Lease buyback scheme extended to 4R flats: PM Lee

More than half of all flat owners will now qualify.

In his National Day Rally Speech yesterday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong revealed that the Lease Buyback scheme will be extended from 3R flats to 4R flats, in response to requests of seniors who preferred to age in the comfort of their own homes.

The government’s REACH portal highlighted that more than half of all flat owners in Singapore will qualify with this extension.

In the Lease Buyback scheme, HDB will buy back the remaining years on the flat’s lease and provide a cash lump sum plus monthly pay-outs.

Here’s more from the REACH portal:
Elaborating further in his National Day Rally speech, PM Lee noted that during the Our Singapore Conversation last year, many seniors had opined that while moving to a Studio Apartment and taking the Silver Housing bonus were attractive options, many did not want to uproot themselves and move somewhere else unfamiliar in old age.

Familiar surroundings and being in the amidst of old friends and neighbours were valid reasons put forth by seniors for not wanting to move which the Housing and Development Board (HDB) studied very carefully, PM Lee said.

Seniors will not receive as much cash as right sizing – buying a smaller 3R flat or Studio Apartment - but they can continue to stay in the same flat.