Guides

Buying an HDB resale flat, explained

Plain-English guides for anyone buying an HDB resale flat - each takes a question buyers actually ask and answers it with the real transaction record, not opinion. No jargon, no sign-up.

Not sure where to start? The buyer's roadmap walks you through the whole journey step by step, from the big picture to making an offer.

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Featured · Buying

Is it worth paying more to live near an MRT?

Buyers assume the near-station premium is huge and universal. Split 10,837 four-room sales by distance and it turns out to be smaller than the folklore - and in some towns, it runs the other way entirely.

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Buying

How to tell if an asking price is fair

There's no single fair price - there's a fair range. The five checks to place a flat inside it, using nothing but the public record.

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Buying

What a resale flat really costs to buy

Beyond the price: the downpayment, stamp duty, option fee and grants - and which costs must be cash, not CPF. Worked on a real example.

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Buying

Cash over valuation, explained

When the price beats the valuation, the gap is cash - not CPF, not your loan. Why COV happens, how the sums work, and how big it gets.

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Buying

Buying a resale flat, step by step

From the HFE eligibility letter to the keys: every gate in order, what each step costs, and how long the journey really takes.

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Financing

HDB loan or bank loan?

A fixed 2.6% with no cash down, or a market rate that needs 5% cash and can move. How to choose - and why the switch only goes one way.

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Buying

Who can buy, and when can you sell?

The eligibility gates that let you buy a resale flat, and the 5-year Minimum Occupation Period that starts the day you get the keys.

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Value

Lease decay, explained without the panic

A slow ~1%-a-year drift for most flats - and why the real bite comes around 60 years left, for a financing reason.

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Location

Mature vs non-mature estates: what you pay for

The price gap between estate types, and whether it's location or flat age doing the work.

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Timing

Is now a good time to buy?

What a decade of prices says about market timing - and why it matters less than you'd think.

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