Most of the HDB selling process is set by HDB: who may sell, when you may grant an Option to Purchase (OTP), how much deposit you can take and how the resale application runs. What you control is the price, how the flat is marketed and whether you use an agent. This guide follows HDB's own order and links each rule to its official page.

The short answer

Check that you have met your minimum occupation period (MOP), register an Intent to Sell, wait at least 7 days, then grant an OTP to a buyer with a valid HFE letter. Once the buyer exercises the OTP, both sides submit the resale application. HDB describes completion as about 8 weeks after it accepts the application. At completion, your outstanding loan is repaid and the CPF you used, with accrued interest, goes back to your CPF account. Sources: HDB Intent to Sell, HDB resale completion.

How to sell an HDB flat: the 10 steps at a glance

  1. Check your MOP and eligibility to sell
  2. Register an Intent to Sell
  3. Price the flat from registered sales
  4. List the flat and arrange viewings
  5. Grant the Option to Purchase
  6. Buyer's Request for Value and any COV
  7. Submit the resale application
  8. Endorse documents, pay fees and get approval
  9. Attend the resale completion appointment
  10. Receive the CPF refund and cash proceeds

Step 1: Check your MOP and eligibility to sell

You can only sell on the open market after meeting the minimum occupation period. HDB counts the MOP from the day your purchase was legally completed and excludes any period you did not physically live in the flat, such as when the whole flat was rented out with HDB's approval. You can check your MOP date on MyHDB Page. Source: HDB eligibility to sell.

How you bought the flatMOP
From HDB or on the resale market: Standard or unclassified flat5 years
From HDB or on the resale market: Plus or Prime flat10 years
DBSS flat from a developer5 years
Fresh Start Housing Scheme20 years

SERS replacement flats follow separate rules. The sale must also keep your block and neighbourhood within the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) quota and, for non-Malaysian SPR households, the SPR quota. Divorce, bankruptcy or a deceased owner can add documents or consents. If MOP timing is your main question, read selling your HDB after MOP.

Step 2: Register an Intent to Sell

Register the Intent to Sell on My Flat Dashboard with Singpass. It is free and valid for 12 months, and it must still be valid when you grant the OTP and when you submit the resale application. You must register it personally even if you appoint an agent; with co-owners, one owner registers for all. Source: HDB Intent to Sell.

After registering, you must wait at least 7 days before granting an OTP. HDB also shows your EIP and SPR quota position, any upgrading costs, recent nearby transacted prices and a prompt to compute your estimated net proceeds. Use the 7 days to settle your next home: HDB advises planning it before you put the flat on the market.

Step 3: Price the flat from registered sales

A seller cannot get HDB's valuation before listing. Only a buyer holding your OTP can request it, so the asking price has to come from comparable registered sales. Compare the same flat type, similar storey, remaining lease and floor area, and give more weight to recent sales.

Asking prices on portals are not evidence of what buyers pay. If you want a second view, an indicative valuation sets out the comparables behind a suggested range.

Step 4: List the flat and arrange viewings

With a valid Intent to Sell you can list on HDB's Resale Flat Listing service on the HDB Flat Portal, on property portals, or both. HDB fills in the address, flat type, floor area and remaining lease, and you add photos and a description. Only buyers with a valid HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter can get your contact details or book a viewing through that service. Source: HDB Intent to Sell and Resale Flat Listing.

Ask serious buyers whether they hold a valid HFE letter: HDB requires one before a buyer obtains an OTP and again when they submit the resale application. Our HFE letter guide explains what the buyer's letter covers. Buyers may ask for proof that you can sell; HDB lists a MyHDB Page printout showing the MOP has been met, a property tax statement, a town council statement or the title deed. Source: HDB managing the sale of your flat.

Step 5: Grant the Option to Purchase

Use HDB's prescribed OTP form, downloaded after you register the Intent to Sell. Print one copy only; each form has a unique serial number. The OTP is a legally binding contract, and any side agreement on the sale is not valid under the Housing and Development Act. Source: HDB Option to Purchase.

Payment from buyerWhenAmount
Option FeeWhen you grant the OTPBetween $1 and $1,000
Option Exercise FeeWhen the buyer exercises the OTPTogether with the Option Fee, not more than $5,000

Both fees are negotiated and form part of the resale price. The option period is 21 calendar days, including weekends and public holidays, and expires at 4pm on the 21st day. You cannot grant another OTP until it expires. If the buyer does not exercise it, you keep the Option Fee.

Agree three things before signing: the number of days to submit the resale application after exercise (Clause 12), any items left in the flat (the inventory list) and, if you need it, a temporary extension of stay of up to 3 months after completion. HDB says to secure the buyer's agreement to an extension before you grant the OTP. Source: HDB managing the sale of your flat.

