Who can buy HDB flat in Singapore?

by admin | Aug 23, 2022 | Uncategorised

Kumar Properties

Who can buy HDB flat in Singapore?

This question is one of the most frequently asked question by the people. Generally people have questions like who can buy HDB flat? Or Is PR eligible to buy HDB flat in Singapore?

There are multiple eligibility criteria to buy HDB flat

First thing comes under consideration is Citizenship. Atleast 1 of the applicant of the HDB flat should be Singapore citizen or Permanent Resident (PR).
Next you should qualify for alteast one of the following schemes such as Public Scheme, Fiance / Financee Scheme, Orphans Scheme.

i) Public Scheme: To qualify for this public scheme, any one of the following family nucleus should you need to form

If any Spouse and children
If any parents and siblings
If widowed/ divorced, children under your legal custody, care and control

ii) Fiance/Fiancee Scheme: If you want to qualify this scheme, you need to have nuclear family with your spouse-to-be and you should marry within three months of getting your HDB flat keys. To buy HDB flat will require a photocopy of marriage certificate.

If you have married before your marriage before collecting the keys, you need to submit the photocopy when you have visited HDB office to collect keys.

Else if you married after collecting keys, then you will need to submit your marriage certificate to your managing HDB branch.

iii) Orphans Scheme: For this type of scheme, If HDB buyers are orphans and single, cannot buy or rent flats separately. And you should have one of the deceased parents who are Singapore citizens or permanent residents.

Age is the third thing should be considered, If you are widowed or orphaned you should be atleast 21 years and if you are unmarried or divorced you should be 35 years old.

You should be within the incoming ceiling of the flat you want to purchase.
Property ownership is the next step should be qualified. If you wanted to own HDB flat in Singapore you should not bought HDB/DBSS flat or Executive condominium or received any CPF Housing Grants before.

These are things to be considered and you should be eligible to buy HDB flat in Singapore. To know more details about HDB or any property visit us.

If you want to buy HDB flat or you wanted to sell your HDB flat contact us, we will help you in any property investments.

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How to Upgrade from HDB Flat to Private Property?

by admin | Jul 20, 2022 | Uncategorised

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How to Upgrade from HDB Flat to Private Property?

In Singapore, almost 80% of the people have HDB flats. Their main aim is to buy better private property. If you have bought your first HDB flat with an easy process, they upgrading HDB flat is simple. But upgrading from an HDB flat to private property is much harder than buying first HDB flat.

Why Buying HDB Flat is Much Easier Than Upgrading From HDB to Private Property?

When you buy your first property, you will be having main concern about the minimum paying downpayment and you will be thinking about whether you will qualify for an HDB/ bank loan. If you want to choose an HDB loan, the minimum downpayment required is 10% and for a Bank loan, the minimum downpayment required is 25% and 5% should be cash. Because of this reason, many of HDB buyers prefer HDB loan instead of Bank loan eventhough interest rate of bank loans are higher.

When upgrading from HDB flat to private property, steps will be much more complex. If you are careless while processing, there will be much more chances of getting something wrong. Still for upgrading HDB to private property is a double process, first you need to sell your HDB flat then you need to buy property.

So for upgrading HDB flat to private condo consulting property agent is the best idea to make process in smooth way. The property agent will guide in every step of selling and buying process of property. You will be having stress process for upgrading your property.

Do You Want to Sell Your HDB Flat Before Buying a Private Property?

If you want to upgrade from HDB flat to private condo, my suggestion is to first sell your HDB flat then plan for a condo. By selling your HDB flat you will receive some amount of money and you can analyse which property you can afford. Then you can afford better property than you think. Secondly, if you sell your existing hdb flat within 6 months you can avoid 12% of ABSD (Additional Buyer Stamp Duty). Selling your HDB flat in a hurry to get ABSD remission is the last thing you want to happen, as this may result in accepting a lower offer than you wanted.

For instance, if you want to buying other private property, price of that condo is $1 million you need to pay 12% of ABSD that means you need to pay $120,000. If you have not sold your HDB flat upon exercising the option to purchase the private property.

Steps to Upgrading from HDB flat to Private Property

Step 1: Making decision to sell your HDB flat:

If you decided to sell property, engaging with property agent is the best thing to complete selling process easy. Before giving your property for marketing make sure to discuss about the commission fee and exclusive agreement with the real estate agent.

