residential, Commercial & Industrial, Government & Policy

## Featured rationale

Lower age and cost barriers may broaden consideration, but seniors’ preference to age in place signals that near-term demand could increase only marginally.

## AI summary

Community Care Apartment eligibility will fall from 65 to 55 in October 2026, while basic service fees will decline 18% to 75% from 2Q2027.

## Original article

SINGAPORE: Dr Koh Hui Hiang, 61, wants her retirement years to be spent in a place where help is close at hand, especially if she becomes immobile one day. A Community Care Apartment, which bundles senior-friendly housing with care services, could have been just that. But Dr Koh, an associate lecturer in optometry, would only have turned eligible at 65 under the old rules. On Monday (Jul 13), the government announced that the eligibility age for such apartments will be lowered from 65 to 55 , effective from the next application exercise. Monthly basic service package fees will also be cut. “I'm 61 years old, I could have applied for this, right? But I suppose I missed the boat,” said Dr Koh, who applied for a short-lease two-room Flexi flat a few years ago. For seniors like her, the changes mean earlier access to aged-care housing options. Still, property and gerontology experts said that demand for these apartments is unlikely to rise significantly in the near term. All things being equal, a wider pool of buyers should lift demand, said Mr Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at Mogul.sg. But he pointed to "mental obstacles" that keep seniors from applying, including a narrow profile of buyers that the apartments tend to appeal to, such as those with health or mobility issues. “I think it's going to increase demand quite marginally – very, very little. It's not going to open the floodgates.” FALLING APPLICATION RATES The lowered age threshold takes effect from the October 2026 Build-to-Order (BTO) sales exercise, and comes amid falling application rates for Community Care Apartments. HDB has launched five such projects so far, in Bukit Batok, Queenstown, Bedok, Geylang and Sengkang. The first, Harmony Village@Bukit Batok in 2021, drew an application rate of 4.2 – or about four seniors vying for each unit. The latest, Fernvale Plains in Sengkang, was undersubscribed at 0.7. Associate Professor Wee Shiou Liang from the S R Nathan School of Human Development at the Singapore University of Social Sciences said the decline reflects a preference to age in place rather than any flaw in the flats themselves. “Most seniors want to stay put. Familiarity matters enormously in later life – old neighbours, routines, a favourite coffee shop, networks built over decades," he said. "Moving anywhere, even to a better-designed home with care on tap, means giving up some of that and adapting to a new environment. So the deeper barrier is usually not price or eligibility – it is the sense that there is no felt need to move yet.”

PLANNING EARLIER Analysts agreed that lowering the eligibility age alone is unlikely to drive an immediate jump in uptake. A 55-year-old is typically still working, healthy and not yet thinking about care, said Assoc Prof Wee. “Its significance is more about mindset than numbers. Lowering it to 55 is a deliberate nudge to get people planning earlier and moving while they can still adapt and become part of a new community,” he said. The change gives people an extra decade to weigh such apartments against other housing options, such as a short-lease two-room Flexi flat, he added. Two-room Flexi flats are open to those 55 and above, with leases of up to 45 years. Like Community Care Apartments, they cannot be resold on the open market; if a resident moves out, HDB pays out the unused lease value. Both types of flats include a bedroom, a bathroom and a living-dining-kitchen area. Two-room Flexi flats, which range from 38 to 46 sq m, also have a household shelter. Community Care Apartments are 34 sq m and come fitted with pre-installed fittings and senior-friendly features such as easy-to-slide partitions, built-in wardrobes and cabinets, and a wheelchair-accessible bathroom with slip-resistant flooring and grab bars. Mr Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons, expects Flexi flats to keep outdrawing Community Care Apartments, as this is a newer product that will take time for seniors to accept, he said. The median application rate for two-room Flexi BTO flats for seniors was 2.6 in the latest June sales exercise. Community Care Apartment residents must also pay a basic service package fee, which covers support such as help with minor home fixes, arranging add-on care services and 24-hour emergency response, with further services available at extra cost. “Some of them may not feel a need for that because if they are still able to do some of these things, then why do they want to go for a Community Care Apartment?” he said.

