Merpati Alcove BTO Review: HDB's Fourth Community Care Apartment Project, With 168 Plus 4-Rooms at Mattar

Merpati Alcove is two offers on one Geylang site, and HDB built most of it for seniors: 265 of its 433 flats are Community Care Apartments. We would recommend each half to a clearly defined buyer, and neither to anyone who wants to keep their options open.

For a senior, or the family helping one. HDB's launch release called Merpati Alcove 'the fourth CCA project to be launched'. Its care apartments fill Block 136A: 34 sqm open-layout flats with a digital lock, a wheelchair-accessible bathroom and a fitted kitchen already installed, furnished communal spaces on every floor, a CCA Activity Centre, and a Basic Service Package, with 24-hour emergency response, that every resident must subscribe to. HDB's site plan puts the block at the end of the site where it draws an exit of Mattar MRT station, on the Downtown Line. Before grants the price depended on the lease: $102,000 to $129,000 for 30 years, down to $68,000 to $86,000 for 15 years, a lease only the oldest buyers could take. That is the strongest case in the project: a senior-fitted flat beside an MRT exit, paid for once, with the care services subscribed to on top. What we cannot give you is the cost of that subscription, because the service package is not priced in the documents this review is built from.

For a family. The 168 4-room flats in Block 135A are Plus flats: $530,000 to $647,000 before grants, tiled in the kitchen and bathrooms with the rest of the fit-out left to you, a 10-year minimum occupation period (MOP), no letting of the whole flat at any point, and 8% of the first resale price or valuation, whichever is higher, paid back to HDB. HDB's nearby resale comparables sold for $878,000 to $1,080,000, but they are bigger flats that were never under Plus terms. We would own one only as a long-term home: on HDB's estimates, roughly fourteen years pass from flat selection before a first sale is even allowed. A family that may need to sell, move or let the whole flat within that span is better served by a Standard flat.

September 2026, almost two years after the window. Applications closed on 23 October 2024 and booking is long over.

• Booked and waiting: HDB estimated 44 months from the median month of flat selection and publishes no completion date; after booking, your flat's Probable Completion Date on MyHDB Page is the figure to follow (our wait-times guide explains both).
• A future resale buyer of a 4-room: the Plus terms pass to you, including an income ceiling and a 10-year MOP of your own.
• Seniors looking now: HDB is lowering the CCA age from 65 to 55 from its November 2026 exercise, whose preliminary list places CCAs in Toa Payoh, not Geylang.
• Geylang families: the same preliminary list has 440 Geylang flats, 2-room Flexi and 4-room, with no project or classification named yet.

We built this from HDB's launch documents and our own analysis of HDB resale records, at a desk. It is not financial advice: confirm prices, rules and your own eligibility with HDB.

Neither flat at Merpati Alcove is built for a change of plan: the care apartment's lease is fixed at booking and its resale terms are HDB's to confirm, and the 4-room holds you for ten years after the keys.

Sources: HDB's October 2024 launch release and price annex, and the Merpati Alcove sales brochure (blocks, storeys, site plan).

What HDB's brochure puts around it. The project is 'Located next to Mattar MRT and along Merpati Road'. For transport, residents 'will be served by existing bus services along Merpati Road' and 'will also be able to access the Downtown Line via the nearby Mattar MRT Station'. At its centre is 'the park situated between the 2 residential blocks', which HDB describes as 'the heart of the community'. HDB also lists children's playgrounds, fitness stations, a preschool, shelters and pavilions; elderly fitness stations 'strategically placed throughout the precinct'; and a roof garden on the multi-storey car park with fitness facilities, a community gardening area and 'viewing points that offer vistas of the surrounding parks and canal'. The public may use the project's facilities too.

How the site is laid out. We checked HDB's site plan page rather than rely on the brochure's text. Block 135A, the 4-room block, stands at the western end of the site with the multi-storey car park beside it. Block 136A, the CCA block, stands at the eastern end, where the plan draws an exit of Mattar MRT station next to it. The park runs between the two along Merpati Road. The plan marks Merpati Road, Mattar Road beside the CCA block and Jalan Anggerek as under construction, and land across Merpati Road as reserved for future high-rise residential development; HDB names no project for that land. HDB states no distances, and neither do we. The brochure encourages applicants to visit the place before booking; we have not.

No Geylang sibling to compare with. Our data holds no other Geylang BTO project from October 2024 to June 2026, so Merpati Alcove is set against the rest of its own exercise below.

