HDB & Property Glossary

Plain-English definitions for the acronyms and terms you'll run into buying, financing or selling an HDB flat.

ABSD (Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty): An extra duty on top of BSD, based on citizenship/residency and how many properties you already own. 0% for most Citizen first-timers.

Basic Retirement Sum (BRS): A CPF savings threshold that may need to be set aside before further CPF can be used for property, especially for buyers closer to retirement age.
BSD (Buyer's Stamp Duty): A progressive, tiered tax on every property purchase, from 1% to 6% depending on the price.
BTO (Build-To-Order): A new flat bought directly from HDB, built after a sufficient number of applicants ballot for it. Typically a 3–5 year wait.

COV (Cash-Over-Valuation): The difference between an agreed resale price and HDB's official valuation, payable entirely in cash.
CPF-OA (CPF Ordinary Account): The CPF account most commonly used for housing, education and investment, as opposed to the Special and MediSave accounts.

EC (Executive Condominium): A hybrid of public and private housing — sold under HDB-style eligibility rules and subject to MOP, but privatises fully after about 10 years.
EHG (Enhanced CPF Housing Grant): A grant for lower/middle-income first-timer households, applicable to BTO, SBF and resale purchases.
EIP (Ethnic Integration Policy): Quotas capping the proportion of flats a given ethnic group can own in a block/neighbourhood, to maintain ethnic diversity.

Family Grant: A CPF housing grant for eligible families buying a resale flat, subject to an income ceiling.
First-Timer: A defined HDB status (not simply "never owned property") that determines eligibility for the largest grants.

HFE Letter (HDB Flat Eligibility): A letter confirming your eligibility scheme, indicative grants and loan estimate — required before BTO and resale applications.
HIP (Home Improvement Programme): An HDB-led upgrading programme for older flats, covering essential repairs and improvements.

Lease Buyback Scheme: Lets eligible elderly households sell part of their flat's remaining lease back to HDB while continuing to live in it, for retirement income.
LTV (Loan-to-Value): The maximum proportion of a property's price that can be financed by a loan, e.g. up to 75% for a first housing loan.

MOP (Minimum Occupation Period): The period (typically 5 years) you must live in a flat before selling, renting out the whole unit, or buying private property.
MSR (Mortgage Servicing Ratio): Caps your HDB/EC home loan instalment alone at 30% of gross monthly income.

OTP (Option to Purchase): A legal document granting a buyer the exclusive right to buy a flat within an agreed window, usually against an option fee.

Proximity Housing Grant (PHG): A grant (no income ceiling) for buying near or with parents/married children.

Resale Levy: An amount owed by second-time subsidised-flat buyers, deducted from sale proceeds of their current flat.

SBF (Sale of Balance Flats): Completed or near-completed HDB flats released for sale outside the main BTO cycle, with shorter waiting times.
Singles Grant: A CPF housing grant for eligible unmarried buyers aged 35 and above.
SPR Quota: A cap on the proportion of flats in a block/neighbourhood that can be owned by Permanent Resident households.

TDSR (Total Debt Servicing Ratio): Caps all monthly debt obligations, including the home loan, at 55% of gross monthly income.

Valuation Limit: The CPF usage cap generally equal to the purchase price or valuation, whichever is lower.
VERS (Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme): A scheme allowing residents of selected older estates to vote on early redevelopment of their blocks, as an alternative pathway to lease expiry.

Withdrawal Limit: A higher CPF usage ceiling than the Valuation Limit, accessible once certain retirement savings conditions are met.