The Address
Where to live in Singapore and what it costs: neighbourhoods, districts D1 to D28, renting, resale, and what the street is like at 7am and 11pm.
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3Gen Flats and the Multi-Generation Priority Scheme: Buying With Your Parents
A 3Gen flat is one HDB home with four bedrooms, two of them en-suite, for a family living with its parents, with an income…
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Selling a Private Property: Commission, Legal Fees and the Timeline
Selling a condo or landed home in Singapore usually runs from listing to an Option to Purchase, a 14-day exercise period and completion on…
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Strata Title Explained: Share Value, Common Property and What You Own
With a strata title, you own your unit (the lot) outright and share the common property with every other owner through the management corporation.…
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Renting Out Private Property: URA’s Minimum Stay and Occupancy Cap
URA requires every occupant of a rented private home to stay at least three consecutive months, and caps occupancy at six unrelated people. Owners…
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BTO Priority Schemes: Married Child, Third Child and the Others Explained
HDB sets aside shares of new flats for priority groups: up to 40% of BTO flats for first-timer families and young couples under the…
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The Fresh Start Housing Scheme: How Rental Families Can Own a Flat Again
Fresh Start helps families with young children living in HDB rental flats buy a 2-room Flexi or 3-room Standard flat on a 45- to…
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Viewing a Resale Flat: What to Check, Room by Room
An HDB resale flat is bought on a caveat emptor basis, so defects you miss at viewing usually become yours after completion. Check for…
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Home Fire Safety: Smoke Detectors, Extinguishers and the HDB Requirements
A Home Fire Alarm Device (a smoke detector) is mandatory in new homes and in existing homes doing certain fire safety works from 1…
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Waterproofing and Bathroom Renovation: The HDB Rules and Why It Costs More
You can only replace bathroom floor and wall finishes in an HDB flat after the block’s first three years, with a permit and an…
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Renovation Loans in Singapore: How They Work and the Limits
A bank renovation loan lets you borrow up to six times your monthly income or $30,000, whichever is lower, against an itemised contractor quotation.…
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Termites, Pests and Mosquito Breeding at Home: NEA Rules and Who Pays
Mosquito breeding found in your home brings an NEA fine of $200 to $400 for a first or second offence, and court prosecution from…
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HDB Corridor Rules: Shoe Racks, Plants and Keeping Common Areas Clear
You may keep a shoe rack used only for shoes, a foldable clothing rack, and potted plants if your Town Council allows them, as…
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Downsizing Your Home: Selling First or Buying First, and the Timelines
Buying first means you must sell an existing HDB flat within six months of collecting keys or completing the resale purchase, and a second…
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Behind on Your HDB Loan? What Happens With Mortgage Arrears and Where to Get Help
If you miss HDB loan instalments, HDB imposes a late payment charge and contacts you, but it can reschedule, reduce or defer instalments, or…
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Using CPF to Buy a Home: The Valuation Limit, the Withdrawal Limit and Accrued Interest
You can use your CPF Ordinary Account for a home up to the Valuation Limit (the lower of price or valuation), and up to…
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How Banks Value Private Property: Valuations, Shortfalls and Your Loan
Banks lend on the lower of the purchase price or their valuer’s figure, so if a private home is valued below what you agreed…
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Condo By-Laws and the MCST: Renovations, Pets and Common Property
A condo’s MCST runs the common property and can make additional by-laws by special resolution, covering things like pets, parking and the look of…
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Ceiling Leaks and Water Seepage in HDB Flats: Who Pays to Fix Them
A leak through the ceiling between two HDB flats is the joint responsibility of the upper- and lower-floor owners, and under HDB’s Goodwill Repair…
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Singles Buying an HDB Flat: The Age Rules, Flat Choices and Grants
Unmarried Singapore Citizens can buy an HDB flat from age 35: a 2-room Flexi BTO flat, or most resale flats. First-timer singles can receive…
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HDB Public Rental: Who Qualifies and the Joint Singles Scheme
HDB’s Public Rental Scheme offers heavily subsidised 1-room and 2-room flats to Singapore Citizen households with no other housing options and no family support.…
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The Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme: Renting From HDB While You Wait
The Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme lets eligible families who have booked a new HDB flat rent a flat from HDB at below-market rents while…
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HDB Open Booking and Sale of Balance Flats: How They Work
The Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) offers leftover and returned HDB flats, many near completion or already built, through a ballot that works much…
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Inheriting a Home in Singapore: Transmission of HDB and Private Property
If the owner held the home as a joint tenant, the survivor takes the whole by survivorship after lodging a Notice of Death with…
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Divorce and the Matrimonial Flat: What Happens to an HDB Home
On divorce, an HDB flat is either kept by one spouse who still qualifies to own it, sold on the open market once the…
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Decoupling Property: Transferring a Share to Your Spouse, and the Costs
Decoupling means one spouse buys the other’s entire share of a private home, so the seller no longer owns residential property. The buyer pays…
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Shophouses and Conservation Properties: What You Can and Can’t Change
A conserved shophouse in Singapore must be kept under URA’s ‘3R’ principles: maximum retention, sensitive restoration and careful repair. You can usually add things…
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Landed Homes Explained: Terrace, Semi-D, Bungalow and Good Class Bungalow
Singapore’s landed homes are sorted by how many walls they share and how much land they sit on: a terrace needs at least 150…
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Buying Property as a Foreigner in Singapore: What’s Allowed and the Duties
Foreigners can buy condo and apartment units in Singapore without approval, but landed homes and Sentosa Cove properties need SLA approval, and HDB flats…
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Show Flats and New Launch Sales: Balloting, Options and What to Check
A new launch usually runs from a preview at the show flat, to an expression-of-interest ballot, to booking day, where you pay 5% for…
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Buying a New Launch Condo: Progressive Payments and the Deferred Payment Scheme
When you buy an uncompleted condo from a developer, you pay in stages as it is built: 5% at booking, 20% in total when…
