Appeals for Waiver of 15-month Wait-out Period by Divorced Private Residential Property Owners

Mr Don Wee asked the Minister for National Development (a) how many appeals have been made for the waiver of the 15-month wait-out period where the private property owners had commenced divorce proceedings prior to the announcement of the wait-out period in September 2022, with the intention to purchase a resale HDB flat thereafter; (b) how many of these appeals have been successful; and (c) what are the guidelines used by the Ministry to consider these appeals.

As part of the property cooling measures introduced on 30 September 2022, private residential property owners (PPOs) and ex-PPOs are required to serve a wait-out period of 15 months after the disposal of their private properties before they are eligible to buy a non-subsidised resale flat. This is a temporary measure to help moderate demand for resale flats.

Between 30 September and 30 November 2022, HDB received about 120 appeals from PPOs/ex-PPOs who had commenced divorce proceedings prior to the introduction of the 15-month wait-out period, with the intention to purchase a resale HDB flat after the divorce. Thus far, 64 appeals have been processed, and about 52% of them were successful.

HDB is progressively reviewing the remaining appeals received. HDB evaluates each appeal carefully on a case-by-case basis based on the individual merits, such as whether the appellants have made some form of commitment to the purchase of a resale flat prior to 30 September 2022, or whether the appellants are in financial difficulties and would not have viable housing options.