Step 6: Buyer's Request for Value and any COV

A buyer using CPF or a housing loan must submit a Request for Value by the next working day after the Option Date. The buyer pays HDB's $120 processing fee, including GST; it is non-refundable. HDB decides whether a valuation is needed. If it is, you must let HDB's assigned valuer inspect the flat within 3 working days of HDB's notification. Source: HDB Request for Value terms.

The value applies only to that OTP and buyer. If the agreed price is above it, the difference is cash over valuation, which the buyer pays in cash. See the valuation and COV guide for worked examples.

Step 7: Submit the resale application

After the buyer exercises the OTP, you and the buyer each submit your portion of the resale application on My Flat Dashboard, or through your salespersons. Both portions must be in within the days agreed in Clause 12 and within 7 calendar days of each other; otherwise the application lapses and both sides restart and pay the fees again. Source: HDB application process.

  • Fee: each side pays a non-refundable resale application fee of $80 for a 3-room or bigger flat, or $40 for a 1- or 2-room flat, including GST.
  • Solicitor: choose HDB or a private solicitor for the conveyancing. If you have a bank housing loan, you must engage a private solicitor to redeem it.
  • Bank account: if HDB acts for you, give your bank account details within 3 calendar days of submitting.
  • Next purchase: state in the application if you are using the Enhanced Contra Facility to buy another resale flat with the sale proceeds.

HDB checks both parties' eligibility and documents and notifies you of its acceptance within 28 working days of receiving a complete application. Acceptance starts the roughly 8-week processing period.

Step 8: Endorse documents, pay fees and get approval

After acceptance, HDB inspects the flat for unauthorised renovation works, which you must rectify before completion. The documents to endorse are ready on My Flat Dashboard about 3 weeks after acceptance, and every seller endorses them individually. Pay the legal fees within HDB's notice period. HDB grants approval about 2 weeks after both sides have endorsed and paid. Source: HDB approval of application.

Step 9: Attend the resale completion appointment

Completion is about 8 weeks after HDB's acceptance. The date in the acceptance letter is the earliest possible date: HDB will not bring it forward, though both sides can agree a later date within a week of acceptance. Source: HDB resale completion.

  • Pay service and conservancy charges up to the completion date and property tax up to the end of the year.
  • Terminate GIRO arrangements for the flat and vacate it before the appointment, unless an approved extension of stay applies.
  • Bring the documents listed in the completion letter, including the original OTP and every key to the flat.

Step 10: Receive the CPF refund and cash proceeds

HDB computes your sale proceeds as the resale price less the outstanding housing loan, the CPF refund with accrued interest, the deposit you already received from the buyer (up to $5,000) and other amounts payable, such as a resale levy or upgrading costs. Source: HDB computation of sale proceeds.

The CPF refund is not a cost: it goes back into your own CPF account. CPF Board says refunds go to the Ordinary Account if you are below 55; from 55, they first top up your Retirement Account to the Full Retirement Sum. If the price is not enough to cover the full refund, you do not need to top up the shortfall in cash as long as the flat was sold at market value. CPF Board notes that any option money you received in cash is part of the selling price and must still be refunded to your CPF account before completion. Source: CPF Board, sales proceeds after selling your home.

HDB says cash proceeds are credited to your bank account by the next working day after completion, and it arranges the CPF refund within 7–14 working days of the completion appointment. If you appointed a private solicitor, the solicitor arranges the CPF refund. Source: HDB resale completion.

Selling and buying at the same time?

Ask Joe to map the OTP, completion date and your next purchase before you commit.

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What it costs to sell an HDB flat

CostAmountSource
HDB resale application fee$80 for 3-room and bigger, $40 for 1- and 2-room, including GST; non-refundableHDB
Legal fees if HDB acts for youBased on the resale price: 6.75 cents per $100 on the first $30,000, 5.40 cents on the next $30,000 and 4.50 cents on the remainder, including GST, rounded up to the dollarHDB
Discharge of an HDB mortgageFrom $23.95 (1-room) to $83.90 (executive flat), for example $59.95 for a 4-room flatHDB
Private solicitorQuoted by the firm; required if you are redeeming a bank loanHDB
Agent commission, if you appoint oneNot fixed: CEA publishes no fixed rates or guidelines on commission amounts. Our commission guide uses 2% plus GST, the figure Joe quotesCEA
Property tax and S&CCProperty tax to the end of the year; service and conservancy charges to the completion dateHDB
Resale levy, upgrading costs or upgrading levyOnly if they apply to you; shown when you register the Intent to SellHDB
Seller's Stamp DutyNot normally payable on an HDB resale after MOP: IRAS's holding period is 4 years for residential property bought on or after 4 July 2025, shorter than the 5-year MOPIRAS

The $120 Request for Value fee is paid by the buyer, not the seller.