INCREASED AFFORDABILITY From the second quarter of 2027, the basic service package fee will fall by between 18 and 75 per cent. Costs for social programming and maintenance for standalone communal spaces in future projects will be removed from the fees. Emergency alert devices, previously bundled in, will become optional. The health ministry will also subsidise components similar to those already covered under national long-term care schemes, including staff support and emergency response. Mr Mak said the lower fees and new subsidies will do more for affordability than the age change does for eligibility, removing a barrier for lower-income seniors. “It might encourage some people who are above the age of 65, who previously did not want to apply for Community Care Apartments because of the cost – now they may consider,” he said. The sixth project will launch in Toa Payoh in October, next to Caldecott MRT station. Property analysts expect demand there to rise slightly given the location. Huttons’ Mr Lee said acceptance of these apartments will still take time, and the cost of providing services could fall as demand grows. “Then at that point in time, there may be a certain tipping point that seniors will find it worthwhile for them,” he said. Assoc Prof Wee said the apartments are an option alongside nursing homes, private assisted living, co-living models, shared stay-in caregiving services and Age Well Neighbourhoods. “The goal is not to funnel everyone into any single model, but to widen the range of choices so that people with different care needs, preferences and family situations can find something that lets them age with connectedness, autonomy, meaning and joy,” he said. Community Care Apartments fall between fully independent living at home and the residential care of a nursing home, he added, aimed at seniors with low-to-moderate needs who want housing and care bundled together. For the model to gain traction, perceptions need to shift first, Assoc Prof Wee said. The aim should be to help seniors see these apartments as a positive choice made early while they are still well, rather than a last resort turned to only in a crisis. Dr Tan Woan Shin, deputy executive director at the Geriatric Education and Research Institute, said creating supportive environments for ageing well in the community requires testing a range of housing options across the public and private sectors, both in infrastructure and service offerings, before adapting them based on feedback from the market and residents. Given that most Singaporeans own their homes, ageing in place is often the default, Dr Tan said. "Therefore, it is equally important for their existing environments to be supportive, enabling our older population to function well, have timely access to care, and do the things that matter to them," she said. Mdm Ng, a 62-year-old retiree who wanted to be known only by her surname, said she is not considering these apartments yet. She recently moved into a five-room flat, and has no plans to make another big move soon. “But life is quite unpredictable. We never know,” she said. “In any case, this is a good initiative.”

## Chinese translation

> Translation model: grok

### 准入年龄下调、费用降低，但分析师料社区关爱公寓需求难现激增

调整扩大了合资格买家群体，或促使人们提早规划，但更大障碍是不愿离开熟悉环境。

新加坡：61岁的许惠香博士（Dr Koh Hui Hiang）希望退休后住在援助就近的地方，尤其是万一行动不便之时。将乐龄友好住房与护理服务捆绑的社区关爱公寓（Community Care Apartment）本可正合其意。但在旧规则下，这位验光系兼职讲师要到65岁才合资格。周一（7月13日），政府宣布此类公寓的合资格年龄将由65岁降至55岁，自下一次申请活动起生效。每月基本服务配套费用也将下调。

“我61岁了，本来就可以申请了吧？但我想我错过了机会，”几年前已申请短租约两房式 Flexi 组屋的许博士说。对她这样的乐龄人士而言，调整意味着更早获得养老护理住房选择。不过，房产与老年学专家表示，短期内这类公寓的需求不太可能显著上升。

其他条件相同，更广的买家池应能抬升需求，Mogul.sg 首席研究官麦俊荣（Nicholas Mak）说。但他指出，让乐龄人士却步的“心理障碍”依然存在，包括这类公寓往往主要吸引健康或行动方面有需要的特定买家画像。“我认为需求只会边际增加——非常、非常有限。不会打开闸门。”

申请率持续下滑

降低年龄门槛自2026年10月预购组屋（BTO）销售活动起生效，背景是社区关爱公寓申请率走低。建屋发展局（HDB）迄今推出五个此类项目，分别位于武吉巴督、女皇镇、勿洛、芽笼与盛港。首个项目——2021年的 Harmony Village@Bukit Batok——申请率为4.2，即约四名乐龄人士争夺每个单位。最新的盛港 Fernvale Plains 则认购不足，申请率仅0.7。

