Applying for a BTO flat

Who can apply

• Couples and families: you must be a Singapore Citizen, include at least 1 other citizen or PR, and be at least 21. An engaged couple applies under the fiancé/fiancée scheme and must marry within 3 months of completing the purchase.
• Singles: unmarried, divorced and widowed citizens aged 35 and above, who are first-timers, can buy a new 2-room Flexi flat in Standard, Plus and Prime projects. HDB adds $15,000 to the price.
• A citizen aged 35 or above with a non-resident spouse can buy a new 2-room Flexi flat, also with $15,000 added.
• Seniors aged 55 and above can buy a short-lease 2-room Flexi flat or a Community Care Apartment, with a lease that lasts them to at least age 95.
• A household of PRs only cannot buy a new flat; once all of them have been PRs for 3 years, they can buy a resale flat.

Income ceilings

• 4-room and 5-room flats: $16,000 a month, or $24,000 for an extended or multi-generation family.
• 3-room flats: $16,000 or $8,000, depending on the project. HDB names each project’s ceiling at the launch.
• 2-room Flexi flats on a 99-year lease: $8,000. Short-lease 2-room Flexi flats and Community Care Apartments: $16,000.
• The ceiling counts the total income of everyone listed in the HFE letter application.

First-timers, second-timers and private property

• You are a second-timer if you have bought a flat from HDB, a resale flat with a CPF housing grant, a DBSS flat or a new EC. A second-timer pays a resale levy on the new flat, $15,000 to $55,000 for a family depending on the type of the first subsidised flat, if it was sold from 3 March 2006.
• A couple with one first-timer and one second-timer is treated as a first-timer family for the ballot.
• Anyone who has taken 2 housing subsidies cannot apply for, or be listed in, a new flat.
• Nobody listed may own private residential property, in Singapore or overseas, including an EC unit or an inherited share. After selling it, you must wait 30 months from the legal completion of the sale before applying for the HFE letter: a sale completed on 1 July 2024 lets you apply from 1 January 2027.
• You may own 1 non-residential property, such as a shop or an office.
• If you own an HDB flat, you must sell it within 6 months of collecting the keys to the new one.

How to apply, step by step

1. Apply for the HFE letter on the HDB Flat Portal at least a month before the sales exercise. It is free, takes up to a month once HDB has your documents, and is valid for 9 months. The e-service closes during each sales exercise’s application period.
2. When the sales exercise opens, apply online for 1 town and flat type, with a $10 fee. You can apply for a BTO or an SBF flat in the same exercise, not both.
3. HDB ballots the applications and emails you within 2 months of the close to check your queue number on the HDB Flat Portal.
4. If your queue number comes up, HDB invites you to book about 2 weeks ahead. You pick a unit and pay the option fee: $500 for a 2-room Flexi, $1,000 for a 3-room and $2,000 for a 4-room or bigger flat.
5. You sign the Agreement for Lease and pay the down payment, then collect the keys when the flat is completed.

Ballot chances and priority schemes

• Ballot chances: 3 for First-Timer (Parents & Married Couples), 2 for other first-timer families, and 1 for second-timer families, seniors and first-timer singles.
• FT(PMC) is a first-timer family with a citizen child aged 18 or below, or a married couple aged 40 or below, who have never owned or sold a home and have not had a chance to book a BTO or SBF flat in the past 5 years. HDB assesses it after you apply.
• After 2 unsuccessful BTO applications for Standard flats, a first-timer family gets 1 more chance for each later Standard application, up to 2 more. It does not apply to Plus and Prime flats.
• From the February 2027 sales exercise, first-timer families get 1 more chance for each citizen child aged 18 or below.
• You may apply for 1 priority scheme, or 2 if one is the Family and Parenthood Priority Scheme. FPPS sets aside up to 40% of BTO flats for first-timer couples with a citizen child or expecting one, and for FT(PMC) couples. The Family Care Scheme (Proximity) sets aside up to 30% for first-timer families living with or within 4 km of their parents or child, and the Third Child Priority Scheme up to 10% for families with 3 or more children.

Standard, Plus and Prime flats

BTO projects launched from October 2024 are Standard, Plus or Prime. Standard flats have a 5-year minimum occupation period and can be rented out whole after it. Plus and Prime flats, in choicer locations, have more subsidy, a 10-year MOP, no whole-flat rental, and a subsidy recovery: when you sell, you return a percentage of the price to HDB, set when the project launches.

If you do not book, or cancel

• Turning down a chance to book while units are left counts as a non-selection. A first-timer family is then balloted as second-timers for a year and loses its extra chances; first-timer singles and second-timer families cannot apply for a year. HDB waives it if 10 or fewer BTO flats are left to choose from.
• Cancelling after booking forfeits the option fee and bars you for a year from new flats, new ECs and resale flats bought with a grant. Cancelling after signing the Agreement for Lease forfeits 5% of the price.
• While your queue number is within the flat supply, you cannot apply in another BTO or SBF exercise until after your booking appointment.

Questions

Sources

• HDB: Eligibility for couples and families
• HDB: Eligibility for singles
• HDB: HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter
• HDB: Application for a new flat
• HDB: Priority schemes
• HDB: Modes of sale and ballot chances
• HDB: Booking of flat
• HDB: Standard, Plus and Prime housing framework
• HDB: Conditions after buying a new flat

Rules and fees change. Check the linked official pages before you commit, and ask a lawyer about your own sale or purchase.

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