SINGAPORE – Owners in Singapore are tapping their homes and other schemes to add to their retirement kitties.
There is a steady increase in the number of home owners, for instance, who are selling part of the lease of their flats back to the Housing Board, with most of them getting between $100,000 and $300,000 in proceeds.
As at Dec 31, 2024, 13,734 households have taken up the Lease Buyback Scheme, an HDB spokesperson said in response to queries from The Straits Times.
This is up from 12,656 families as at June 30, 2024, a jump of 8.5 per cent in the space of six months.
Professor Sing Tien Foo, provost’s chair professor of real estate at the NUS Business School, said interest will pick up further over time, as more will meet the scheme’s age requirement of 65 and older by 2030.
The proportion of these citizens will grow to 24.1 per cent by then, up from 19.9 per cent in June 2024.
The Lease Buyback Scheme was introduced in 2009 and allows those aged 65 and above to sell part of the remaining lease on their flats to HDB. These seniors can continue to live in their flats.
The HDB spokesperson added that about 52 per cent – or 7,182 – of the households that took up the scheme live in three-room or smaller flats, about 34 per cent, or 4,623, live in four-room flats, and the remaining 14 per cent, or 1,929, live in five-room and bigger flats.
About nine in 10 households received between $100,000 and $300,000 in proceeds, the spokesperson said.
The money goes into their Retirement Account (RA) to increase their monthly payouts under the CPF Life annuity scheme, and any balance proceeds are returned to the home owners in cash.
The flat owners qualify for a cash bonus as long as there is a top-up to their RA. Those who stay in three-room or smaller flats can get a maximum cash bonus of $30,000 if they make a top-up of $60,000 or more; if they top up less than $60,000, they will get a $1 bonus for every $2 they top up.
Those in four-room flats can get up to $15,000, and their bonus will be pro-rated for top-ups less than $60,000 in a ratio of $1 for every $4 of RA top-up.
For flat owners in five-room or larger flats, the maximum bonus they can receive is $7,500 for topping up their RA by $60,000 or more. They receive $1 bonus for every $8 in top-up for amounts less than $60,000.
Right-sizing option for the cash-poor, asset-rich HDB flat owners
Prof Sing said cash-poor and asset-rich families can consider right-sizing by selling their homes for a three-room or smaller HDB flat.
HDB flat owners aged 55 and above qualify for a maximum cash bonus of $30,000 under the Silver Housing Bonus scheme when they make a cash top-up of up to $60,000 to their RA with the proceeds from right-sizing.
From Dec 1, 2025, the maximum bonus amount goes up to $40,000 if they right-size to two-room or smaller flats, including community care apartments. The top-up does not need to be made in cash and can come from the housing refunds to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts.
Home owners who used their CPF monies for their homes have to put the amount back into their CPF accounts when they sell their homes.
HDB said that as at Dec 31, 2024, a total of 2,535 HDB households have taken up the Silver Housing Bonus since it was introduced in February 2013.
Most of the other families would have done their retirement planning and hence may not even need to monetise their homes to unlock a stream of extra cash for their retirement, Prof Sing added.
For those who need to do so, they can rent out rooms or the entire flat if they want to supplement their retirement needs, he said, adding that some seniors could move in with their children.
The HDB spokesperson said that in 2024, for seniors aged 55 and above, about 19,750 applications were made to rent out flats, while around 41,500 applications were made to rent out bedrooms.
As at Dec 31, 2024, there are 391,600 households whose breadwinner is 65 and above. They live in properties from private non-landed to landed, as well as HDB flats.
Private property home owners in their 60s are not eligible for the Lease Buyback Scheme.
Private property home owners have options too
DBS Bank has a home equity income loan for fully paid private properties that will give those owners who wish to age in place an option to unlock their housing wealth and receive higher retirement payouts under CPF Life, the CPF Board stated on its website.
Ms Chelsea Ling, head of home financing solutions at DBS, said that on average, approved loan amounts exceed $350,000, but the final amount that is eventually borrowed will depend on how much the home owner needs to top up the RA to the Enhanced Retirement Sum for that year.
Borrowers pay an interest rate that is fixed at 3.88 per cent a year for the duration of the loan, which can be up to 30 years, or until the youngest borrower is 95 years old.
On maturity, the property will be sold, and the proceeds will go towards repaying the loan, Ms Ling added.
An Living, a social enterprise, introduced another home monetisation scheme for freehold or 999-year leasehold homes in June 2022, but it did not take off here.
Mr Jonathan Teoh, its founder, has now taken the idea to Malaysia, and intends to bring it back to Singapore after he draws some lessons from the Malaysian market.
He said his plan is to extend the option to home owners whose private properties are worth $1.5 million or more.
These home owners are typically cash-strapped, with most of their wealth locked up in their properties. They can use the value of their homes to unlock funds for insurance coverage, medical and retirement needs, as well as for spare cash for lifestyle-related spending, Mr Teoh added.
“These products always attract singles or couples without kids not because of the lack of bequest motives, but because the funds are all that they will have.”
They have no one else to rely on, he added.
There are other options.
Mr Alfred Chia, chief executive of financial advisory firm SingCapital, said private property owners could consider right-sizing to a smaller unit.
He said he has advised clients who are in their 70s to sell their landed properties and get either a condominium unit or an HDB flat.
However, many of them are disinclined to sell as their properties hold sentimental value for them, while others want to leave the house to their children, he added.
The Government has similar incentives under the Silver Housing Bonus scheme for those aged 55 and above who right-size from lower-value private properties to three-room or smaller HDB flats.
Until Nov 30, 2025, owners whose private property has an annual value of up to $21,000 get a maximum of $30,000 cash bonus. From Dec 1, 2025, these owners also get a cash bonus of up to $40,000 if they right-size to two-room or smaller flats, including community care apartments.
From Dec 1, 2025, the Silver Housing Bonus scheme will also be extended to more private property owners. Owners whose properties have an annual value of up to $31,000 will be entitled to a cash bonus of up to $10,000 if they move to a three-room flat, and a maximum bonus of $20,000 if they move to a two-room or smaller flat, which includes community care apartments.
Mr Chia noted that private property owners may also consider renting out their rooms.
This way, they can earn some extra income, while the tenants can take care of and look out for them, he said.
That said, there are also retirees who have opted to upgrade to larger unit homes, said Dr Lee Nai Jia, head of real estate data intelligence, digital and software solutions at PropertyGuru.
He said there is strong demand for homes that can accommodate multi-generational living, particularly in the outside central region and the rest of central region.
Searches for three- and four-bedroom non-landed properties increased in the first three months of 2025, he added.
While there was a decline in interest in April, the number of searches remained 11.3 per cent higher year on year, Dr Lee said, adding that the demand is being fuelled by the children’s desire to be closer to their ageing parents.
Retirees may also prefer to move in with family members for easier caretaking as they get older or to take care of their grandchildren, he said.
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