Approved for resale only: how HFE treats commission and irregular income

A couple submitted their Housing Finance Eligibility (HFE) application on 20 May 2026, planning to ballot for the October 2026 BTO launch. Three weeks later HDB asked for one document they could not produce, and the outcome came back approved for resale only. Their case is worth understanding because the trap that caught them is structural, not unusual.

What HFE actually does

The HFE letter is the gate. You need a valid one before you can apply for a BTO flat, take an HDB loan, or buy a resale flat with a housing grant. It tells you three things at once: whether you are eligible to buy, how much HDB will lend you, and which grants you qualify for.

To produce those numbers, HDB has to verify your income. For a salaried employee with CPF contributions, this is close to automatic. HDB cross-checks your declared income against CPF records and recent payslips, and the assessment moves on.

The difficulty starts when your income leaves no CPF trail.

Why commission and gig income gets scrutinised

The couple worked as commission-based interior designers at a small firm from April 2025 to February 2026. No fixed salary, no CPF contributions, irregular and relatively low income.

When there are no CPF records to verify against, HDB needs another credible source. For commission and freelance earners, that usually means a combination of:

• the latest Notice of Assessment from IRAS, which shows declared income for the year
• bank statements showing income deposits
• a company income certification letter, signed by the employer, confirming what you actually earned

That last document is the one that broke this application. HDB requested a company income certification letter from the couple's previous employer on 13 June 2026. The firm had since changed ownership, and HDB indicated that only the current director could certify the letter. The couple's relationship with that director was poor, and the letter never came.

How a missing letter downgrades you

Here is the mechanism. If HDB cannot verify a stream of income, it does not estimate it generously. It either excludes that income from the assessment or treats the case conservatively. Lower verified income means a lower loan ceiling, and in some cases it means you no longer clear the bar for a BTO loan amount that makes the flat workable. You can still be cleared to buy resale, where you have the option of a bank loan and different financing maths, but the BTO path closes.

That is how a documentation gap, not an income problem, moves a buyer from BTO-eligible to resale-only.

The appeal route, and what to put in it

HDB advised the couple to submit an appeal and explanation letter through the "Submit Documents" section of the HDB portal. This is the correct channel, and it is more useful than it sounds, but only if the letter does HDB's verification work for them.

An appeal that simply says "we cannot get the letter" gives the officer nothing to act on. An appeal that reconstructs the income with independent evidence does. If you are in this position, assemble:

• your IRAS Notice of Assessment covering the relevant period, which is the strongest single substitute because it is a government record of declared income
• bank statements showing the commission payments landing
• any contracts, invoices, or commission statements from the period
• a written explanation of why the employer letter is unobtainable, stated plainly

The goal is to let HDB verify the same number through documents that do not depend on a director's signature.

What to do before you apply

The lesson generalises beyond this one couple. If your income is commission-based, freelance, or otherwise outside the CPF system, treat income documentation as something to prepare before you submit, not after HDB asks.

Declare your income to IRAS properly and on time. The Notice of Assessment is the document that carries the most weight when there are no CPF records, and you cannot manufacture it retroactively in the weeks before a BTO launch.

Keep your own records. Bank statements showing income, copies of commission statements, and any signed employment confirmation are worth saving while the relationship with an employer is still intact. The time to ask for an income letter is while you still work there, not a year later after the company has changed hands.

If your income genuinely is low and irregular, run the numbers on what HFE is likely to certify before you set your heart on a particular flat. Knowing your verified borrowing capacity early is the difference between planning around it and being surprised by it.

If you are pushed to resale

A resale-only outcome is a setback for a couple who wanted a BTO, but it is not a dead end. Resale buyers can take a bank loan, and bank rates as of mid-2026 sit below the HDB concessionary rate of 2.6%. The income assessment a bank runs is its own process, governed by the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework, and banks have their own treatment of variable income, often haircutting commission earnings by a set percentage. That is a separate conversation, but it means the resale path comes with its own financing decisions worth getting right.

The one thing not to do is let an avoidable documentation gap make the decision for you. Get the IRAS record, build the appeal around evidence HDB can verify, and submit it before assuming the BTO door is closed.