Data provided by HDB to MediaCorp Channel 8 showed that the percentage of resale HDB buyers who borrowed from the authority fell after the epidemic, but rose sharply to 65 per cent in the first half of the year.

For pre-purchase HDB flats, the proportion of buyers who borrowed from the authorities remained at a high level recently reaching 95 per cent.

Analysts say that although financial institutions' mortgage rates have come down slightly recently, they are still high compared to the pre-crisis levels in 2008, and more people are turning to HDB for loans.

Analysts also believe that HDB loans, which have a fixed interest rate of 2.6 per cent, are preferred due to the current higher house prices in comparison, which means that homeowners will have to make higher repayments.

OrangeEase's vice-president of industry research and consultancy, Sun Yan Ching, said: "The increase in interest rates may slow down and they may come down a little bit next year, but they will still remain above 2 per cent of the SGD overnight rate. I believe many nationals will still continue to apply for loans from HDB."

In terms of repayment of HDB loans, the number of early repayment transactions is on a downward trend, reaching 19,700 last year, down almost 16 per cent year-on-year. For the first half of this year, there were 10,000 cases.

Financial experts believe that many nationals are choosing to put their money into investment vehicles such as fixed deposits to earn higher returns. For those who intend to repay their mortgages, he suggests that they can use funds that are currently earning lower interest rates to do so, such as CPF Ordinary Account monies.

Financial planning expert Chan Hin Yiu said, "Because the interest rate on an ordinary account is 2.5 per cent, if you put your cash in a fixed deposit you can get 3.7 per cent, 3.8 per cent or even 4 per cent, so in principle you should take the money inside your CPF account to pay off your mortgage."

He also suggested that the public could fill up their CPF Ordinary Accounts when interest rates return to low levels.

HDB noted that overall, the rate of homeowners repaying their home loans early has remained stable over the years. On average, homeowners repaid about $21,300 over the past five years.

Experts have also advised that the public should ensure that they set aside three to six months' worth of funds for emergencies before repaying their home loans early, and that this would still be in line with their long-term investment goals.

As at the end of last year, 53 per cent of the 612,000 homeowners who borrowed from HDB had repaid their home loans.