Worked example: net proceeds from a $600,000 sale

Illustrative figures only, not a quote, a valuation or a client result. The example uses the same inputs as the worked example in our guide to selling after MOP: a 4-room flat sold for $600,000, a $150,000 outstanding loan (here an HDB loan), a $200,000 CPF refund and an agent paid 2% plus 9% GST. It adds one assumption: HDB acts as your solicitor. Your own loan and CPF figures are on MyHDB Page and the CPF website.

ItemAmount
Resale price$600,000
Less outstanding HDB loan−$150,000
Less CPF refund, principal plus accrued interest (back to your CPF account)−$200,000
Cash from the sale before costs$250,000
of which already received as the buyer's deposit$5,000
Less agent commission, 2% of $600,000−$12,000
Less 9% GST on commission−$1,080
Less HDB legal fee for the transfer−$280
Less discharge of the HDB mortgage, 4-room−$59.95
Less resale application fee−$80
Cash left after these costs$236,500.05

Legal fees depend on who acts for you. When HDB is your solicitor, its transfer fee follows the scale above: $20.25 on the first $30,000, $16.20 on the next $30,000 and $243.00 on the remaining $540,000, or $279.45 rounded up to $280. If you appoint a private law firm instead, which you must do if you are redeeming a bank loan, HDB's transfer fee does not apply and the firm quotes its own fee; HDB still charges the mortgage discharge fee if you have an HDB loan. The MOP guide budgets $2,500 for legal costs in that case. Using an all-in $2,500 in place of the $339.95 of HDB fees above leaves $234,340, the figure that guide shows.

HDB also lists a $32 title search fee and a $5.45 miscellaneous fee when it acts for you; these, property tax and service and conservancy charges are left out because they vary with your flat and timing. The $200,000 CPF refund is still your money, in your CPF account, for the next home.

Selling it yourself vs using an agent

HDB lets you do either. The process and HDB's fees are the same; the difference is who does the work and what it costs.

  • Selling on your own: you save any commission, but you set the price, market the flat, take viewings, negotiate, complete the OTP correctly and submit your portion of the application. CEA's guide to selling an HDB flat on your own walks through these steps and suggests engaging an agent if you are unfamiliar with the process.
  • Using an agent: HDB tells sellers to agree the terms of service, the commission, the period of representation, any exclusivity and advertising costs, and to check the salesperson on the CEA Public Register. CEA's Prescribed Estate Agency Agreement can record those terms. Source: HDB managing the sale of your flat.

Commission is negotiable and is paid to the agency after the transaction completes. Our property agent commission guide compares quotes line by line. If you want Joe to handle the sale, his HDB selling service sets out what is included.

How long it takes

Finding a buyer takes as long as the market and your price allow; there is no HDB deadline for it. The OTP then gives the buyer up to 21 days to exercise. After a complete application, HDB accepts within 28 working days and completion follows about 8 weeks after acceptance. For the stage-by-stage timing and a moving checklist, read how long it takes to sell an HDB flat.

Common questions about selling an HDB flat

Can I sell my HDB flat without an agent?

Yes. HDB says you may manage the sale on your own or engage a salesperson for a fee. Either way, you must register the Intent to Sell personally. Selling on your own means you handle pricing, viewings, the OTP and your portion of the resale application.

How much does it cost to sell an HDB flat?

HDB charges each side a non-refundable resale application fee of $80 for a 3-room or bigger flat, or $40 for a 1- or 2-room flat, including GST. Add legal fees, property tax to the end of the year, service and conservancy charges to completion and any agent commission you agree. Commission is not fixed in Singapore.

Do I have to return CPF when I sell my HDB flat?

Yes. The CPF savings used for the flat, with accrued interest, are refunded to your own CPF account, together with any housing grants and their interest. CPF Board says you do not need to top up a shortfall in cash if the flat is sold at market value. CPF Board notes that any option money you received in cash is part of the selling price and must still be refunded to your CPF account before completion.

When do I receive the money from selling my HDB flat?

At resale completion. HDB says cash proceeds are credited to your bank account by the next working day after completion, and it arranges the CPF refund within 7–14 working days of the appointment. If you appoint a private solicitor, the solicitor arranges the CPF refund.

Can I get an HDB valuation before listing my flat?

No. Only a buyer who has been granted an Option to Purchase can submit a Request for Value. Before listing, price the flat from registered resale transactions for similar flats nearby.

Sources

Every rule and fee above was checked on 30 October 2026 against these official pages; HDB's pages were read with their expandable sections opened. HDB's approval page still describes a 3-year Seller's Stamp Duty holding period, so the current 4-year period is taken from IRAS. Your eligibility, signed OTP and HDB's notices govern your own transaction; this guide is general information, not legal advice.