Have you decided to settle down in Singapore and start a family, or is your fiancée a foreigner who has decided to live with you in Singapore? If so, you are probably considering buying your own HDB flat, either a Build-To-Order (BTO) or a resale flat. But what if you or your foreign fiancée already own a residential property overseas? Can you still buy an HDB flat?
According to the Housing & Development Board (HDB) purchase regulations, if you want to buy a non-subsidised or resale HDB flat, you cannot own any other overseas or local properties. This rule was implemented in 2010 to prevent a real estate bubble, as low interest rates and high liquidity at the time had caused property prices to rise sharply.
If you want to apply for a BTO flat, you must ensure that “the applicants and occupiers listed in the application form do not own other local or overseas property, and have not disposed of any property within the last 30 months.”
As for buying a resale flat, you must ensure that you or anyone listed on your application “do not own any local or overseas private property. You must dispose of all private property within 6 months of the resale flat purchase.”
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Filing an Appeal with the HDB
What if your current circumstances make it difficult to dispose of your overseas property? For example, your or your foreign fiancée’s parents are currently living in the overseas property, or perhaps you and your partner are looking for a flat in Singapore for retirement while owning another overseas property where your children live.
Don’t worry just yet. You can still appeal to the HDB to retain your overseas property when buying a BTO or resale flat, but this is subject to approval and is assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Proving You Can Afford a Singapore HDB Flat
One of the criteria assessed during the appeal is proving to the HDB that you have the financial capacity to afford and pay for an HDB flat in Singapore. Alternatively, you could also demonstrate that you cannot afford private housing in Singapore, making the purchase of an HDB flat essential for you.
To do this, you will need to gather all necessary financial documents as proof, including your monthly salary and CPF statements showing your CPF Ordinary Account (OA) balance and contribution history for the past 15 months.
Additionally, it is crucial to clearly understand the housing loan amount and property price you can afford based on your income.
Explaining the Reason for Keeping the Overseas Property
It is equally important that your reasons for retaining the overseas property are transparent. For this, you will need to submit relevant documents as supporting evidence. For example, if your family members are living in your overseas property, you will need to provide their identification documents to prove their residential address is the same as your overseas property’s address. Additionally, you will need to prepare the purchase agreement and a recent valuation report for the overseas property.
It is worth noting that appeal approvals are granted on a case-by-case basis, so the entire process may take several months.
Alternatively, to simplify legal matters, you could transfer ownership of your overseas property to your parents or children, allowing you to purchase an HDB flat in Singapore as a ‘first property’.
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