Salaries of foreign spouses factored into total household income for eligibility of HDB grants

There are non-citizen housing schemes, and HDB "exercises flexibility" in computing the loan amounts.

Tanya Ong | November 20, 2018, 11:43 AM

On Nov. 19, Member of Parliament (MP) Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for National Development if the income of a foreign spouse married to a Singaporean is taken into consideration by HDB in deciding the housing grant or loan that the applicant would be eligible for.

This is a pertinent question, as more than one in three citizen marriages last year involved "transnational couples", according to the government's Population in Brief 2018.

In other words, 35 per cent of the marriages involved a Singaporean citizen and a permanent resident or a foreigner.

Housing grants dependent on household income

Minister Lawrence Wong replied that housing grants are "means-tested" and "pegged to the monthly household income of all working members of the household".

This means that the income of a foreign spouse is taken into consideration.

For instance, the grant quantum for the Additional CPF Housing Grant and Special CPF Housing Grant is tiered based on monthly household income.

Housing loans dependent on flat owners' income

Regarding HDB loans, Wong stated that HDB determines the loan quantum based on the flat owners' income. This is because they will be the ones servicing the mortgage.

However, Wong added that "HDB exercises flexibility and considers appeals to use the occupiers’ income for the computation of the loan amount on a case-by-case basis."

HDB non-citizen schemes

HDB has non-citizen housing schemes for Built-To-Order (BTO) and resale flats.

BTO flats

For BTO and sale-of-balance flats, foreign spouses married to a Singaporean are only eligible for 2-Room Flexi flats in non-mature estates.

To be eligible for a grant, both citizen and spouse have to be employed at the time they submitted the flat application, and have been continuously employed for the 12 months prior to the flat application.

Resale

For resale flats, there are no restrictions on the size of flat that the couple can buy.

However, there will be some conditions that have to be met before the couple is eligible for grants.

This includes being a first-time applicants, and not having their average gross monthly household income exceed S$12,000.

 

Top photo composite image adapted via Gov.sg.