Payment Schedule for a Resale HDB Flat
Buying a resale HDB flat runs on HDB's own timeline — starting with an eligibility letter you need before you can even view flats, and ending with a resale application submitted and approved through the HDB Resale Portal. Here's the full sequence of payments and milestones.
The HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) Letter
Since May 2023, buyers must obtain an HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter before viewing or making an offer on a resale flat — it replaced the older, separate HLE (loan) and eligibility letters. It confirms in one document whether you're eligible to buy an HDB flat, which resale subsidies you qualify for, and — if you intend to take an HDB loan — your loan eligibility.
Only Singapore Citizens (SC) and Singapore Permanent Residents (PR) may buy a resale HDB flat — foreigners are not eligible under HDB's ownership schemes. Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) also depends on the buyers' citizenship: an SC/SC couple or an SC/PR couple pays no ABSD on their first (matrimonial) home, while a PR/PR couple pays 5% ABSD. A PR/PR couple must also separately meet HDB's usual eligibility conditions to buy the flat at all — such as each PR having held PR status for at least 3 years, and the couple forming an eligible family nucleus.
- Both PRs must have held PR status for at least 3 years, and must form an eligible family nucleus (e.g. married to each other) — a single PR cannot buy alone.
- Flat Restrictions: A PR/PR household can only buy a resale flat — not a new BTO flat or a new Executive Condominium — and is subject to HDB's Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) quota (non-Malaysian PR households are capped at 5% of a neighbourhood and 8% of a block).
- Standard minimum age requirements under the eligibility scheme applied under still apply (generally 21 years old).
- A PR/PR household must not own, or have any interest in, any private residential property — in Singapore or overseas — for the household to qualify.
- A PR/PR household is not eligible for an HDB housing loan or CPF Housing Grants; financing has to come from a bank loan, CPF, and/or cash.
- The 5% ABSD is not remitted for a PR/PR household (unlike the remission an SC/PR household can qualify for) — it's payable in full, upfront, within the same 14-day stamp duty window as everyone else.
Payment Schedule Flowchart
The full sequence from the Option to Purchase to resale completion — including current Buyer's Stamp Duty and ABSD figures (rates as of August 2026).
Seller Grants the OTP
Option Fee (Booking Fee) — a sum between $1 and $1,000, mutually agreed between buyer and seller
Cash OnlyOTP Is Valid for 21 Calendar Days
From the date the seller grants it, including weekends and public holidays
Option Fee is forfeited to the seller
not exercised
Option Fee is forfeited to the seller
Sign, Return & Submit the Resale Application
① Sign and return the OTP, and pay the Option Exercise Fee — the Option Fee and Exercise Fee together cannot exceed $5,000
② Buyer and seller each submit the resale application via the HDB Resale Portal, within 7 days of each other
Cash OnlyBuyer's Stamp Duty & ABSD
Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) — tiered:
| First $180,000 | 1% |
| Next $180,000 | 2% |
| Next $640,000 | 3% |
| Next $500,000 | 4% |
| Next $1,500,000 | 5% |
| Remaining balance | 6% |
Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD), on your first (matrimonial) home:
| SC/SC couple | No ABSD |
| SC/PR couple | No ABSD |
| PR/PR couple | 5% ABSD |
A PR/PR couple must also separately meet the usual HDB eligibility conditions to buy the flat at all — e.g. the 3-year PR rule and forming an eligible family nucleus. ABSD rises further on a 2nd or subsequent property — see the Stamp Duties guide.
Cash and/or CPFInitial Payment & Balance
Initial payment of 25% (HDB loan) or up to 45% (bank loan) of the purchase price, plus any Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) — COV must be paid entirely in cash
A PR/PR household isn't eligible for an HDB loan or CPF Housing Grants, so financing is limited to a bank loan, CPF, and/or cash.
Cash and/or CPF