From May 13 2024, Housing Board flat homeowners or their property agents can list their homes for sale directly on the HDB Flat Portal. When the service is officially launched later in May 2024, buyers will be able to access the listings and begin transactions with sellers.
Here’s a step-by-step guide that sellers, buyers and property agents need to know about the HDB resale flat listing service.
- Register intent to sell
- Upload photos of HDB
- Set selling price
- Viewing appointments
- Buyers compare HDB flats
- Option to Purchase
- Property Agent’s Dashboard
1. Register intent to sell
Sellers must have an intent to sell registered with HDB in order to list and market their flat themselves. They can also appoint a property agent to manage the listing on their behalf.
HDB information automatically filled in
When they create a listing, it will be automatically filled with details such as the address, flat type, floor area and floor plan, which is retrieved from HDB’s data. Each seller can only post one flat listing, so that there are no duplicate listings.
2. Upload photos of HDB flat
Sellers will only need to upload photos and descriptions of their flat.
Extension of stay & contra
They can also indicate their preference for extension of stay and contra. What is contra in a HDB sale? Contra is a process in which an owner is looking to sell his unit and buy another, and want both transactions to be executed at the same time.
3. Set selling price
Sellers will be prompted if their listing price is at least 10 per cent above the highest transacted price of similar units nearby in the past six months.
4. Viewing appointments
Once listed, sellers can create viewing appointments with interested buyers. Any prospective flat buyer can browse the resale listings on the HDB flat portal, but only those with a valid HFE letter can obtain the sellers’ contact details and schedule viewing appointments.
Buyers need valid HFE to view house
Buyers with an HFE letter can view personalised payment plans based on their approved housing grant and HDB loan amount, so that they can more accurately assess if the shortlisted flats are within their budget, HDB said.
What is HFE Letter?
An HFE letter indicates a buyer’s eligibility to buy a flat, receive grants and take up a housing loan.
5. Buyers can compare HDB flats
Buyers can filter searches by location, flat type, remaining lease or by their ethnicity and citizenship under the Ethnic Integration Policy and Singapore permanent resident quotas. A resale flat listing will show the recent transacted prices of similar flats nearby, amenities in the area and ethnicity and citizenship
Potential HDB buyers can choose up to three flats to compare attributes such as remaining lease and preliminary payment plans such as the monthly loan repayment amount and cash payment.
After the buyers have exercised their option to purchase, they can submit their resale application on the HDB Flat Portal.
6. Option to Purchase
Once the potential flat buyer submits a request for value, which has to be done a day after being granted the option to purchase, the listing would automatically be taken down.
7. Property Agent Dashboard
Property agents will have a personalised dashboard on the HDB Flat Portal, which gives them an overview of their clients – both buyers and sellers. HDB said this will help them provide “value-added services” for their clients, such as budgeting and advising them on the next steps.
They can create listings and viewing appointments for sellers, and help buyers to search, shortlist and compare flats. The service will be free of charge for the time being. Property portals such as PropertyGuru and 99.co charges subscription fees.
This article first appeared on The Straits Times.
