One of the milestones you go through in life is purchasing your first home. 80% of Singaporeans start this journey by buying an HDB. HDB is already highly subsidized in Singapore, and many people are eligible for further subsidies in the form of CPF Housing Grants.
The problem with CPF Housing Grants, like the HDB scheme itself, is too complicated. The government has also made many changes over the years. Keeping up-to-date information about CPF Housing Grants becomes a daunting task.
In the recent Budget 2018, more changes were made to CPF Housing Grants to encourage people to live near their parents (you can refer this article for the CPF Housing Grant changes made during Budget 2017). More options sometimes mean confusion. In this article, I will share with you a good online resource that you can easily find which one you are eligible.
In a nutshell, the CPF housing grant is only applicable for:
- First-timer Singapore Citizen or Singapore Permanent Resident households and Singapore Citizen singles aged 35 and above for resale flats
- Resale flats that have a minimum of 30 years of lease left
- First-timer Singapore Citizen/Singapore Citizen/Permanent Resident household or second-timer SC-SC or SC-PR household (if upgrading from 2-room flexi to 3-room flat in a non-mature estate) or SC singles aged 35 and above.
In Budget 2018, the biggest update was reserved for the singles as it was announced that this group will now receive a Proximity Housing Grant (PHG) of $10,000 if they buy a resale flat near their parents.
Here are the other changes:
- Proximity range from 2km to 4km
- Singles who buy a resale flat to live with parents will receive enhanced PHG of $15,000
- Families buying a resale flat will receive enhanced PHG of $30,000
CPF housing grants can really be a huge relief with up to $120,000 in housing grants available. But if you ever tried to find out your eligibility through HDB website, you will be swamped with a whole lot of information.
Recently, I found this CPF housing grant online quiz from Stacked Homes. You can find out your eligibility in under two minutes through an interactive questionnaire such as below.
You will get a result like this.
If you haven’t heard Stacked Homes, they are an online portal for buyers and sellers to connect directly and save commissions. Buyers can even view the homes through 3D virtual tours and they provide simple and easy guides to handhold users through the entire experience.
If you are interested in buying a house, you can also read this article I published, “5 Questions you must ask yourself to Buy or Rent a House“.