Singapore signals housing market stability by scrapping 15-month HDB wait

Private home owners can now buy public resale flats without delay, aimed at boosting a sluggish market after months of slow growth

National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat announced the change on Tuesday, saying the government recognised that the rule had caused inconvenience and disrupted the plans of those with genuine housing need who wanted to move from a private property into a Housing Development Board (HDB) flat.

Roughly four-fifths of Singapore’s resident population live in public housing. HDB resale flats are units sold on the open market by homeowners, rather than allocated directly from the government.

The wait-out period was introduced alongside other cooling measures in 2021 and 2022 – including higher stamp duties on second properties and a lower loan-to-value limit for HDB loans – after resale prices surged amid pandemic-era delays to the completion of new flats.

“The HDB resale price index rose by nearly 25 per cent in two years,” said Sing Tien Foo, provost’s chair professor at the National University of Singapore Business School’s real estate department, adding that this prompted the introduction of the 15-month wait-out period “to insulate new homebuyers from those in the private housing market”.