Lower down payment for selected BTO flats

Flat owners who downgrade to a new two or three-room flat in a non-mature estate now have the option to pay half the down payment for the new flat when they sign the Agreement for Lease, HDB announced today.

Those who are not taking up a loan or who are taking up an HDB loan need to pay only a five percent down payment upfront, instead of 10 percent.

Meanwhile, those who are taking up bank loans need to pay only a 10 percent down payment upfront, instead of the current 20 percent.

Additionally, they need only pay the other half together with the balance purchase price of the new flat when they collect the keys for the new flat.

In a statement, HDB said, This staggered downpayment arrangement aims to assist flat owners who wish to right-size to a new flat but have their funds tied up in the existing flat.

To be eligible for the Staggered Downpayment Scheme, buyers must have applied to buy a two or three-room flat in Build-To-Order (BTO) or Sale of Balance Flat (SBF) exercises from September 2014 onwards.

Additionally, the new flat must be in a non-mature estate and buyers must not have sold their existing flat when they apply for a new flat.

Flat buyers do not need to apply for the Staggered Downpayment Scheme as HDB will extend it to those who are eligible.

Image (by HDB): Buangkok Square in Hougang is one of the HDB projects eligible for the new Staggered Downpayment Scheme.

Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories emailmuneerah@propertyguru.com.sg

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