The rules its applicants met. October 2024 was the first exercise under HDB's Standard, Plus and Prime framework, so Merpati Alcove's 4-room buyers were among the first households to take on Plus terms. The Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG) had just risen to a maximum of $120,000 for families and $60,000 for singles (announced 20 August 2024), and HDB said its loan limit 'has been lowered from 80% to 75% from this BTO exercise'. Applicants were assessed on the ceilings then in force: $14,000 a month for a family buying a 4-room ($21,000 for an extended family) and $14,000 for seniors buying a CCA. For HFE applications from 24 August 2026, HDB has raised these to $16,000 and $24,000 (provided no family nucleus exceeds $16,000), and to $16,000 for a CCA.

HDB's brochure calls the CCA 'an assisted living public housing concept, designed to integrate senior-friendly living with on-site social activities and customised care services according to the individual's care needs in their silver years'. At Merpati Alcove all 265 are in Block 136A.

The flat. 34 sqm (366 sq ft) including the air-con ledge, 32 sqm inside, with 'an open layout' and easy-to-slide partitions that can separate the living and bedroom spaces. Installed before you move in: floor tiles in the living, dining, kitchen and bathroom areas and vinyl strip flooring in the bedroom; wall tiles in the kitchen and bathroom; a digital lock; a wide, wheelchair-friendly main door with a built-in bench beside the entrance; a large wheelchair-accessible bathroom with slip-resistant flooring, grab bars and a water heater; a built-in wardrobe and cabinets; a kitchen with an induction hob and cooker hood, where buyers may choose a lower countertop; and window grilles.

The block. 'Furnished communal spaces on each floor to foster social connections, alongside a dedicated CCA Activity Centre'. One design choice to know about: 'There is no household shelter within each Community Care Apartment. There is a storey shelter on each floor, which forms part of the furnished communal spaces where residents can mingle and build social networks.'

The subscription. 'Residents will have to subscribe to a Basic Service Package, which includes services such as 24-hour emergency response and dedicated programming.' An on-site community manager helps arrange add-on care and support ('additional charges apply'), handles simple home fixes and organises activities, and optional extra care costs more again. HDB's price annex is explicit that CCA prices 'do not include the costs of the mandatory Basic Service Package and optional services'. We give no figure for the package because none appears in the launch documents this review is built from; HDB publishes its current pricing on its Community Care Apartments page.

The lease sets the price.

Source: HDB's October 2024 price annex. The lease must cover every buyer and spouse to at least age 95.

In October 2024 every CCA buyer had to be 65 or older, so the youngest buyers could take only the 30-year or 35-year lease, and a younger spouse narrows the choice further. The shorter, cheaper leases were for older households: a 15-year lease reaches 95 only if every buyer and spouse is 80 or older. So HDB's headline 'from $102,000' is the 30-year price, and the lowest price in the project, $68,000, is a 15-year one.

Paying for it. No housing loan is allowed for a CCA, so the flat is paid for from CPF savings and/or cash (our step-by-step BTO guide covers the payment stages).

Who could buy. Seniors aged 65 and over, singles or couples, within the $14,000 monthly income ceiling then in force for a CCA. HDB is lowering the age 'from 65 to 55' from its November 2026 exercise; the ceiling for a CCA is $16,000 for HFE applications from 24 August 2026.

At Merpati Alcove your age sets the lease, the lease sets the price, and the service package sits outside both.

HDB's own starting-price table gave Merpati Alcove a row to itself (Geylang's Plus row covered no other project):

HDB, October 2024 launch release. HDB: 'The starting prices after grant amounts are illustrative. The actual grant amount received will depend on the household's income and eligibility.'

Why it stops at $6,000. HDB's footnote: 'Buyers need to pay 5% of the published price using their CPF and/or cash savings when their EHG amount exceeds 95% of the published price.' A $120,000 grant is more than the $102,000 price, so the buyer pays 5% of $102,000, which HDB's table shows rounded up as $6,000. The flat is never free, and the $6,000 is HDB's floor, not a discount you can count on.

