Expected increase in resale flat supply could lead to earlier review of mandatory wait-out period for private homeowners: Chee Hong Tat

Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat said that private homeowners may not have to wait until 2027 for a review of the mandatory wait-out period due to an expected increase in the supply of flats.

Increased supply

Chee was speaking to The Straits Times at a community event in Toa Payoh on Jun. 21, where he discussed the possibility of a review of the 15-month mandatory wait-out period that private homeowners must undergo after selling their homes before they may buy a non-subsidised resale HDB flat.

Seniors aged 55 and above moving into four-room or smaller flats are exempt. 

The wait-out period was introduced in September 2022 and was intended as a temporary measure in response to rising resale flat prices at the time.

Chee said that he expected the supply of resale flats to increase from 2026 as HDB is expected to launch more than 50,000 flats between 2025 and 2027, and the Minimum Occupancy Periods of pandemic-era flats are beginning to expire, allowing those flats to enter the market.

Chee said he expected these factors to moderate resale prices, allowing the government to consider the status of the wait-out period and its potential for partial or full removal.

Chee said that private property owners may not need to wait till 2027 or 2028 for a review of the wait-out period.

The right time

The wait-out period was due to be reconsidered at “the right time” when the resale market stabilised and resale flat supply increased.

Chee said the government thought “the turn” would happen in 2025 and that the right conditions for review would occur in the next few years.

But he added that there was no specific threshold that the government had in mind and that the timing for review was “really a judgment call”.

He said that there were “early signs” of price stabilisation occurring for resale flats but that HDB would continue to monitor the situation.

Removal or reduction

Chee also said he preferred removing the wait-out period to reducing it, saying that in his view, if it were possible to remove the wait-out period, the government “should consider that”.

He added that the objective of the wait-out period remains valid despite the inconvenience experienced by private homeowners.

Chee said that the government wanted to ensure that resale flat prices “do not rise too quickly” and become unaffordable for buyers.

HDB’s Resale Price Index, which tracks the price movements of resale HDB flats, showed a slowing down in the RPI’s increase at 1.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2025, down from 2.6 per cent the previous quarter. It also marks the lowest growth in past five quarters.

Top image via y Jiachen Lin/Unsplash