Selling your HDB and buying a condo: which comes first?

Most HDB upgraders want to sell their flat, buy a condo and move once. But the order matters. Sell first, and you may need to rent while waiting for your new home. Buy first, and you’ll need enough cash for the down payment and stamp duty, plus a way to cover the gap until your flat is sold.

We take two Tampines families through both options, step by step. Both are buying the same condo, but one still has an HDB loan to pay off, while the other has a fully paid-up flat and enough savings to buy first. The steps, timelines and cash needed are different for each family. Here’s how it plays out.

Both prices are typical (median) recorded prices from September 2025 to August 2026: 4-room resales in that block, and 3-bedroom resales at Treasure at Tampines.

The rules that decide the order

• You can buy only after the flat's minimum occupation period: five years of living in it, or ten for Plus and Prime flats. Both families are past it.
• Own two homes at once and you pay Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD): 20% of the condo's price for a Singapore citizen, in cash, within 14 days of buying. But your flat stops counting the moment your buyer exercises the option to buy it, even before the sale completes. Commit to the condo after that, and there is no ABSD. A married couple with at least one citizen, buying in joint names, gets it back if they sell the flat within six months; singles get it back only if they are citizens aged 55 or above, buying a cheaper home.
• A running HDB loan shrinks the condo loan: the bank lends up to 75% of the price if you have no other housing loan, but only 45% if you do, and then at least 25% must be paid in cash. Once your flat's sale is contracted and you sign an undertaking to HDB to complete it, the bank can treat the HDB loan as cleared and lend 75%.
• You can stay in the flat after it is sold. If you have already committed to a completed home when you file the resale application, and your buyer agrees, HDB lets you stay for up to three months after the sale completes. The request goes in with the application and cannot be added later. A new launch does not count: it is not ready to move into.

What selling the flat leaves each family

When a flat is sold, the money is paid out in a fixed order: the HDB loan is repaid, the CPF used on the flat goes back into the owners' CPF accounts with the interest it would have earned, the agent and the lawyer are paid, and whatever is left comes to the owners in cash. The returned CPF is theirs to use again on the condo.

How Family A sells and buys back to back, step by step

Family A still owes $240,000 on their HDB loan and has $150,000 in cash. Selling first need not mean renting. By timing the two deals, they commit to the condo after the flat is sold on paper, pay no ABSD, borrow 75%, and stay in the flat until the condo is theirs.

1. 1Step 1: Check the numbers. They get the bank's in-principle approval, its written estimate of how much it will lend. The bank will lend 75% once the flat's sale is contracted and they sign an undertaking to HDB to complete it.
2. 2Step 2: Update HDB. They register an Intent to Sell on the HDB Flat Portal. HDB makes them wait seven days before they can offer the flat to a buyer.
3. 3Step 3: Accept buyer's Offer. They grant the buyer an Option to Purchase at $720,000: the right to buy at that price, which the buyer has 21 days to take up. Once the buyer does, the flat no longer counts as theirs for ABSD.
4. 4Step 4: Commit to the condo. Now they take up the option on Treasure at Tampines: 5% of the price, $91,000, in cash, and no ABSD. The $60,600 Buyer's Stamp Duty is due within 14 days, in cash. Their lawyer sets the condo's completion date after the flat's.
5. 5Step 5: Apply to HDB, with the extension of stay. Both sides submit the resale application, each marking the extension request, which the buyer agreed to when the price was settled. They qualify because they have already committed to a completed home. HDB can take up to 28 working days to accept, and the sale completes about eight weeks after that.
6. 6Step 6: Complete the flat's sale, and stay on. The HDB loan is repaid, about $235,000 goes back into their CPF, and about $226,000 comes to them in cash. They remain in the flat for up to three months, on terms agreed privately with the buyer.
7. 7Step 7: Complete the condo and move once. They pay the rest of the down payment and the legal fees, about $367,000: $295,000 from CPF, the refund and their own savings, and about $72,000 in cash. The bank lends $1,365,000.
8. 8Step 8: Settle in. Family A has about $153,000 in cash left, and the loan costs about $6,600 a month over 29 years at 4%, the rate banks test with.

The tight spot is the weeks before the flat's money arrives: about $152,000 in cash is due, just above the $150,000 they have, so they need a few thousand dollars from a short loan or family for those weeks. The route also depends on two deals lining up. If the buyer will not agree to the extension, or the condo's seller wants an earlier completion, a short bridging loan or a few weeks' rental covers the gap. Reva's check assumes the cautious case: six months of renting, $25,800 in all.

Family A's three routes, weighed

Back to back

• For: no ABSD, a 75% loan, no rent and one move. They end with the most cash, about $153,000.
• Against: two deals must line up, and the buyer must agree to the stay. About $152,000 in cash is due before the flat's money arrives, a little more than they have.

