Written Answer by Ministry of National Development on whether HDB will consider a waiver from the two-time limit for HDB’s housing loan eligibility (HLE) where individuals have derived no direct monetary benefit from their ownership of the property

Apr 5, 2021

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim: To ask the Minister for National Development whether HDB will (i) consider a waiver from the two-time limit for HDB’s housing loan eligibility (HLE) where individuals have derived no direct monetary benefit from their ownership of the property and (ii) review its advisory protocol for HDB loan officers to fully articulate the consequences of including one’s name into HDB flat ownership following the death of a parent so as to preclude instances where names are included “for safety” but inadvertently result in the applicant losing one of their two opportunities to obtain a HLE loan.

Answer:

HDB provides up to two housing loans at the concessionary interest rate to eligible Singapore citizen households, subject to credit assessment and the prevailing mortgage loan criteria. This is generally sufficient to meet the needs of most flat buyers. 

As an HDB housing loan is intended to help flat buyers to finance their home purchase, all flat buyers are considered to have taken the housing loan once it is disbursed. This is regardless of whether they subsequently profit from the ownership of the flat. Nevertheless, for those who have already taken two housing loans from HDB, HDB exercises flexibility on a case-by-case basis to provide another HDB housing loan to those who have exhausted their financing options, and are in urgent need of housing.

Individuals who apply for an HDB concessionary loan to include their name as a co-owner in a flat to replace their parent following their parent’s demise are advised at various points that they will be considered as having taken one HDB concessionary loan. For instance, the HDB Loan Eligibility letter highlights that all loan applicants will be deemed as having taken an HDB housing loan once the loan is disbursed. This point is similarly included in the Terms and Conditions in the application for a change of flat ownership to include the child as a co-owner. As an added measure, HDB staff also highlight this implication to the applicants on the completion day of the change in flat ownership. 

Flat buyers who wish to preserve the option to take up an HDB housing loan in future may consider taking out a mortgage loan from the financial institutions regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore instead, subject to the financial institution’s requirements.