One of the best agent for selling property or upgrading your property is Kumar. He will help you to sell your property above market value and also give suggestions for next purchase of your property. First you need to register your intent to sell for your HDB flat. You can only grant an Option-To-Purchase (OTP) to buyers at least 7 days after registering your intent to sell. Depending on the location, demand on your property it takes time to sell your property.

Step 2: Issuing An Option-To-Purchase (OTP), Receiving The Option Fee & Exercise Fee

If you market your HDB flat and you will be receiving so many offers from the buyers. You should choose potential buyer who can offer more money to buy your HDB. To grant the OTP for an HDB flat, the potential buyer needs to pay an option fee of between $1 to $1,000. This is unlike buying a private property when the option fee is usually at least 1% of the mutually agreed price.

In the case of a poor valuation report, the cash over value (COV) will be $50,000. If the HDB valuation report is only $450,000, the flat will cost $500,000, but the cash over valuation (COV) will be $50,000. As HDB will only perform the valuation after the OTP is issued, buyers and sellers faced some uncertainty.

It doesn’t matter whether you have issued the buyer an OTP or not. They can still look for other flats that are more suitable for them. The same block/level as a parent’s HBD flat may suddenly become available to an already committed buyer for a similar price. In such a situation, even if they have paid you $1,000 for the OTP, they may choose the other flat and not exercise it. Alternatively, they may find a cheaper flat, even after accounting for the option fee that they have paid.

During this period, you cannot issue an OTP to another buyer. If your buyer does not exercise his OTP within 21 working days, the option lapses, and you are allowed to grant your OTP to other buyers.

To exercise the OTP, the buyer will need to pay a deposit to you. This is an amount that should not exceed $5,000.

Step 3: Once The Buyer Exercise The OTP, You Can Start Looking For Your Private Property

Once your buyer has exercised the OTP for your HDB flat, this gives you the leeway to start looking for your private property.

At this point in time, you would already know the selling price of your HDB flat and how much cash proceed you will get from the sales. You will also have a gauge on when you are expected to hand over your keys to the new owners. This basically acts as the timeline to finding your new place.

Most importantly, according to IRAS, once an agreement to sell your HDB has been issued and executed to buy the property, it’s no longer considered as a residential property that you own. Essentially, this means that if you buy a private property after the OTP for your HDB has been exercised by the buyer, you would not be liable for ABSD.

Source: IRAS

Depending on how urgent you need to move into your new home, you may need to speed up the process of purchasing your private property. A piece of advice here would be to shortlist a few potential places that you can afford in advance before you sell your HDB flat. This allows you to immediately start looking and negotiating for your private property purchase once your buyer has exercised the option to purchase your HDB flat,

Alternatively, if you have interim housing solutions for your family, you will have more time to search for your next property purchase.

Step 4: Calculate Carefully Your Cash Flow Timeline From Selling The HDB Flat

Being able to afford to upgrade from an HDB flat to a private property is one thing. Managing the cash flow situation that is required to complete the transaction smoothly is another. Here’s a scenario to explain.

Let’s assume you have sold your HDB flat for $500,000. With an existing loan of $200,000, your proceeds will be $300,000. Of this, $150,000 needs to be refunded to your CPF Ordinary Account (OA). We also assume that the private property purchase would be $1 million.

For simplicity, let’s assume that the option for your HDB flat was exercised on 1 January. After the option had been exercised, both buyers and sellers must submit a resale application for HDB to approve. We assume that this was done in 2 weeks’ time, on 15 January.

Upon receiving the resale application, HDB will post the application results – if all documents are in order – within 14 working days (about three weeks),. This will bring us to the first week of February.

Upon HDB’s acceptance, it will take about 8 weeks from the date of acceptance to process the sales application. Based on the timeline, this brings us to the first week of April. You will receive your cash proceeds during that period, but it will take about a week before the refund is made to your CPF. This means that you will only have the full disposable cash and CPF amount of $300,000 to utilise for your private property purchase sometime in mid-April.

Step 5: Cashflow Timeline For Buying A Private Property

The cash flow timeline from purchasing a private property is crucial. Since the HDB flat has been sold for $500,000 with an outstanding loan of $200,000, you will get a sales balance of $300,000. On paper, with $300,000 in cash and CPF to deploy, you would be able to meet the minimum down payment requirement of $250,000 (25% of $1 million).

However, that is not the only thing to be concerned about. Cash flow timeline management is also vital.