Who actually gets $120,000. The EHG is a first-timer grant set by income, averaged over the 12 months before the HFE application. For a family it is $120,000 at up to $1,500 a month, $95,000 at $3,000, $65,000 at $5,000, $30,000 at $7,000 and $5,000 at $9,000, with nothing above $9,000. A single's grant is at most $60,000, falls as income rises ($40,000 at $2,000, $25,000 at $3,000, $10,000 at $4,000) and stops above $4,500. So:

• A first-timer couple whose income averaged $1,500 a month or less matches HDB's illustration.
• A senior buying alone gets at most $60,000, so even the cheapest 30-year CCA costs well over $6,000 after the grant.
• A senior who has bought a subsidised flat before should not assume these first-timer bands apply at all; your HFE letter settles your grant.

And whatever the grant, it pays for the flat, not the care: the Basic Service Package is charged on top.

Read 'from $6,000' as HDB's floor for the luckiest first-timer household, on the 30-year lease, before a single dollar of the service package.

Source: HDB's October 2024 launch release and price annex; price per sqm is our arithmetic on the midpoint of the range.

Tiled kitchen and bathrooms; the living room and bedrooms are yours to floor. In the brochure's words, 'these flats will come with the following finishes and fittings': floor tiles in the bathrooms, household shelter, kitchen and service yard; wall tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen; and a water closet suite. Flooring for the living, dining and bedroom areas, the bedroom and bathroom doors, and the wash basins and shower sets are optional components: 'For 4-room flat buyers who opt in for the OCS, the cost of the optional components will be added to the price of the flat.' Our sources give no price for those components, so we give none; either way you pay for them, through HDB or your own contractor (our renovation guide explains how the OCS works).

After the grant, for first-timer families. At the lowest 4-room price:

Our arithmetic on HDB's EHG bands; the grant depends on income over the 12 months before your HFE application, and your HFE letter decides it.

Where HDB's own income ladder stopped. HDB's release listed what households could buy 'with little or no cash payment'. At $7,000 a month (EHG $30,000), the only 4-room Plus flats it named were at Kembangan Wave and Central Trio @ AMK. HDB's ladder names no Merpati Alcove flat at any rung; its $9,000 rung (EHG $5,000) covers 'most of the Standard, Plus and Prime flats' without listing them.

On an HDB loan. A loan of 75% over 25 years, assessed at HDB's 3.0% floor, is $397,500 at the lowest price: $1,885 a month, which needs a household income of $6,283 under the 30% cap. At the top of the range it is $485,250, $2,301 a month and $7,670 of income. Grants lower the price first; the rate actually charged is below the 3.0% used to size the loan.

HDB's comparables, and what separates them from Block 135A.

HDB chose these comparables and itself warns that they differ from the new flats in their attributes; the gap is our arithmetic. HDB gave no comparable for the CCA.

HDB's comparables had about 95 years of lease left, almost as fresh as a new flat, so lease explains little of this gap. They differ in other ways: they are bigger (93-96 sqm against 89 sqm), a Merpati Alcove 4-room still needs its flooring, doors and fittings, and flats resold by October 2024 predate the classification, while a Merpati Alcove 4-room will carry a 10-year MOP, 8% to HDB and a permanent bar on whole-flat letting. HDB does not say how much of the 40% each difference accounts for, and neither do we. Read the gap as what HDB's price saved against those flats at launch, not as a gain waiting at the other end.

Block 135A's price stops at the kitchen and bathroom tiles; put the flooring, doors and fittings on the bill before you set it against a resale flat.

HDB sets a subsidy-recovery rate for each Plus and Prime project at launch. In October 2024 it ran from 6% to 9%, and HDB explained two of the differences in its own words: Bayshore Vista and Bayshore Palms 'are more favourably located near East Coast Park and a proposed sports and recreation facility', and Merpati Alcove 'is right at the doorstep of Mattar MRT station and closer to the city centre'. That is HDB's reason as HDB gave it; we add nothing to it.

Source: HDB's October 2024 launch release (Table 2) and price annex.

On price, Merpati Alcove's 4-room start of $530,000 was the second-highest among October 2024's seven Plus projects, behind Kallang View's $539,000, while its top price of $647,000 was below four of the other six. Across every Plus BTO project from October 2024 to June 2026, 8% is the highest subsidy-recovery rate HDB set, shared with five others (our prices guide compares the three classifications).

What Plus asks of a 4-room owner.

