The HDB resale process, step by step

The resale timeline

1. Before you look
   HDB Flat Eligibility letterApply on the HDB Flat Portal. It tells you whether you can buy, your grants and how much HDB will lend, and is valid for 9 months.
2. Seller side
   Intent to SellThe seller registers an Intent to Sell with HDB and must wait more than 7 days before granting an option.
3. Day 0
   Option to Purchase grantedYou agree a price and pay the seller an option fee of $1 to $1,000. The flat is held for you for 21 calendar days.
4. Next working day
   Request for ValueSubmit it if you are using CPF or a loan. $120 fee; the outcome usually comes within 10 working days and is valid for 3 months.
5. By day 21
   Exercise the optionPay the option exercise fee (option and exercise fees together at most $5,000). On a bank loan, your Letter of Offer must be dated on or before this day.
6. Within 7 days
   Resale applicationYou and the seller each submit your part on the Flat Portal, within 7 days of each other.
7. About 3 weeks later
   Endorse documents, pay feesHDB posts the documents to endorse after accepting the application; you then pay the legal fees, stamp duty and initial payment.
8. About 2 weeks later
   ApprovalHDB approves the application once both sides have endorsed and paid.
9. About 8 weeks after acceptance
   Completion and keysPay the balance not covered by CPF and the loan, and collect the keys. An HDB loan needs HDB fire insurance.
10. The next 5 years
    Minimum occupation periodYou must live in the flat before you can sell it, rent out the whole flat or buy private property. 10 years for Plus and Prime flats.

1 · Check you can buy

Everything starts with the HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter. One application tells you whether your household can buy a new or resale flat, which CPF grants you qualify for, and how much HDB will lend you. It is valid for 9 months. An HDB loan needs it before a seller may grant you an option, and a BTO application needs it too.

For an HDB loan, household income must not exceed $16,000 a month for families ($24,000 if buying with parents as an extended family) and $8,000 for singles. Above that, you can still buy a resale flat with a bank loan.

2 · Work out the money

Loan. HDB lends up to 75% of the lower of the price and HDB's valuation, at 2.6% a year (reviewed quarterly), for up to 25 years. A bank lends up to 75% too, but at least 5% of the price must then be paid in cash. Either way, the monthly instalment may not exceed 30% of your income; banks test it at an interest rate of at least 4%.

Grants, for first-timer families buying resale: the CPF Housing Grant of $80,000 for a 2- to 4-room flat ($50,000 for 5-room and bigger), the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant of up to $120,000 depending on income (a household earning $4,500 a month gets $70,000), and the Proximity Housing Grant of $30,000 to live with your parents or child, or $20,000 to live within 4 km of them. Together that is up to $230,000. Singles get about half. Grants go into your CPF Ordinary Account and count towards the price.

CPF. You can use your Ordinary Account for the downpayment and the instalments. The full amount is available only if the flat's remaining lease covers the youngest buyer to age 95; otherwise it is pro-rated, and so is the HDB loan.

3 · Find a flat

Resale flats are listed on the HDB Flat Portal, and by agents elsewhere. Before you agree a price, check that the flat is open to your household under the Ethnic Integration Policy (and, for permanent-resident households, the SPR quota): the portal's listings show the block's quota. A seller who has not registered an Intent to Sell more than 7 days earlier cannot grant you an option yet.

BTO flats are sold in periodic launches. To compare areas on what flats actually sold for, use the map or the town price pages.

4 · Check the price

Once you hold the option, submit a Request for Value by the next working day if you are using CPF or a loan. HDB's valuation, usually back within 10 working days, caps both: the loan and the CPF you can use are worked out on the lower of the price and the valuation. Anything you agreed to pay above the valuation is cash over valuation (COV), and it must be paid in cash.

So check the price before you agree it. The tools below estimate the valuation from recent sales in the same block and nearby.

5 · Make the purchase

Resale follows the timeline above. Buyer's Stamp Duty is charged on the higher of the price and the market value: on a $600,000 flat it is $12,600. For an HDB resale it is collected with the fees after you endorse the resale documents, and it can be paid from CPF. Citizens buying their first home pay no Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty; permanent residents pay 5%, at completion.

BTO: you pay an option fee when you book the flat ($2,000 for 4-room and bigger, $1,000 for 3-room, $500 for 2-room Flexi), part of the downpayment when you sign the Agreement for Lease, and the rest of the price when you collect the keys. If you already own a flat, you must sell it within 6 months of collecting the keys.

6 · After you collect the keys

For the minimum occupation period, 5 years for most flats and 10 for Plus and Prime flats, you must live in the flat. Until it ends you cannot sell it, rent out the whole flat or buy private property. Many renovation works need HDB's permit before they start; HDB keeps a directory of registered contractors.