Selling an HDB flat follows a fixed HDB sequence: register an Intent to Sell, wait out a 7-day cooling-off period, grant the buyer an Option to Purchase, submit the resale application, then complete about eight weeks after HDB accepts it. From granting the option to handing over the keys, three months or more is typical.
The money side matters as much as the dates. Your sale price first clears the housing loan, then repays your CPF with accrued interest, and only the remainder comes to you in cash, before agent and legal fees. Here are the steps, the costs and a sale worked through to the end.
Before You Sell: Check Eligibility and Plan Your Next Home
You can sell on the open market only after the minimum occupation period (MOP): five years for most flats, ten for Plus and Prime flats.
Then register an Intent to Sell on HDB’s My Flat Dashboard. HDB says you must do this personally, before you put the flat on the market, and give details of your next home. It gives you a preliminary check of your eligibility to sell, the Ethnic Integration Policy and SPR quotas for your block, any upgrading costs still owing, and recent prices nearby.
If you plan to buy another HDB flat, apply for an HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter at the same time. It tells you which flats, grants and loans you qualify for, so you know your budget before you commit to sell. Our guide on HDB eligibility and income ceilings explains the rules.
Selling an HDB Flat: The Steps and the Timeline
These are HDB’s published steps and time limits.
| Step | What happens | HDB time limit |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Intent to Sell | Registered on My Flat Dashboard | 7-day wait before you may grant an OTP |
| 2. Grant the OTP | Buyer pays an option fee of $1 to $1,000 | Option expires at 4pm, 21 calendar days later |
| 3. Buyer exercises the OTP | Buyer pays the exercise fee; both fees together cannot exceed $5,000 | Within the 21 days |
| 4. Resale application | You and the buyer each submit your portion | Within 7 calendar days of each other, or it lapses |
| 5. HDB accepts | HDB checks eligibility and documents | Within 28 working days of a complete application |
| 6. Endorse documents and pay fees | Documents ready about 3 weeks after acceptance | Approval within 2 weeks of endorsing and paying |
| 7. Completion | Keys handed over, proceeds paid out | About 8 weeks from acceptance, the earliest date |
You must use HDB’s prescribed OTP form. HDB says any side agreement on the sale is not valid, and both parties must declare the true resale price.
If you are buying a resale flat at the same time without a bank loan on either flat, the Enhanced Contra Facility lets HDB complete both on the same day, so your sale money pays for the purchase. Our HDB resale timeline planner maps these dates onto a calendar.
Staying on after completion
A Temporary Extension of Stay lets you remain in the flat for up to three months after completion, with no further extension. HDB allows it only if you have already committed to buy a completed home in Singapore, you are not renting out the flat, and the buyers agree. The buyers pay a $20 administrative fee, and HDB suggests a private agreement on any payment between you.
Before completion day
HDB’s completion checklist for sellers: put right any unauthorised renovation, pay service and conservancy charges up to completion, pay property tax up to the end of the year, cancel GIRO arrangements, and vacate the flat so the buyers can inspect it.
The Costs of Selling an HDB Flat
- Agent commission. The Council for Estate Agencies says there is no fixed rate; it is negotiated. GST of 9% is added only if the agency is GST-registered. Our property agent commission calculator shows the total for any rate you agree.
- Conveyancing fees. If HDB acts for you, its published scale for a resale is 13.5 cents per $100 on the first $30,000, 10.8 cents on the next $30,000 and 9 cents thereafter, before disbursements. A private lawyer quotes their own fee.
- Resale levy. Payable only if you buy a second subsidised flat, such as a new flat from HDB. From HDB’s table for flats sold from 3 March 2006, a family pays $30,000 for a 3-room, $40,000 for a 4-room and $45,000 for a 5-room flat. It comes out of your sale proceeds if you sell after collecting the keys to the new flat, otherwise in cash at key collection.
- Subsidy recovery. For a Plus or Prime flat bought from HDB, a percentage of the resale price or valuation, whichever is higher, goes back to HDB.
- Seller’s Stamp Duty. Rarely relevant after the MOP; see our SSD guide.
The short version: Register the Intent to Sell, secure your next home, then expect three months or more from OTP to completion. Your sale price repays the loan, then your CPF with accrued interest, and you receive what is left minus commission, legal fees and any levy.
Where the Money Goes: A $600,000 Sale
An illustrative couple sell a 4-room resale flat for S$600,000 and buy another resale flat, so no resale levy applies. Our own figures; commission is assumed at 2% for the example only.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale price | $600,000 |
| Less outstanding housing loan | -$150,000 |
| Less CPF refund (principal $150,000 plus accrued interest $30,000) | -$180,000 |
| Cash proceeds | $270,000 |
| Less commission at an assumed 2%, plus 9% GST | -$13,080 |
| Less HDB conveyancing fee on the scale above | -$559 |
| Cash in hand, before disbursements | about $256,360 |
The $180,000 is not lost. CPF Board credits it to the Ordinary Account if you are under 55; from 55 it tops up your Retirement Account first. CPF Board also says that if a flat sold at market value leaves too little to cover the full refund, only what is left is refunded, with no cash top-up. Our guide to CPF accrued interest explains the refund. Illustration only.
Run your own numbers in the HDB sale proceeds calculator.
What To Do Next
- Check your MOP date and register the Intent to Sell on My Flat Dashboard.
- Apply for your HFE letter, or a bank’s in-principle approval, for the next home before granting an OTP.
- Check your CPF refund on your CPF home ownership dashboard, then run the sale proceeds calculator.
- Agree commission in writing, and decide whether HDB or a private lawyer will act for you.
