Buying an HDB resale flat: loans, stamp duty, grants and the steps

Before you offer: the HFE letter

You need a valid HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter before you take an Option to Purchase and when you submit the resale application. It is valid for 9 months, and processing takes up to a month once HDB has your documents. If you are borrowing from a bank, you also need its Letter of Offer before you exercise the OTP.

How much you can borrow

What must be cash

The option fee and exercise fee (together S$2 to S$5,000; option fees cannot be paid with CPF), the S$120 Request for Value fee, the resale application fee, any cash over valuation, and with a bank loan at least 5% of the price or value. With an HDB loan you must first use your CPF Ordinary Account savings, keeping up to S$20,000 each.

Buyer's Stamp Duty

IRAS's rates for residential property, on the price or market value, whichever is higher: 1% on the first S$180,000, 2% on the next S$180,000, 3% on the next S$640,000, 4% on the next S$500,000, 5% on the next S$1,500,000 and 6% on the rest. It is due within 14 days of the date of the contract; HDB collects it for IRAS and it can be paid from CPF. Permanent Resident households buying their first HDB resale flat also pay 5% Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty; households with a Singapore Citizen buyer pay none.

The median 4-room resale price over the twelve months to September 2026, from 10,811 sales.

Grants for resale buyers

Paid into your CPF account, they reduce what you pay. Eligibility depends on who is buying, income and past grants; your HFE letter confirms yours.

Older leases and your CPF

You can use CPF in full, up to the lower of price and value, if the remaining lease is at least 20 years and covers the youngest buyer to age 95. If it does not, CPF use is pro-rated. CPF's own example: two 25-year-olds buying a S$550,000 flat with 65 years of lease left, which runs out when they are 90, may use up to S$495,000, or 90%.

The MOP you take on

Every resale buyer must live in the flat for five years (ten for Plus and Prime flats) before selling it, renting out the whole flat, or buying private property. The MOP explained.

From HFE letter to keys: the timeline

Before the loan: your CPF and the fine print

With an HDB loan, the balance in your CPF Ordinary Account goes into the purchase first; each buyer may keep up to S$20,000. HDB tests the loan at the higher of a 3.0% floor and its own rate, and caps instalments at 30% of income. HDB's rate is 0.1 percentage point above the CPF Ordinary Account rate: 2.6% a year for July to September 2026. A bank loan follows MAS rules instead: 75% of the lower of price and value with at least 5% in cash, or 55% with 10% in cash if the tenure runs past 25 years for an HDB flat or past age 65; at most 30 years; instalments within 30% of gross monthly income (MSR), and all debts within 55% (TDSR).

Stamp duty, and ABSD for PR buyers

Buyer's Stamp Duty is charged on the higher of the price and the market value, rounded down to the dollar, and HDB collects it from your CPF unless you write in to pay cash. A loan also carries mortgage stamp duty of 0.4% of the loan, at most S$500. Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty is fully remitted if any buyer is a Singapore Citizen. A PR household buying its first HDB resale flat pays ABSD at 5%, at the completion appointment; all applicants must have been PRs for at least three years, and a non-Malaysian PR household must fit the PR quota.

If you already own property

Buyers taking an HDB loan or a CPF grant must not own private residential property when they apply for the HFE letter. If you buy a non-subsidised resale flat without an HDB loan while owning private property, or you are a senior buying a short-lease flat, you must dispose of the other property within 6 months of resale completion. See what flats sell for near you on the town pages.