Fresh Start Housing Scheme

The Fresh Start Housing Scheme (Fresh Start) aims to help second-timer1 families with young children, who are currently living in public rental flats. It assists them in owning a 2-room Flexi2 flat by integrating financial assistance with personal responsibility and social support.

1 Second-timer refers to households who have previously enjoyed 1 housing subsidy.
2 The Fresh Start Housing Scheme will be expanded to include the purchase of 3-room short lease flats. More details will be announced when ready.

Key features

Households under the Fresh Start Housing Scheme will be assisted in the following ways:

Short-lease 2-room Flexi flat
  • You may buy a short-lease 2-room Flexi flat in Build-To-Order (BTO) or Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercises, which will be more affordable than flats with the usual 99-year lease
  • The lease options range from 45 years to 65 years, but it must cover all owners and spouses till they are 95 years old
  • The minimum occupation period of the flat is 20 years
HDB concessionary housing loan You may take up an HDB concessionary housing loan, subject to credit assessment.
Cap on resale levy
  • The levy is capped at $30,000
  • It will be adjusted downwards based on the length of the lease chosen
Grant amount and disbursement
  • Fresh Start Housing Grant of $50,000*
  • A $35,000* lump sum will be disbursed into eligible applicants’ CPF Ordinary Accounts just before key collection
  • The remaining grant of up to $15,000 may be disbursed into eligible applicants’ CPF Ordinary Accounts equally over 5 years, after key collection

* The $50,000 enhanced grant with $35,000 upfront disbursement will apply for flat applications made from the May 2022 sales launch. Applications made before the May 2022 sales launch will continue to be eligible for a total grant of $35,000 with $20,000 upfront disbursement. Please refer to the following table for a summary

Fresh Start Housing Grant
Sales applications made before May 2022 sales launch Sales applications made from May 2022 sales launch
Upfront disbursement just before key collection $20,000 $35,000
Disbursement after key collection over 5 years Up to $15,000
Total grant amount $35,000 $50,000
Priority allocation Priority allocation of up to 10% of 2-room Flexi flats under the Tenants’ Priority Scheme (TPS), in BTO and SBF exercises.

Eligibility conditions

You and all listed applicants and occupiers must meet the eligibility conditions.

To qualify for the scheme, the family must meet the following conditions:

  1. Form a second-timer family nucleus. The applicant and his/her spouse (if applicable) must be aged at least 35 and below 55 years old. Applicant(s) may be married, divorced, or widowed.
  2. Have at least 1 Singapore Citizen (SC) parent, and at least 1 SC child aged 18 or younger
  3. At least 1 applicant ‒ either the applicant or his/ her spouse (if applicable) ‒ is in stable employment in the preceding 12 months and employed at point of application
  4. Occupied a public rental flat for at least 1 year, without accumulating 3 or more months of rental arrears in the preceding 12 months
  5. Have not received any public rental tenancy discount under Relocation, Sale of Flat to Sitting Tenants, or Rent & Purchase Scheme
  6. Qualify for the Letter of Social Assessment (LSA) from HDB. To qualify for the LSA, the family will be assessed based on (i) family stability, (ii) employment stability, (iii) ability to manage their finances well, and (iv) regularity of school attendance for all children below 16 years old. The LSA will be valid for 1 year.
  7. Undergo annual review by HDB to renew their LSA until 5 years after key collection. The family may need to attend face-to-face interviews with HDB officers, and this may include following up with Action Plans where necessary, on the four areas as stated in (f)

At the point of application for a 2-room Flexi flat, your household must also meet the following conditions:

  1. The average gross monthly household income is not more than $7,000
  2. Do not own other properties overseas or locally, and have not disposed of any within the last 30 months

Other things to note

  1. If you and your co-applicants do not apply for a flat within the 1-year validity period of the LSA, your Fresh Start and HDB loan applications will be cancelled.
  2. To collect the keys to a flat booked under the Fresh Start Housing Scheme, you and your co- applicants must renew the LSA annually and have a valid LSA when the flat is ready. If the LSA is not renewed before its expiry, your flat and HDB loan applications will be cancelled, and you forfeit 5% of the flat price.
  3. The lump sum Fresh Start Grant disbursement made before key collection and HDB housing loan may only be used to pay for a maximum of 85% of the flat price. If you book an uncompleted flat, you will have to make the 15% downpayment using your CPF and/ or cash savings ‒ 10% upon signing the Agreement for Lease and 5% upon key collection. If you book a completed flat, you will have to make the balance 15% payment using your own CPF and/ or cash savings.
  4. Each disbursement of the Fresh Start Grant is subject to your successful annual renewal of the LSA with HDB.
  5. If you buy a flat under the Fresh Start Housing Scheme, you will have enjoyed two housing subsidies and will no longer be eligible to buy a flat from HDB.

How to apply

If you meet the eligibility conditions and wish to apply for the Fresh Start Housing Scheme, you may apply online.

Example

Mr and Mrs Tan (aged 40), are living with their child (aged 12) in a 2-room public rental flat. Mr Tan is the sole breadwinner, earning $1,400. He pays a monthly rental of $240 in cash.

The following shows how they will benefit from the Fresh Start Housing Scheme:

For Illustration Purpose Only
A personalised assessment will be done for all Fresh Start applicants
Current Under Fresh Start
Flat lease Flat with 99-year lease 2-room Flexi flat with 60-year lease
Selling price[1] $145,000[2] $120,800

What they pay

(selling price plus resale levy[3])

 $185,000 $145,800
Upfront grant Not eligible $35,000

Housing budget needed

(cash/ CPF savings & housing loan)

 $185,000 $110,800

Assumed cash/ CPF Savings

(e.g. from sale of previous flat)

 $40,000 $40,000
Housing loan needed $145,000 $70,800
Monthly Mortgage Instalment (MI) needed (over loan tenure of 25 years)

$660

Family will not qualify for this loan quantum.

At 47% Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR), this exceeds the maximum 30% MSR allowed

$330

(24% MSR)

The family will be able to qualify for this loan quantum.
  • By CPF contribution
 $290
  • By cash
 $40
Help via Deferred Grant

$15,000

May be used to reduce loan tenure

[1] Flat prices and amounts payable are adjusted from 99-year lease. Prices exclude cost of Optional Component Scheme (OCS). The payment amounts are rounded to nearest $100 for illustration purposes only. Monthly mortgage instalments are rounded to the nearest $10.
[2] Based on the average price of 2-room Flexi flats in non-mature estates in 2021, inclusive of Type 1 (36 sqm) and Type 2 (46 sqm) flats, rounded to the nearest $5,000. The actual selling prices of 2-room Flexi flats may differ, depending on location, design features, individual flat attributes, and prevailing market conditions at the time of offer.
[3] An assumed amount for illustration purpose only. The actual amount payable varies according to the prevailing resale levy policy at the sale of the first subsidised flat.