No more 15-month wait-out period for private home owners to buy HDB resale flats: Chee Hong Tat
Ng Keng Gene
The Straits Times
July 28, 2026
The 15-month wait-out period for private property downgraders looking to buy a resale flat has been lifted with immediate effect, said National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat.
Announcing this on July 28, Chee said market conditions have improved and the Government has assessed that the cooling measure has met its purpose.
He noted that HDB resale prices have moderated significantly from a high of 10.4 per cent in 2022 to 2.9 per cent in 2025. HDB resale prices declined for the second consecutive quarter in the second quarter of 2026, after dipping for the first time in close to seven years in the first quarter of the year.
“With this change, private property owners of all ages will no longer face a wait-out period to buy a non-subsidised HDB resale flat of any size,” Chee said in a speech at the 11th Singapore Economic Review Conference.
Introduced in September 2022, the 15-month wait-out period was aimed at curbing demand from cash-rich private home owners looking to buy a non-subsidised resale Housing Board flat.
Shortly after taking over as National Development Minister in May 2025, Chee said the measure was not meant to be permanent, and that it would be lifted “when the situation improves”.
He later said in June that year that private property owners may not need to wait till 2027 or 2028 for a review of the wait-out requirement, as a strong continued supply of new BTO flats and resale units would moderate resale prices.
As at March 31, 2025, HDB received and processed about 5,500 appeals for a waiver of the requirement, of which about a quarter were approved.
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