What a Singapore property is worth, from recent comparable sales — with the working shown.
Buying an HDB resale flat 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.
A buyer can complete an HDB resale purchase without an agent: HDB's Flat Portal checks your eligibility first, and the contract is HDB's own form.
Before you look
- The HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter. Apply on the HDB Flat Portal. It tells you whether you can buy, which CPF grants you can get, and whether and how much HDB will lend. It must be valid when the seller grants you the option and when you submit the resale application. If you will borrow from a bank, ask for its in-principle approval at the same time.
- How much you can borrow. Up to 75% of the price or the value, whichever is lower, from HDB (lowered from 80% on 20 August 2024) or from a bank. The monthly instalment may not exceed 30% of your gross monthly income for an HDB loan or a bank loan on an HDB flat, and a bank also caps all your debt repayments at 55% of income. A buyer who takes a bank loan cannot switch to an HDB loan later. CPF and loans are reduced when the flat's remaining lease does not cover the youngest buyer to age 95.
- Who can buy. Permanent-resident households must have held that status for 3 years. Owners and former owners of private homes buying a resale flat without an HDB loan no longer wait 15 months (removed 28 July 2026). Your household must fit the block's and neighbourhood's quotas (HDB's quota check; they are also shown on HDB's listings and updated on the 1st of each month).
- Living there. You must physically live in the flat for 5 years from completion before you can sell it.
Finding a flat
- HDB's Resale Flat Listing shows each flat's quota position; with a valid HFE letter you can contact sellers and book viewings there. Flats are also listed elsewhere.
- What it is worth: what flats of the same type in that block and street sold for (each HDB town's page lists its blocks: find a town), and Value a home. HDB's own value comes only after an option is granted.
- Check the remaining lease, any upgrading bills (whoever owns the flat on the billing date pays), renovation limits (DBSS flats have their own) and the flat's condition.
Step by step
- Get your HFE letter (and the bank's in-principle approval if you need one).
- Agree a price with the seller. The seller must have registered an Intent to Sell more than 7 days earlier.
- Receive the Option to Purchase and pay the option fee: $1 to $1,000, by cheque preferably. You then have 21 calendar days, to 4 pm on the 21st, to decide.
- Request the value if you are using CPF or a loan: by the next working day, with page 1 of the option. It is usually ready within 10 working days and stays valid for 3 months. CPF and the loan are based on it, so any part of the price above it is paid in cash.
- If you are taking a bank loan, get its Letter of Offer, dated before you exercise the option.
- Exercise the option before 4 pm on day 21: sign the acceptance, deliver it to the seller and pay the exercise fee (with the option fee, at most $5,000). Ask the seller to sign your copy with the date and time. Do not leave it to the last hour. From then on you are bound; until then, walking away costs only the option fee.
- Pay stamp duty within 14 days of exercising the option (tables below).
- Submit your part of the resale application at the time agreed with the seller, endorse the documents and pay the fees. Choose whether HDB or a private lawyer acts for you.
- Completion is about 8 weeks after HDB accepts the application; you collect the keys at the completion appointment.
Stamp duty
| Part of the price | Rate |
|---|---|
| First $180,000 | 1% |
| Next $180,000 | 2% |
| Next $640,000 | 3% |
| Next $500,000 | 4% |
| Next $1,500,000 | 5% |
| Above $3,000,000 | 6% |
For example, on $600,000: $1,800 + $3,600 + $7,200 = $12,600.
| Buyer | 1st home | 2nd | 3rd and more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore citizen | 0% | 20% | 30% |
| Permanent resident | 5% | 30% | 35% |
| Foreigner | 60% | 60% | 60% |
Counted by the homes the buyer already owns, in Singapore, wholly or in part; buyers of different profiles buying together pay the highest rate that applies to any of them.
A Singapore citizen's first home carries no Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty; a permanent resident's first home, including an HDB flat, carries 5%.
Sources
- HDB: Resale flats
- HDB: Option to Purchase when buying a resale flat
- HDB: Important notes on the Option to Purchase (PDF)
- HDB: Terms and conditions of sale and purchase of an HDB resale flat (PDF)
- HDB: Resale Flat Listing service, buyers' guide (PDF)
- HDB: Check the Ethnic Integration Policy / SPR quota
- HDB: Removal of the 15-month wait-out period (Jul 2026)
- MND: HDB loan limit lowered to 75% (Aug 2024)
- MAS: Macroprudential policies (loan limits, TDSR, MSR)
- IRAS: Buyer's Stamp Duty
- IRAS: Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty
- IRAS: Basics of stamp duty for property (when to pay)
- CEA: Buying an HDB flat on your own
Buying or selling a home without an agent · Selling an HDB flat without an agent · Buying or selling a condo or EC without an agent