Buying A House in Singapore
Looking to buy a house/property in Singapore? Here’s my journey as Singapore Permanent Resident to get one, hopefully you can get something here.
This article will be a work-in-progress, as I will continuously keep updating the article until I get my house. This article also served as my notes so that I don’t need to go here and there when I need to review something related to buying a house.
Today is 31st August 2016, I am 30 years old already. Luckily I have found my lifetime partner – I’m married already, back in 2013. I get Permanent Resident (SPR) status back in Nov 2014, somewhere around 2014, Singapore government introduced few cooling measures to cool down Singapore property market, one of them is that for SPR, they need to wait for 3 years after getting SPR to eligible buying a resale HDB flat.
Disclaimer
The writing provided here is on ‘as-is’ basis and may not be 100% accurate or correct. Everything written down here is solely based on my own experience and knowledge. Please check to the official website or consult with the appropriate agency/consultant whenever applicable and needed.
I will not be held responsible for any loss or damages or anything else caused by reading and following my post here.
Terms
Here are terms usually found during house-looking:
ABSD – Additional Buyer Stamp Duty
BSD – Buyer Stamp Duty
DBSS flat – A public house governed by HDB but made by Private developer
Foreigner – person without Singapore Permanent Resident status, they can be those who hold employment pass/work pass or totally foreigner (not working in Singapore).
HDB – Housing Development Board, Singapore government entity that managed public subsidised housing
HDB flat – A public house governed and made by HDB
MOP – Minimum Occupancy Period. A period where house-owner cannot sell their property to the market, usually 5 years.
SC – Singapore Citizen
SIBOR – Singapore InterBank Offerred Rate
TOP – Temporary Occupancy Period, a date where house-owner is able to get their key and start living on the house they bought.
Type of house
There are quite many types of house in Singapore, I will list down only those common one.
Here are the common house types found in Singapore:
- HDB flat: A public house governed and made by HDB, usually in form of apartment.
- DBSS flat: recently heard about this, but turned out it was introduced back in 2005, a public house governed by HDB but made by private developer. DBSS is short for Design, Built and Sell Scheme.
- Condo (or Condominium): A private house managed and made by private developer.
- Executive Condo (or EC): just like condo, made by private developer, but the first 10 years is managed by HDB, after that (11th year and beyond) it will be just like condo. New EC is sold with subsidised price from HDB.
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Minimum Occupancy Period (MOP)
Certain types of house here in Singapore has minimum occupancy period before they can be sold to the open market as a resale house.
Here they are:
| House Type | MOP |
| HDB | 5 years from purchase date |
| DBSS | 5 years from purchase date |
| EC | 5 years to sell to SC/SPR from TOP |
| 10 yeas from TOP to become private housing, can sell to anybody | |
| Condo | no MOP |
That means, if you are buying an HDB flat, you need to at least hold the property for 5 years, start from the purchase date.
Eligibility
|
House Type
|
New/Resale
|
Who can buy | ||
| SC | SPR | Foreigner | ||
| HDB | New HDB Flat | Yes | ||
| Resale HDB Flat > 5 years | Yes | Yes, after 3 years obtaining SPR | ||
| DBSS | New DBSS Flat | Yes | ||
| Resale DBSS Flat > 5 years | Yes | Yes, after 3 years obtaining SPR | ||
| EC | New EC | Yes | ||
| Resale EC > 5 years but <= 10 years | Yes | Yes | ||
| Resale EC >= 11 years and beyond | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Condo | New Condo | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Resale Condo | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
As a Singapore Permanent Resident, I can only choose resale HDB flat, resale DBSS flat, resale EC or new/resale Condo. For resale HDB flat and resale DBSS flat I need to wait for 3 years from the date of obtaining SPR status before I can buy them.
Eligibility Schemes
There are plenty of schemes especially for HDB and DBSS, but for SPR only public scheme is applicable.
|
House Type
|
New/Resale
|
Eligibility Schemes | ||
| SC | SPR | Foreigner | ||
| HDB | New HDB Flat | Plenty of schemes | ||
| Resale HDB Flat > 5 years | Plenty of schemes | Public scheme, form a family nucleus | ||
| DBSS | New DBSS Flat | Plenty of schemes | ||
| Resale DBSS Flat > 5 years | Plenty of schemes | Public scheme, form a family nucleus | ||
| EC | New EC | Plenty of schemes | ||
| Resale EC > 5 years but <= 10 years | Plenty of schemes | Single can | ||
| Resale EC >= 11 years and beyond | Plenty of schemes | Single can | Single can | |
| Condo | New Condo | Plenty of schemes | Single can | Single can |
| Resale Condo | Plenty of schemes | Single can | Single can | |
SPR Quota and EIP
To be furnished again later.
Price and Premiums to Pay
To be furnished again later.
Steps to Purchase
Approach Banker
To be furnished again later.
What mostly first time buyer don’t know
To be furnished again later.
Useful Websites
To be furnished again later.
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