You will be able to explain the main conditions HDB uses to decide who can buy which flat.
Many people are unsure whether they can buy an HDB flat, because relatives and friends each repeat a different rule. HDB eligibility is a set of published rules about who you are buying with, who you are, and what you earn. Once you know HDB's questions, you can answer most of them yourself in a few minutes.
HDB asks four questions: citizenship, family nucleus, age and household income. It also asks about property you own now or sold recently. Your answers point to the scheme you apply under.
Farah is at dinner at her aunt's place when the family starts arguing about these questions. Her cousin says he and his girlfriend will apply for a BTO flat together soon to save time, and get engaged later. Her aunt is sure this is not allowed. Her uncle thinks it is fine as long as the couple are engaged first. Another cousin, who is single and 33 (an invented example), asks whether she can buy a flat on her own yet. Nobody at the table can answer any of it with confidence.
Start with citizenship. Most HDB schemes need at least one buyer to be a Singapore citizen. The citizenship of the rest of the household decides which flats are open to them and on what terms. A citizen married to a permanent resident has options that a couple of two permanent residents does not have, and buying a new flat from HDB is generally more restricted than buying a resale flat. Write down the citizenship of everyone in your household.
Next, work out your family nucleus, the group of people HDB treats as your household for the purchase. A married couple is a family nucleus, and so is a parent with children. An engaged couple is a family nucleus if they apply under the fiance and fiancee route and then marry within the time HDB sets. Singles have their own routes. A couple can apply together only if they fit one of the recognised family nucleus routes. That answers the argument at dinner. Farah's cousin and his girlfriend can apply as a couple only if their plan fits a recognised route, such as the fiance and fiancee route with marriage within HDB's set time.
Some schemes have a minimum age, especially the routes for singles, so check the minimum for yours. Age matters again later, when the bank works out your loan and when CPF checks whether the lease will outlast you.
Income ceilings apply to new BTO flats, executive condos, HDB loans and many grants. HDB reviews the ceilings from time to time, so check the current ones on the HDB website. Buying a resale flat has no income ceiling on its own, but if you want an HDB loan or a grant for a resale flat, the ceilings for those still apply.
The income figure is one of the two most common mistakes. HDB averages the gross monthly income of everyone in the application over a recent period, and that average can include bonuses, commissions and allowances. Income that varies from month to month can put the average under a ceiling one quarter and over it the next. Farah's husband Hakim earns commissions that vary month to month, so their averaged income could move either side of a ceiling between quarters. Work out your own average on the same basis and compare it with the current ceilings.
HDB groups its rules into a scheme for each type of household. There are schemes for families, for engaged couples, for singles buying alone or together, for people buying with their parents, for orphaned siblings, and for citizens whose spouse is a foreigner. Each scheme sets out which flat types you can buy (new or resale), in which locations, and which grants it opens. Find the scheme for your household and read its current page.
Singles have had fewer flat types to choose from, and the rules for singles have changed more than once in recent years. Farah's single cousin should read the current page for her scheme and not rely on what a friend told her three years ago.
Mixing up schemes is the other common mistake. People assume a rule written for one household type applies to theirs. A couple where one partner is a permanent resident may assume they can buy any BTO flat. A single buyer may assume they can buy a new flat of any size. Check both of these against your scheme before you plan any numbers.
Farah and Hakim are married, both Singapore citizens, buying together, with no children yet. They fall under the scheme for families, so both new and resale flats are open to them.
HDB asks about property you own now and property you sold recently. If you own private property, in Singapore or overseas, you generally cannot buy a subsidised flat and may have to sell it first. Selling is not always enough, because for some flats people who sold private property must wait a set period after the sale before they can buy.
Past HDB flats count too. You can often buy a second subsidised flat after selling your first, but expect a resale levy and fewer grants. Lesson 2.3, "Rules that follow you after you buy", covers the resale levy.
Overseas property counts as property to HDB, even if you don't think of it that way. Hakim once co-owned a small overseas apartment with his brother, and they sold it years ago. He had not thought of it as property, but HDB does, so the couple add it to their list of things to check and declare. List any property you own now or sold recently, private or HDB, in Singapore or overseas. Check each one against the current rules on selling, wait periods and the resale levy, and declare it in your application.
Farah and Hakim write their answers in a four-line note: married couple, both Singapore citizens; about S$11,500 a month gross household income over the past year, including Hakim's commission; one overseas flat, sold years ago; scheme: families.
The application asks the same questions, so writing your answers down early helps you get your documents ready. Your note needs four parts: your family nucleus, the citizenship of everyone in it, your household income, and your scheme. Then confirm everything through HDB's own process by getting the HDB Flat Eligibility letter, covered in lesson 2.4, "Get your HDB Flat Eligibility letter and read it".
In the activity below, write your family nucleus, the citizenship of everyone in it, your household income, and the scheme you would apply under.
Write down your family nucleus, the citizenship of each person in it, your household income, and the HDB scheme you would apply under.
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