To make an offer for a private property, you usually have to pay an option fee of 1%. This means that you need $10,000 in cash to secure the OTP. By default, you need to pay the remaining 4% to exercise your option within two weeks though you can negotiate the option period with the seller.

Thus, to exercise the option, you need a total of $50,000 in cash. This means that you either need to have the cash on hand to secure and exercise the OTP, or wait till early April when you receive the cash proceeds from the completed sale of the HDB flat. You will also need to pay the buyer stamp duty in cash, which is about $24,600 for a $1 million property. All in all, the total cash outlay to secure the OTP, exercise the option and pay the buyer stamp duty is $74,600, for a $1 million private property.

Assuming you have enough cash, you have the means to start searching, secure the OTP and exercise the option for your private property before early April. If you do not have enough cash, you will need to wait until the full amount from the sale of your HDB flat is credited to you.

Typically, upon exercising your option for a private property purchase, it will take about 12 weeks for the date of completion for the property. Say, if your HDB option was exercised on 1 January, and you exercised the option to purchase your private property on 19 January, then the date of completion would be around 19 April. This gives you just enough time to ensure that you have received the proceeds from the sale of your HDB, to pay for the down payment required for your private property.

The table below shows the timeline beginning from the sale of your HDB flat to the purchase of your private property.

As you can see from the table above, the timeline is relatively tight when it comes to when you would receive the full amount from the sale of your HDB flat, and when you need to pay the down payment to complete the purchase of your private property. If you don’t have enough funds, you will need to delay the completion of your private property purchase.

During this period, you will need to secure the bank loan required to finance your private property purchase and engage a law firm to assist you with the paperwork required to complete your property transaction. Legal fees would typically cost you between $2,500 to $3,000. You will also need to pay the commission to your agent, which will typically be deducted from the proceeds that you get from the sale of your HDB flat.

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Steps to Upgrade to an HDB Resale Flat?

by admin | Jun 20, 2022 | Uncategorised

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Steps to Upgrade to an HDB Resale Flat?

When can you upgrade from your HDB flat?

Usually, those who purchased HDB, must wait 5 years to sell HDB property and buy other private property. HDB properties have Minimum Occupation Period (MOP). During MOP period, you must live in the HDB flat you bought. During MOP, few things should not be done like:

Selling HDB flat
Buying a second HDB flat
Investing in other private property
Buying property in abroad

These rules are applicable for the resale HDB flat too. For 1-bedder there is no MOP but not for above 2 bedder HDB flats. Here are the guidelines for the above 2 bedroom flats:

Purchase Mode	MOP
Bought new HDB flat (including buying under SERS)	5 years
Bought new DBSS flat from developer	5 years
Bought resale flat with CPF housing grant	5 years
Bought Resale flat without grant (after Aug 2010)	5 years
Bought Resale flat without grant(Mar to Aug 2010)	3 years
Bought Resale flat without grant(before 5 Mar 2010)	2.5 years

Which property you can upgrade after MOP?

When your MOP is up, you have many options to purchase second property. Some of the most popular are:

Resale HDB flat: Investing resale HDB flat is the cheapest and easiest option, some of the prices of the flats are below $400,000. In HDB resale portal, you can find and purchase an HDB resale flat easily. Upgrading from HDB to a new HDB may not be much difference but upgrading to resale HDB flats in mature estates like Bishan and Queenstown are larger and more spacious. If you want to upgrade your home for good schools for your children.
Condominium: The most popular option for most HDB upgraders is condo properties. When a property becomes older property value also increases. According to the price, private condos are more expensive than resale HDB flats, mostly prices starting from $1.5 million.
Landed Property: landed properties are more expensive than condo properties, prices of landed properties start from $2 million, which is considered a cheap in cost for landed properties in Singapore. For upgrading any type of property, a property agent is needed to make the process easy. Kumar is one of the property agents in Singapore, he serves all the clients and also helps you to understand the property market. We’ll guide you step-by-step procedure for upgrading any property.

Steps to Upgrade to an HDB Resale Flat?

Upgrading property is the biggest dream to many of the property owners. If you have decided to upgrade for an HDB resale flat, here is a step-by-step procedure to upgrade your property.

Step 1: Choose your resale flat

Before choosing a resale flat, first of all, decide to engage a top property agent. The real estate agent is necessary to do all those works like legal work and paperwork for your property upgrade. They not only help you in paperwork but also guide you to choose the right property and how to sell your first property above your market value.

