HDB flats made more affordable for lower-income earners under new scheme

Maximum Special CPF Housing Grant doubled to $40,000.

The Ministry of National Development (MND) today rolled out a number of measures to help lower-income and middle-income households afford their first homes.

MND and the Housing Development Board (HDB) will double the maximum amount available under the Special CPF Housing Grant, from the current $20,000 to $40,000.

The income ceiling for the SHG will also be raised from $6,500 to $8,500.

The MND said that with these enhancements, more than two-thirds of Singaporean families can qualify for the SHG, compared to more than half currently.

Households earning up to $7,000 will enjoy the full $20,000 increase. These include the median household, who will receive $30,000 of SHG, instead of $10,000 currently.

With the increase in SHG, if a family earning $1,000 buys a lower-priced 2-room flat, the total grant amount may exceed 95% of the BTO selling price.

In such cases, they will only need to pay 5% of the flat price using their CPF or cash. The remaining sum will be fully covered by the grant.

The MND said that any excess grant amount can be used to pay for optional items, such as flooring, or will go into their CPF Special Account (SA)/ Retirement Account (RA) and Medisave Account (MA).

If the flat is subsequently sold, the first $60,000 of housing grants will be credited to their CPF Ordinary Account. The additional grants will be credited to their CPF SA and MA.

In addition, MND and HDB are studying a Fresh Start Housing Scheme to help families with young children staying in public rental flats, who had previously owned a subsidised flat, achieve homeownership.

" MND and HDB are prepared to consider a new Fresh Start Housing Grant to help them pay for the flat, if the families are prepared to put in the effort to remain in employment and put their children in school," MND said.