What a Singapore property is worth, from recent comparable sales — with the working shown.

Buying or selling a home without an agent

Checked against official sources on 18 October 2026. This is general information, not legal or financial advice: rules change, so check the linked source before you sign anything.

You do not need a property agent to buy or sell a home in Singapore. This guide sets out what doing it yourself involves, what it costs either way, and where people most often go wrong, so you can decide which suits you.

The step-by-step guides

Selling an HDB flat without an agent — Intent to Sell, listing, HDB's Option to Purchase, valuation, the resale application and completion.
Buying an HDB resale flat without an agent — The HFE letter, loans and CPF, finding a flat, the option, the valuation, stamp duty and completion.
Buying or selling a condo or EC without an agent — CEA's standard option and checklists, lawyers, the checks to make, loans, and all three stamp duties.

What you can do yourself, and what still needs someone else

HDB resale flats. HDB runs the whole sale on its HDB Flat Portal, and both HDB and the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) describe how a buyer and a seller can complete it themselves. The seller can list the flat on HDB's own Resale Flat Listing service; the contract is HDB's prescribed Option to Purchase, the only form allowed; the application, documents and completion all go through HDB. HDB can also act as the lawyer for the buyer, the seller or both, at fees set by law. If you take a bank loan, ask the bank what it needs from the lawyer who acts on the mortgage before you choose one.

Private homes and ECs. There is no government portal. CEA publishes a standard Option to Purchase and checklists for people acting on their own, but the sale runs between lawyers: the standard option is accepted at the seller's lawyers, the buyer's lawyer protects the purchase on the land register, and banks and the CPF Board work through lawyers. In practice you can leave out the agent, but not the lawyers.

When the other side has an agent, you can still act for yourself. CEA notes you may be asked for information for the agent's due-diligence checks. An agent's commission is agreed in writing with their own client; if you have signed no agreement with that agent, you have not agreed to pay them. You can check any agent on the CEA public register.

The case for and against

Doing it yourself

For

No commission. CEA does not set commission rates: they are negotiable, can be a flat fee instead of a percentage, and GST is added on top. Rates commonly quoted are about 1% to 2% of the price for an HDB seller, up to 1% for an HDB buyer, and around 2% for a private seller. On a $600,000 flat, 1% plus 9% GST is $6,540; 2% is $13,080.
You deal with the other side directly and hear every question and offer yourself.
You set the pace: when to list, who views and when.
For HDB flats, the portal checks both sides' eligibility first and lists each step.

Against

It takes time: enquiries, viewings, paperwork and deadlines.
Pricing and negotiating are yours to judge. What homes sold for is public, and this site shows it block by block and development by development, but deciding where to start and when to agree is not.
Fewer buyers may see the home than through an agent's contacts and paid listings.
The deadlines are strict and missing one costs money. An HDB buyer using CPF or a loan must request the flat's value by the next working day after being granted the option; an HDB option lapses at 4 pm on the 21st day; stamp duty is due within 14 days of signing.
Selling one home and buying the next at the same time is a timing problem you solve yourself.
You open your door to strangers and check who they are yourself.

Using an agent

For

Reach, experience with pricing and negotiating, and someone to coordinate the paperwork, lawyers, bank and HDB.
A go-between in negotiation, if you would rather not negotiate face to face.

Against

The commission, plus GST. CEA advises agreeing it in writing, in its prescribed agreement, before engaging the agent, and paying the agency, not the agent.
An agent is paid when a sale completes, so their interest and yours overlap but are not the same.
You still sign the contract and carry its obligations.

Costs that stay either way

Legal fees for each side: HDB's are set by law when HDB acts; private lawyers quote.
Stamp duty for the buyer: Buyer's Stamp Duty of 1% to 6% in tiers, and Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty depending on who is buying and what they already own. A document signed in Singapore must be stamped within 14 days.
Seller's Stamp Duty if a private home or EC is sold within four years of buying it (three years for one bought before 4 July 2025). HDB flats are not affected in practice: they cannot be sold before their five-year minimum occupation period.
HDB's fees on a resale, and the flat's valuation for a buyer using CPF or a loan.
Your CPF refund is not a fee, but it comes out of the price before you see any cash: the CPF you used, plus the interest it would have earned, goes back to your CPF account.

Before you start

Check you can sell or buy. An HDB seller must have met the minimum occupation period; an HDB buyer needs an HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter; an EC owner must have met its five-year minimum occupation period.
Know the price. What similar homes sold for: each HDB town's page lists its blocks (find a town), each development has a page, Price trends shows the market month by month, and Value a home estimates a particular one.
Know your money. The loan you can get, the cash you need, the CPF you can use and the stamp duty.
Plan the dates. Where you will live between selling and moving. An HDB seller who has bought a completed home can ask the buyer to let them stay up to three months after completion; the buyer must agree.
Decide who does the legal work, and appoint them before you sign anything if you are unsure.

Sources

Selling an HDB flat without an agent · Buying an HDB resale flat without an agent · Buying or selling a condo or EC without an agent

Value a specific property →