HDB has made some changes to its housing loan and grant disbursement processes. The changes include sharing eligible grants among applicants and occupiers in a core nucleus or household, regardless of their citizenship status and disbursing it equally. The income assessment period has also been increased to 12 months. This could benefit commission-based workers, but may also create some uncertainty in the HDB resale market.HDB has announced several changes to their processes for assessing flat buyers’ incomes and eligibility for housing subsidies, effective May 9. These changes come with a new HDB flat eligibility letter that informs buyers upfront of their eligibility for a new or resale flat purchase, along with the amount of HDB housing loan and CPF housing grants available to them.

Under the updated disbursement guidelines, eligible housing grants will be shared among both the applicant and occupiers in a core nucleus, regardless of whether they are Singaporean citizens or permanent residents. This differs from the previous system, where the full grant amount would only be disbursed to the flat applicant, a Singaporean citizen.

As a result, in a core nucleus with a Singaporean citizen and a PR, each applicant will get half of the grant amount. This is also true for households where the applicant and core occupier are both Singaporean citizens, with both receiving an equal amount of the grant.

The primary applicant may use the portion of the grant disbursed to them to offset the purchase price of the flat, while the core occupier’s portion will remain in their CPF account. For example, should a household receive a total $50,000 grant, the main applicant can use $25,000 for the resale flat, and the essential occupier will have an additional $25,000 added to their ordinary account.

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In addition to the changes in grant disbursement, the income assessment period will be increased from three or six months to 12 months. HDB states that the increased period would provide a more consistent and clearer assessment of applicants’ incomes.

While the extended income assessment period may benefit commission-based workers, the change of grant disbursement guidelines could create some uncertainty in the HDB resale market. Lee Sze Teck, senior director of research at Huttons Asia, believes that this could cool down the enthusiasm generated by the doubling of housing grants which was announced in February 2023.