新加坡社科大学 S R Nathan 人类发展学院副教授黄绍良（Wee Shiou Liang）表示，下滑反映的是人们更希望在原居地老化，而非公寓本身的缺陷。“多数乐龄人士希望留在原地。晚年熟悉感极为重要——老邻居、日常节奏、常去的咖啡店、几十年建立的网络，”他说。“搬到任何地方，即使是设计更好、护理随时可得的家，也意味着放弃其中一些，并适应新环境。因此更深的障碍通常不是价格或资格——而是尚未感到有必要搬迁。”

更早规划

分析师一致认为，仅降低合资格年龄不太可能立刻推高认购。55岁的人通常仍在工作、身体健康，尚未考虑护理，黄副教授说。“其意义更多在心态而非数字。降至55岁是有意的轻推，让人们更早规划，并在仍能适应、融入新社区时行动，”他说。这一改变也多给人们十年时间，在这类公寓与其他住房选项——例如短租约两房式 Flexi 组屋——之间权衡。

两房式 Flexi 组屋开放给55岁及以上人士，租约最长45年。与社区关爱公寓一样，它们不能在公开市场转售；若住户迁出，HDB 会退还未用租约价值。两类单位均包含卧室、浴室与客餐厅厨空间。两房式 Flexi 面积约38至46平方米，并有住户防空壕。社区关爱公寓面积34平方米，配备预装配件与乐龄友好设施，如易滑动隔断、内置衣橱与柜体，以及轮椅可达、防滑地板与扶手的浴室。

合登数据与分析高级总监李斯德预期 Flexi 组屋将继续比社区关爱公寓更受欢迎，因后者较新，乐龄人士需要时间接受。最新6月销售活动中，面向乐龄的两房式 Flexi BTO 中位申请率为2.6。社区关爱公寓住户还需支付基本服务配套费，涵盖协助小修、安排加购护理服务与24小时紧急应变等支持，进一步服务另计。“有些人可能觉得没必要，因为如果这些事自己还能做，为什么要选社区关爱公寓？”他说。

负担能力提升

自2027年第二季起，基本服务配套费将下调18%至75%。未来项目中，社交活动与独立公共空间维护成本将从费用中剔除。原先捆绑的紧急警报装置将改为可选。卫生部亦将补贴与国家长期护理计划已覆盖类似的部分，包括人员支持与紧急应变。

麦俊荣表示，降低费用与新增补贴对负担能力的帮助，大于年龄调整对资格的影响，为低收入乐龄人士移除障碍。“这或许会鼓励一些65岁以上、过去因费用而不想申请社区关爱公寓的人——现在他们可能会考虑，”他说。

第六个项目将于10月在大巴窑推出，毗邻加利谷地铁站。房产分析师预期，鉴于区位，那里需求会略有上升。合登的李斯德表示，接受这类公寓仍需时间，随着需求增长，提供服务的成本也可能下降。“届时或许会出现某个临界点，让乐龄人士觉得值得，”他说。

黄副教授表示，这类公寓是与疗养院、私人辅助生活、共居模式、共享住家看护服务及乐龄宜居邻里等并列的选项。“目标不是把所有人导入任何单一模式，而是拓宽选择，让不同护理需求、偏好与家庭情况的人，都能找到让他们带着连接感、自主、意义与喜悦老化的方式，”他说。社区关爱公寓介于完全独立居家与疗养院住宿护理之间，面向低至中度需求、希望住房与护理捆绑的乐龄人士。

若要让模式站稳脚跟，观念须先转变，黄副教授说。目标应是帮助乐龄人士把这类公寓视为在仍健康时尽早作出的积极选择，而非危机时才转向的最后手段。

老年教育与研究院副执行长陈婉欣博士（Dr Tan Woan Shin）表示，为在社区中创造支持老化的环境，需要在公私领域测试一系列住房选项——无论在基础设施还是服务供给上——再根据市场与住户反馈加以调整。鉴于多数新加坡人拥有自住房，居家老化往往是默认选择，陈博士说。“因此，同样重要的是让他们现有环境具支持性，使我们的年长人口能良好运作、及时获得护理，并做对自己重要的事，”她说。

仅愿以姓氏示人的62岁退休人士吴女士表示，目前还不考虑这些公寓。她刚搬进五房式组屋，短期内不打算再大搬家。“但人生很不可预测。我们永远不知道，”她说。“无论如何，这是一项好举措。”