Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a major change in the classification of HDB flats on Sunday, 20 August.

The mature/non-mature labels will no longer be used for future HDB Build-To-Order (BTO) projects.

From the second half of 2024, public housing will be categorised as Standard, Enhanced and Premium.

Owners with Enhanced and Premium HDB flats in hand who wish to sell their flats will have to wait for 10 years instead of the usual 5 years and will also be subject to stricter resale conditions.

Premium public housing near the city centre has the highest subsidy, and the first owner must return part of the subsidy when he sells his flat. Such HDB flats can only be sold to buyers who are eligible for HDB (BTO), including the income ceiling, which is currently set at S$14,000 (US$10,000) for a family and S$7,000 for a single person.

The new enhanced HDB flats can also be found outside of the central area and feature a preferred location within a certain area, such as close to the MRT or city centre. In order to keep HDB prices low, these HDB flats will receive more subsidies, and buyers will face a recovery of these subsidies when they sell.

The exact amount and other details are yet to be announced.

Standard HDB flats will have the same resale terms as most HDB flats today - a five-year MOP with no income ceiling for buyers at resale.

Christine Sun, senior vice-president of OrangeTee and Tie, said the data showed that more and more young Singaporeans were selling their HDB flats soon after the MOP.

In 2014, 743 flats were sold within two or seven years of MOP, while by 2022, the number surged to 6,189 flats. She noted that more new MOP HDB flats are being sold for at least a million.

Look beyond that, it's clear that these people are getting very large benefits from the sale.

In 2022, 63 MOP HDB flats are seven years old and below, accounting for 17.1 per cent of all MOP transactions that year. By comparison, no public housing in that age group was sold in 2014 for at least a million.