The further step is to figure out all your requirement like location, no. of bedrooms, amenities and budget to buy a resale HDB flat. Next according to your requirements, find a resale HDB unit in different property portals else you can say to your agent for choosing the right property.

Step 2: Check the flat before you invest

Before you invest in resale HDB flat, book showflat appointment and visit the flat to check condition of the HDB resale unit. There are some other things to consider, they are

Ethnic and PR quota – You can check the status of this in HDB quota portal because it will change from month to month.
HDB Ownership – You should also make sure about the seller details like HDB is legally owned and met MOP or not.
Upgrading Works – Make sure about the payment of upgrading works wh should pay you or your seller.
HDB Resale Prices – according to your budget choose right property and quote right price by checking recent transacted HDB prices.
Leasehold Period – For every HDB leasehold will be 99 years. Before you invest in property check how many years left on the lease. Because of the lease, it may affect your home loans and how much of your CPF you can use. For the new CPF rules lease period should be atleast 20 years left on the lease, with the youngest buyer up to the age of 95 able to pay the lease using CPF.

Next procedure is exercise your option to purchase and pay a deposit to the seller.

Step 3: Start using HDB Resale Portal

To know exact transaction details, both buyer and seller need to browse HDB resale portal. Register with the HDB resale portal then it will say you what to do.

Step 4: Check out your eligible for the proximity housing grant

The price of a 5-room HDB resale flat can be anywhere from $400,000 (Sembawang) to $850,000 (Toa Payoh). Since most people don’t have such a lot of money lying around, grants are helpful. Unfortunately, HDB schemes are primarily aimed at first-time buyers. Second-time buyers can only apply for the Proximity Housing Grant. If you buy a resale flat within 4 kilometers of your parents or in-laws, it’s $20,000 if you get them to live with you. Importantly, these living arrangements must remain the same throughout the MOP.

Step 5: Finance your resale HDB

The Enhanced Contra Facility of HDB is the most useful scheme for upgraders. This allows you to sell your current HDB flat and buy a resale at the same time. The proceeds from your sale and your refunded CPF can be used to finance your new resale flat, reducing the amount of cash you’ll need up front and the amount of loan you’ll need. When it comes to financing your HDB upgrade, there’s actually a fixed order to follow.

Financing Method	Notes
Cash received by selling first HDB flat	You have to use atleast 50% for resale HDB
CPF (OA)	You can CPF use only when you don’t have cash and also you can withdrawal limit amount.
HDB loan	If you’re eligible, You can use after using cash & CPF
Bank loan	If you’re not eligible for HDB loan you can use but the loan limit is 75% for first mortgage) and 45% of second mortgage.

Step 6: Handovering your first HDB flat keys in 6 months

Last but not least is you can’t buy 2 HDB flats at a time so, you need to sell your HDB flat and handover keys to your buyer. Then only you can buy other HDB.

So selling your HDB flat also need to contact property agent. Before selling you need to valuate your property. Kumar Properties is a property agency, we will you in every step of property selling and buying process. We will make hassle free process. So contact +65 82828214.

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Condo resale prices rise for 22nd straight month in May, more units sold

by admin | Jun 15, 2022 | Uncategorised

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Condo resale prices rise for 22nd straight month in May, more units sold

Prices of resale condominium units edged up for the 22nd straight month in May, with transactions rising as buying sentiment improved despite property cooling measures. In May, condominium resale prices rose 0.3 per cent, lower compared with April’s 0.7 per cent, according to flash figures from real estate portals 99.co and SRX released on Tuesday (June 14).

Compared with May last year, prices were up by 8.4 per cent, data showed. In May, prices of condominiums in the city fringes went up by 0.7 per cent and those in the suburbs rose by 0.5 per cent, while those in the core central region fell by 1.2 per cent.

Huttons Asia chief executive Mark Yip said the successful launches of two projects in the city fringes – Piccadilly Grand in Farrer Park and LIV@MB in East Coast – resulted in demand spilling over to the resale market last month, which supported the rise in prices. Meanwhile, resale volume climbed by 1.6 per cent, with an estimated 1,572 units changing hands in May, up from 1,547 units in April.

Resale transactions declined by 11 per cent compared with May last year, but were still 40.2 per cent higher than the five-year average for the month of May. This could indicate the resale market is on its road to recovery, five months after property cooling measures were introduced last December, analysts said.

