All articles

Is the 1km school premium still worth paying? What the new P1 rules change

Sarah Chen·15 Sept 2026

How to add your spouse to an HDB flat you bought before marriage

Adding a spouse to an HDB flat bought before marriage is done through a Change in Flat Ownership by way of gift, not a resale of part share, since HDB does not allow part-share sales between spouses. The added owner must meet HDB eligibility conditions, stamp duty is based on market value with spousal remission available, and the process and timeline differ depending on whether the flat has a bank loan (requiring redemption and re-taking, with possible lock-in penalties) or an HDB loan (reassessed directly by HDB with no penalty).

Sarah Chen·14 Sept 2026

Resale HDB grants in 2026: the trade-offs behind the S$230,000 headline

The S$230,000 figure only applies to first-timer couples who simultaneously hit the lowest EHG income band, buy a smaller flat, and live with or near parents, since the Family Grant, EHG, and Proximity Housing Grant are tiered against income, flat size, and location respectively, and optimising for one often reduces another. Most households can cleanly satisfy two of the three conditions but rarely all three at once, making the headline amount a rare ceiling rather than a typical outcome. Wider 2026 income ceilings and more resale flats reaching MOP expand who can attempt the stack, but do not resolve the underlying trade-offs between the schemes.

Sarah Chen·11 Sept 2026

What Pinnacle@Duxton's S$1.701M record doesn't tell you

The Pinnacle@Duxton record reflects a landmark premium unique to that one building rather than a broader market trend. The real signal lies in ordinary BTO flats from the 2015-2020 cohort clearing MOP and reaching million-dollar prices based on size and lease length rather than prestige, even as the overall HDB resale price index stays flat or falls, showing the market is pulling apart rather than rising uniformly.

Sarah Chen·10 Sept 2026

Who owns the flat? Why paying for a property isn't the same as owning it

Owning a Singapore property is determined by legal title and documented intent at purchase, not by who paid for it; a bank transfer alone proves only that money changed hands. Money from a parent is presumed to be a gift unless a loan agreement, declared trust, or co-ownership arrangement is put in place before completion, since each structure has different consequences for ABSD liability and the child's loan quantum under TDSR.

Sarah Chen·9 Sept 2026

Why developers keep submitting aggressive GLS bids despite headwinds from a softer job market

Developers keep bidding aggressively because land bought today only launches two to four years later, so bids are priced against future market conditions rather than today's softer job data. A thinning launch pipeline, the need to keep replenishing landbanks, and past vindication of earlier aggressive bids all reinforce this behaviour, leaving buyers to bear the cost of financing and pricing risk when the units eventually launch.

Sarah Chen·8 Sept 2026

Buying property in someone else's name: what it actually costs you

Buying a second property in someone else's name to dodge ABSD is not a real saving because it creates an unsecured, informal loan against an asset you don't legally own, and IRAS can claw back the avoided duty plus a 50% surcharge under Section 33A. It also shifts loan-to-value limits and TDSR obligations onto the nominee, reducing their future borrowing capacity, and exposes the property to risks like the nominee's divorce, bankruptcy or death.

Sarah Chen·7 Sept 2026

August produced the highest number of million-dollar resale transactions on record

August 2026 set a record for million-dollar HDB resale transactions, but this was driven primarily by a large cohort of BTO flats reaching their five-year Minimum Occupation Period, not by the removal of the 15-month wait-out rule for private property sellers. The policy change only affected who could bid on an already fixed, pre-scheduled supply of eligible flats, while the broader resale price index actually declined, showing the record count reflects a narrow supply cohort rather than a general price trend.

Sarah Chen·4 Sept 2026

A record S$1,537 psf ppr in Bedok: working backwards to what buyers will pay

Sarah Chen·2 Sept 2026

Gilstead Court en bloc: why this S$198 million Novena site keeps failing to sell

Gilstead Court's fourth en bloc attempt in 18 years is struggling because its low plot ratio of 1.4 allows only about 98 new flats, spreading development costs across too few units despite the site's freehold status and District 11 location. A nearby government land sale at Peck Hay Road shows almost the same price per square foot but yields nearly four times as many homes with clean title and no owner consent needed, undermining the case for Gilstead Court's asking price.

Sarah Chen·1 Sept 2026

The hidden subsidy in a sub-three-year BTO wait

Roughly 1,200 sub-three-year BTO flats are being built in Toa Payoh and Sin Ming, with completion around mid-2030 but no launch date yet, so price, flat mix and application timing remain unknown. The key benefit of a shorter wait is avoiding years of non-recoverable rent while renting, illustrated as a possible S$96,000 saving versus a five-year wait, though this pulls forward financing commitments and shortens the time available to save. Buyers should watch for the launch date, flat mix and pricing before treating this as an actionable plan.

Sarah Chen·31 Aug 2026

En bloc reform could drive more collective sale activity, especially for elderly owners of ageing properties

En bloc reform in Singapore targets the collective sale committee and objection timeline to speed up consent, not the consent percentages or sale prices themselves, so more deals are expected but not a repeat of the 2017-2018 boom. For elderly owners, age-based loan tenure and LTV caps mean sale proceeds are heavily reduced after mortgage discharge and CPF refunds, often forcing a drop from 75% to 55% LTV; however, the scrapped 15-month wait-out period now lets private owners buy HDB resale flats immediately, often without needing a loan.

Sarah Chen·28 Aug 2026