Sell, rent, then buy

• For: no ABSD and a 75% loan, and nothing depends on timing. They choose the condo with the money already in hand.
• Against: about six months of rent, two moves and storage, $25,800. They end with the least cash, about $127,000.

Buy first

• For: the condo is secured first, with one move and no timing risk.
• Against: out of reach. With the HDB loan still running, the bank lends only 45% and wants 25% in cash, and the $364,000 ABSD is due in cash, so they would need about $1.37 million against $150,000 in the bank. Even the largest bridging loan the sale could support would leave them about $995,000 short. Their income is not the problem: it would support a home of up to about $2.28 million. What decides it is cash, and the order.

How Family B buys first, step by step

Family B paid off their HDB loan in 2025 and has $560,000 in cash. They have found the condo they want before they have a buyer for the flat, and they do not want to lose it, so they buy first. With no housing loan running, the bank lends 75%, but they must pay the 20% ABSD upfront and take a bridging loan, a short-term loan that covers part of the down payment until the flat's money arrives. As a married couple buying in joint names, they get the ABSD back if the flat sells within six months.

1. 1Step 1: Check the numbers. Buying first will take about $783,000 in cash, against $560,000 in the bank, so they need a bridging loan of about $223,000 to cover the gap. They get the bank's approval for both loans before they commit.
2. 2Step 2: Buy the condo. They commit to Treasure at Tampines and, within 14 days, pay the Buyer's Stamp Duty and the $364,000 ABSD. With the minimum cash payment and the legal fees, that takes every dollar of their cash. Another $100,000 comes from their CPF.
3. 3Step 3: Draw the bridging loan. The bank lends about $223,000 towards the down payment, for up to six months. At 5.5% a year, that costs about $6,100 in interest. Terms differ between banks, so they get theirs in writing.
4. 4Step 4: Put the flat on the market at once. They register an Intent to Sell, wait seven days, grant a buyer the Option to Purchase at $720,000 and submit the resale application.
5. 5Step 5: Watch the deadline. The flat's sale must complete within six months of buying the condo. Miss it, and the $364,000 is gone.
6. 6Step 6: Move into the condo. It usually completes two to three months after they commit, and they move straight in.
7. 7Step 7: Repay the bridging loan. The flat's sale brings about $363,000 in cash, which clears the bridging loan, and about $339,000 goes back into their CPF.
8. 8Step 8: Claim the ABSD back from IRAS within six months of the sale. With the refund, they have about $494,000 in cash again.

What the choice costs Family B

Buying first costs about $6,100 in interest. For that, they secure the condo before they have a buyer, and sell at their own pace within the six months. The price is $364,000 out of their hands until the flat sells, and lost if it sells late.

What this means for you

If your HDB loan is still running and your savings are modest, like Family A's, sell first. Timed well, that need not mean renting: have your buyer exercise the option before you commit to the condo, ask HDB for the extension of stay, and line up the two completions. You pay no ABSD, borrow 75%, and move once.

If your flat is paid off and you can pay the ABSD in cash, like Family B, you can also buy first: when you have found the condo before you have a buyer, or do not want to depend on two deals lining up. It costs some interest, and it puts $364,000 at risk if the flat sells late.

If your next home is a new launch, back to back is out: HDB's Temporary Extension of Stay needs a completed home you can move into, and a new launch will not get its Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) right after your sale. If you can pay the ABSD upfront, you can buy the condo first, live in your flat until the condo is built, and sell the flat within six months of the condo's TOP to get the ABSD back; that refund is for married couples with at least one Singapore Citizen, buying in joint names. If you cannot, sell first and rent until the condo is built.

If no owner in your household is a citizen, only Permanent Residents, there is no ABSD refund, and HDB requires you to sell the flat within six months of buying the condo, built or not.

Your own numbers will differ: what you still owe on the flat, how much CPF you have used, your cash, and the condo you have in mind. Reva's sell-and-buy check works out both orders for your household, side by side, including the bridging loan and the ABSD deadline, before you sign anything.

How we did it

Both families are examples, not real households, run through Reva's sell-and-buy check on 11 October 2026 under that day's rules. Prices are typical (median) HDB and URA records. Assumptions: six months between homes on the sell-first path at $3,500 a month in rent, with two moves and storage; an agent's commission of 2% plus GST; a bridging loan at 5.5% a year for six months; back to back, the same sums with no time between homes.

Sources: HDB (Intent to Sell, resale procedure, Temporary Extension of Stay); IRAS (ABSD, its remission, the single seniors' concession); CPF Board (using CPF for stamp duty); MAS Notice 632 (loan limits); resale records. Reva gives information, not advice, and is not a licensed estate agent or financial adviser.