• Ten years before selling. The MOP is 10 years, against 5 for a Standard flat, counted from key collection, not from booking.
• 8% at the first sale, whenever it comes. $8,000 of every $100,000, or $80,000 of every $1,000,000, worked out on the higher of the sale price and the flat's valuation. It is charged once, on the first sale, and waiting longer does not make it lapse.
• No whole-flat letting, ever. Not even after the MOP. You may let spare bedrooms with HDB's approval: a 4-room qualifies, as only a 3-room or bigger may, and bedroom letting needs no MOP and may be done by a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident owner.
• What passes to whoever buys from you. A household buying a resale Plus flat must meet an income ceiling even without a grant: for HFE applications from 24 August 2026, $16,000 a month for families, $24,000 for extended families, and $16,000 for a single aged 35 or over buying without the Singles Grant. The ban on whole-flat letting binds them too, and they start a 10-year MOP of their own (our MOP guide covers how it is counted).

And the care apartments? The brochure says the project's flats 'will be offered as Plus flats'. The launch documents we used set out no resale or letting terms of a CCA's own, and a CCA is a short-lease flat bought to age in, which sets it apart from the 99-year 4-room. Ask HDB how the rules apply to your unit rather than assume the 4-room's terms either do or do not.

HDB's stated reason for 8% is that Merpati Alcove 'is right at the doorstep of Mattar MRT station and closer to the city centre'; a 4-room owner settles it once, at the first sale, on the higher of that sale's price and the valuation.

What 44 months measures. HDB's estimate runs from the median month of flat selection to the median projected completion month of the project's blocks. The clock starts at flat selection, which came months after the application window closed, so the time from applying to collecting keys is longer than 44 months. HDB publishes no completion date for the project; once you have booked, the Probable Completion Date on MyHDB Page is the estimate to follow (our wait-times guide explains how it moves).

Where it sits in October 2024. HDB's release named the exercise's quicker flats: 'the 2,085 flats at Fernvale Oasis, Fernvale Sails and West BrickVille @ Bukit Batok are Shorter Waiting Time (SWT) flats with waiting time of less than 3 years. Another 767 flats at Costa Riviera I & II will have a waiting time of slightly over 3 years.' Merpati Alcove was neither: 44 months is eight months past the 36-month line. Across the exercise, estimates ran from 24 months (West BrickVille @ Bukit Batok) to 59 (Central Trio @ AMK). Among the seven Plus projects, only Kembangan Wave (41) and Kallang View (43) were shorter.

What the brochure adds. HDB may finish the housing blocks before the facilities around them, so that buyers can collect their keys sooner. Some of the park, playgrounds and roof garden may follow the keys rather than greet them.

What it means for each buyer.

• A 4-room owner-to-be: add the 10-year MOP, which runs from key collection. On HDB's estimates that is roughly fourteen years from flat selection before a first sale is allowed.
• A CCA owner-to-be: the wait comes out of the years the flat is meant to serve; we weigh that below.

Forty-four months is a middling Plus wait; for a senior, HDB's estimate is also the better part of four years, counted from flat selection, not from the day you applied.

No rates, and no guesses. HDB's results page for the October 2024 exercise is gone, and the Internet Archive holds no copy of its figures. We have not filled the gap with a later exercise's rates, a sales figure or anything else: a later queue cannot tell you how crowded this one was, and we will not pretend otherwise. For the same reason we cannot say whether first-timer families or seniors found it easier.

How the ballot works, under the rules HDB states today. These are HDB's current rules, not a description of what October 2024 applicants faced:

• First-Timer (Parents & Married Couples) families get three ballot chances, plus first priority under the Family and Parenthood Priority Scheme when applying for a 4-room or smaller BTO flat in a Standard project. Other first-timer families get two chances; second-timer families get one.
• The extra chance after bad luck is Standard-only too: a first-timer family unsuccessful in two or more BTO applications for Standard flats gets one more chance for each later Standard application, up to five in total for FT(PMC) families and four for others.

Under those rules, a Plus application such as a Merpati Alcove 4-room carries neither the first priority nor the build-up of extra chances. That matters when you choose between a Plus and a Standard project in the same exercise.

Seniors' flats. Only seniors could apply for a CCA; a single below 65 had nothing to apply for here: singles buy new 2-room Flexi flats, and this project had none.

Reading the next exercise's rates. HDB's application rate is the applications from a household type divided by the flats set aside for that type, not by all the flats. Today HDB shortlists up to 200% of supply; October 2024 applicants were shortlisted up to 300%, which HDB cut to 200% 'From the February 2025 sales exercise'. HDB also says about 20% of applications come from households that applied in earlier launches and may still be waiting to book. Our application rates guide sets out every recent row.

