---
id: sgtest.home.bto-mcps-first-try-5-room
kind: testimony
title: "Home purchase experience: Our BTO queue no = 31! How did we up our chances?"
url: https://ik.sg/en/knowledge/testimony/sgtest.home.bto-mcps-first-try-5-room
language: en
evidence_status: self-reported-unverified
collection_as_of: 2026-10-16
---

# Home purchase experience: Our BTO queue no = 31! How did we up our chances?

> Self-reported and unverified. This is one person’s account, attributed to the narrator. It is not a statement of fact or of current rules; check official sources before relying on any detail.

The narrator reports that the couple received queue number 31 for a 5-room BTO flat on their first ballot. The narrator says they applied under the Married Child Priority Scheme for a project within 4 km of the husband's parents and understood that up to 30% of units would be allocated to first-timers under the scheme. The account also describes choosing a non-mature estate and monitoring application numbers before applying. It is one successful outcome and cannot establish that these choices caused the queue position or changed the odds.

## Record details

- **Consistency checks:** Notes: The post is dated 21 July 2023; MCPS existed then and was replaced by the Family Care Scheme from mid-2025. The application period itself is unstated.; Detail checked: MCPS was an available priority scheme before the post's publication; Result: pass; Checked against: [Family Care Scheme](https://ik.sg/en/knowledge/article/sgkb.housing.family-care-scheme); Notes: This is the narrator's stated understanding; the current vault article does not record historical MCPS quota details.; Detail checked: Up to 30% of units allocated to first-timers under MCPS; Result: inconclusive; Checked against: [Family Care Scheme](https://ik.sg/en/knowledge/article/sgkb.housing.family-care-scheme)
- **All domains:** housing
- **Period described:** 
- **Themes:** bto-ballot; priority-scheme; queue-number; living-near-parents
- **Caveats:** The publication date is 21 July 2023; the application date is not stated, so the experience period remains unknown.; Single self-selected social-media account; the account cannot show that MCPS or application timing caused the queue position.; The full public post was fetched; its account is self-reported and the stated quota is not independently verified here.; Current applicants use the Family Care Scheme, not the former MCPS; do not apply this account's rules to current applications.
- **Entities:** [Housing & Development Board](https://ik.sg/en/knowledge/entity/sg.agency.hdb)
- **Narrator:** Voice: first-person; Population: unknown; Role at time: Member of a couple applying for a BTO flat near the husband's parents
- **Published:** 2023-07-21
- **Publisher:** Lemon8
- **Topic ids:** [Buying new HDB flats](https://ik.sg/en/knowledge/topic/sgtopic.housing.buying-new-flats); [Family Care Scheme](https://ik.sg/en/knowledge/topic/sgtopic.housing.family-care-scheme)
- **Sensitive topics:** family
- **Source type:** social-media
- **Verification:** plausible
- **Self reported:** Reported outcome: successful-ballot; Flat type: 5-room; Buyer profile: couple; Purchase: bto; Attempt: 1; Household status: unknown; Scheme or priority: Married Child Priority Scheme; Flat classification: unknown; Queue position band: queue number in the low 30s
- **Testimony type:** home-purchase

## Sources

- [Our BTO queue no = 31! How did we up our chances?](https://www.lemon8-app.com/@lainchuahh/7258190746518651393?region=sg) — Accessed 2026-10-11

## Explore connections

- Articles: [Family Care Scheme](https://ik.sg/en/knowledge/article/sgkb.housing.family-care-scheme)
- Topics: [Buying new HDB flats](https://ik.sg/en/knowledge/topic/sgtopic.housing.buying-new-flats)
- Topics: [Family Care Scheme](https://ik.sg/en/knowledge/topic/sgtopic.housing.family-care-scheme)
- People & organisations: [Housing & Development Board](https://ik.sg/en/knowledge/entity/sg.agency.hdb)

Dates describe this record’s own period and applicability. A verification date does not mean a rule is currently in force. An expanding collection. Published counts show available knowledge, not complete coverage of Singapore.