In December, the additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) rates were raised from 12 per cent to 17 per cent for citizens buying their second residential property, and from 15 per cent to 25 per cent for those buying their third and subsequent ones.

For foreigners buying any residential property, the ABSD is 30 per cent, up from 20 per cent. Resale volume has been rising since March with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, rebounding from the six-month decline starting last September.

The strong buying sentiment in the condominium resale market was reflected in the new sale market last month, noted OrangeTee & Tie senior vice-president of research and analytics Christine Sun.

“This indicates that buying sentiment has generally improved across the different housing segments and may pick up further in the coming months,” she said.

“Growing macroeconomic uncertainty may also spur more investors to park their money in safe-haven assets like properties,” she added.

PropNex Realty head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said some of the firm’s real estate agents noted that the supply of resale condominium stock has been tight as some owners choose to hold on to their properties.

“With the hefty additional buyer’s stamp duty, some owners who have purchased multiple residential properties prior to the cooling measures may be unwilling to sell now,” she said, adding that the strong home rental market could also be a reason.

Given the tight supply and demand from Housing Board upgraders, property analysts expect condominium resale prices to remain firm this year. Mr Yip said the resale market in June may be quiet as it coincides with the school holidays and there are no planned new project launches.

“Nevertheless, the return of foreigners to the property market will support further growth in prices for the rest of 2022,” he added. In May, condominiums in the suburbs accounted for 60.2 per cent of the total sales volume. Homes in the city fringes accounted for 24.7 per cent, while the remaining 15.1 per cent were in core central Singapore.

The highest transacted price for a resale condo in May was $20 million for a unit at The Nassim, a freehold development in the Tanglin area. In the city fringes, the highest transacted price was $4.85 million for a 99-year leasehold unit at Silversea in Marine Parade. In the suburban areas, a freehold unit at Clementi Park in the Sunset Way area sold for $6.5 million.

This news article is from the Straits Times Graphics. For more property articles please contact us +6582828214.

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Looking to Buy a House in Singapore : Here is our guidance:

by admin | May 28, 2022 | Uncategorised

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Looking to Buy a House in Singapore : Here is our guidance:

As Singapore government provides extensive measures in the form of market regulation and financial grants, most singaporeans can afford to own a home.

The Properties available for a Singaporean to buy:

Types of Properties:

HDB flats
Private properties
Executive Condonium(ECs)

In Singapore the type of property you buy mainly depends on your residential status. To buy a HDB flat, one must be a permanent resident(PR) or a Singapore citizen. Singapore Citizens and PRs are allowed to purchase any type of private properties (including apartments and landed bungalows) and ECs, but do take note of certain restrictions regarding ownership of HDB flats.

The types of properties a foreigner can buy in Singapore:

Foreigners can purchase private properties like private apartments and condominiums whish is condos in short, but they need government approval to buy landed properties like bungalows. Foreigners can only buy Executive Condominiums (ECs) which complete a period of at least 10 years old. Foreigners cannot own a HDB flat in Singapore.

Age criteria required to buy a house in Singapore:

In order to buy a property in Singapore you need to be atleast 21 years old consists of a family nucleus. Which includes:

Spouse and Children
Parent and siblings
Children under your legal custody (if widowed or divorced)

Parents can buy a condo, house or apartment for their children in the form of trust – the child will become the legal owner once, when he or she turns 21.

If a single (unmarried or divorced), want to buy a resale HDB flat the minimum legal age is 35 years old. If a person widowed or orphaned, minimum legal age is 21 years old.

Can a singaporean own more than one property in Singapore:

A Singapore citizen or PR has no limit to own number of private properties. HDB owners require to complete minimum occupation period of five years to purchase a private property. Which means if you want to own both HDB and private property, buy HDB flat complete MOP period before investing in a private property.

Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty charges:

Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty is ABSD in short. The applicable charges of ABSD for residential property is as follows.

Finally, to buy a house in Singapore:

If you want to buy a house in singapore, you should be familiarize yourself with all the different rules which governs buying a house in Singapore. You should be always:

Use loan comparison tools to find loans and properties that matches to your unique needs.
Think carefully before selecting the type of mortgage loan which might be a good to fit for you
Determine what kind of LTV, monthly mortgage payments and debt obligations which are most suitable
Calculate the loan tenure, maintenance fees and legal fees which you can afford

Do not wait anymore. If you are keen to have the next article, please register below! You should not miss this. See you soon.

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