Geylang families. HDB's next exercise, in November 2026, spans six towns (Bedok, Geylang, Sembawang, Tengah, Toa Payoh and Yishun) and about 7,960 flats. Geylang's share on HDB's Flat Portal (read 19 September 2026, labelled preliminary) is 440 flats, 2-room Flexi and 4-room; HDB names no project or classification before launch (our launch schedule has the full list). If it is Standard, the ballot priorities above apply; if it is Plus, so do terms like Merpati Alcove's. HDB's own advice (June 2026) is to 'consider applying to projects with lower application rates, such as those with an application rate of around one or lower'.

Seniors. The November 2026 list places Community Care Apartments in Toa Payoh, and from that exercise HDB lowers the CCA age 'from 65 to 55' (HDB, 13 July 2026). In October 2024 the longest CCA lease was 35 years, which would not reach 95 for a buyer under 60, so check which lease lengths HDB offers younger buyers when it publishes November's prices.

The Sale of Balance Flats. An SBF offers flats left over from earlier BTO launches. The last, in February 2026, offered 4,320 flats; as at 18 September 2026 HDB had not announced another (our SBF guide explains how it works).

Resale in Geylang.

PropKaki analysis of HDB resale registrations, Geylang, July 2025 to June 2026.

Read the street column first. Every one of the 51 lease-from-2015 4-room resales was on Circuit Road, so that median describes one street's young flats, not Geylang's. HDB does not say where its own comparables were. All of these are other, completed flats, sold after Merpati Alcove's application window closed; they are no price for Merpati Alcove, whose 4-rooms cannot reach the resale market until their MOP is met. For a senior, Geylang's 24 resale 2-room flats, with a median of $295,000 across all ages, are a different purchase altogether: a remaining lease rather than one fitted to your age, and no care services.

If you apply next time. Settle the decision before the appointment. If you do not select a flat when invited, first-timer families are 'placed in the second-timer category for a 1-year period', and singles and second-timers 'will not be able to participate in any sales exercises for a 1-year period'; HDB waives this when there are '10 or fewer BTO flats' left. Book and then cancel, and HDB keeps the option fee ($2,000 for a 4-room or bigger); cancel after the Agreement for Lease and it keeps 5% of the price instead. Either way a year's wait follows.

The trail behind each number. Flat counts, sizes, prices (including every CCA lease price), the waiting-time estimate and HDB's resale comparables are from HDB's October 2024 launch release and its price annex (Annex B). HDB's after-grant starting prices and the 5% rule, its housing options by household income, the subsidy-recovery rates and HDB's reasons for them, the 'fourth CCA project' line, the Shorter Waiting Time wording, the loan-limit change and the grant increase are quoted from the same release. Blocks, storeys, the setting, facilities, transport, finishes and the OCS, the CCA description, fittings and Basic Service Package are from HDB's sales brochure; the placement of the blocks, car park, park and station exit is from its site plan page, which we checked as rendered. The CCA age change is from HDB's release of 13 July 2026; the November 2026 list is from HDB's Flat Portal as given in our launch schedule guide. Grant bands, income ceilings and the MOP, letting, resale-buyer and ballot-chance rules come from PropKaki's property_rules records, each checked against HDB's pages. The non-selection and cancellation rules and the option fee are HDB's booking rules; the no-loan rule for a CCA is as CPF states it. Today's 200% shortlist, and October 2024's 300%, are from HDB's February 2025 launch release. Town resale figures are PropKaki's analysis of HDB resale registrations for Geylang, July 2025 to June 2026. Price per square metre, the gap to HDB's comparables, the lease-to-95 reasoning, the dollar value of 8%, the roughly fourteen years (HDB's 44-month estimate plus the 10-year MOP) and the grant and loan illustrations are our arithmetic. We read HDB's $6,000 as its 5% floor rounded up to the next thousand, which fits HDB's other 5%-floor rows and its practice of rounding prices up to the nearest thousand dollars.

Left out, on purpose. No completion date: HDB publishes only an estimated wait in months. No application rates and no estimate of demand, because HDB's October 2024 results no longer survive and no other exercise's figures can stand in for them. No resale price, rent or return for Merpati Alcove, which is unbuilt and has never been resold, and no forecast of its value; the town figures describe other flats. No price for the Basic Service Package or the OCS, which the documents we used do not give. No distances. This is a desktop analysis, not a site or showflat visit. Grant figures are illustrations on HDB's bands, and your HFE letter decides your grant. Nothing here is financial advice; verify prices, rules and your eligibility with HDB before you commit.