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.

Mr Desmond Lee: 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.