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Silver Housing Bonus to be extended to more private home owners who right-size to HDB flats​

From Dec 1, seniors need not top up their RA up to $60,000 to qualify for SHB if their CPF housing refunds exceed $60,000.ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

Grace Leong
Mar 05, 2025

SINGAPORE – Seniors who right-size from a private residential property with an annual value of between $21,000 and $31,000 to a three-room or smaller Housing Board flat will be eligible for the Silver Housing Bonus (SHB) from Dec 1, 2025.

Currently, only seniors aged 55 and above who own an HDB flat or private home with an annual value of up to $21,000 are eligible for SHB of up to $30,000 when they right-size to a three-room or smaller flat.

This is on the condition that they make a cash top-up – capped at $60,000 per household – to their CPF Retirement Account (RA) with their net sale proceeds and when they join CPF Life.

Under the current scheme, even after their RA has been topped up to the Full Retirement Sum (FRS), seniors who want to qualify for SHB have to make a cash top-up of up to $60,000 in their RA.

But from Dec 1, 2025, there may be no need for them to make this cash top-up to qualify for the SHB if their CPF housing refunds are more than $60,000.

“This will make it easier for seniors to benefit from the Silver Housing Bonus,” Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said in Parliament on May 5 during the debate on his ministry’s budget.

About $61 million in SHB has been disbursed to 2,535 HDB households as at Dec 31, 2024. There were no senior private property owners who right-sized to a three-room or smaller HDB flat and received the SHB, MND said in response to queries from The Straits Times.

CPF housing refunds refer to the CPF principal withdrawn to buy a property plus accrued interest that needs to be refunded back to CPF after the property’s sale. If the homebuyer has pledged the property to make up their retirement sum, they will also need to refund the pledged amount.

For those aged 55 and above, the housing refunds will be used to top up the RA to the FRS, and the balance will remain in the Ordinary Account (OA).

Further, if their net proceeds from the sale of either their HDB flat or private property are more than $60,000, they must commit the full $60,000 to their RA from Dec 1, 2025. But if their net sale proceeds are less than $60,000 – for example, $50,000 – then they have to commit the entire $50,000 to the RA.

In this case, seniors who own an HDB flat or private residential property of up to $21,000 will qualify for SHB of $25,000, based on $1 bonus for every $2 committed towards their CPF RA.

Those who own a private residential property with AV between $21,000 to $31,000 will qualify for SHB of $8,333, based on $1 bonus for every $6 committed towards their RA.

In addition, to support seniors living in lower-value private residential properties, the Government will extend the SHB to seniors who right-size from their private home with an annual value of between $21,000 and $31,000.


With this extension, over 15,000 more seniors can qualify for SHB. This will now potentially cover three in four residential properties, including both HDB flats and private residential properties.

Including a $10,000 additional cash bonus if they right-size to a two-room flat or smaller, including Community Care Apartments (CCA), seniors who own a private property with annual value of between $21,000 and $31,000 will get up to $20,000.

In comparison, seniors who own an HDB flat or private property with an annual value of $21,000 or less will get up to $40,000 if they right-size to a two-room flat or smaller. Those who right-size to a three-room flat will get up to $30,000.

In cases where the seniors used cash to pay for their home and do not have any CPF housing refunds, they have to make a cash top-up of up to $60,000 from their net sale proceeds to their RA to qualify for SHB of up to $30,000.

If their net sale proceeds are less than $60,000, then their SHB is pro-rated based on the annual value of their property.

Mr Lee also responded to questions from Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar GRC), Ms Denise Phua (Jalan Besar GRC) and Mr Henry Kwek (Kebun Baru), who asked about plans to help seniors in private residential properties age in place.

Mr Lee said the scope of the Estate Upgrading Programme (EUP) has been expanded to include senior-friendly enhancements such as barrier-free ramps and covered drains for more walkways.

He added that the Government will expand the Enhancement for Active Seniors (Ease) programme to include households with seniors living in private residential properties.

The programme allows eligible households to install elder-friendly fittings including grab bars in their homes at a subsidised cost. The subsidy will cover 75 per cent of the cost of selected senior-friendly fittings, up to a cap of $1,200.

This three-year programme, targeted to be launched by the first quarter of 2026, is expected to benefit more than 70,000 seniors living in private homes.

These homes refer to all Singapore citizen households in private properties with at least one senior aged 65 years or above, or between 60 and 64 years old and require assistance with at least one or more daily self-care activities, including washing or bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting and mobility.

They will be eligible to engage a contractor from a pre-qualified list to supply and install a selected range of senior-friendly fittings to be made available. Further details on this and the application process will be announced later.

The Government is currently studying the list of senior-friendly fittings to be offered and will need some time to call and evaluate the tenders before appointing contractors to carry out installation in eligible private properties.

The cost of the enhancements largely depends on the number and type of senior-friendly fittings installed, which will vary with households, MND said.

MND said it will also need to review residents’ feedback and assess the take-up rate before deciding on the next steps.

 

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HDB resale prices will stabilise as more flats enter market and cooling measures take effect: MND​

High resale prices have caused concern among Singaporeans over the affordability of public housing.ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

Wong Yang
Mar 05, 2025

SINGAPORE - The Housing Board resale market will start to stabilise as a greater supply of such flats enter the market over the next few years and existing cooling measures continue to take effect, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said.

Citing a supply-demand imbalance as the reason for high resale flat prices, Mr Lee pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic had severely impacted construction of new flats and also caused demand to spike because people were concerned about housing delays.

High resale prices have caused concern among Singaporeans over the affordability of public housing. These concerns were raised by Mr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong GRC) and Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC) during the debate on the Ministry of National Development’s budget on March 5.

Addressing these anxieties in Parliament, Mr Lee said there will be a significant jump in the number of new flats reaching their minimum occupation period (MOP), from 8,000 in 2025 to 13,500 in 2026.

The number of flats meeting their MOP will steadily increase before hitting 19,500 in 2028, added Mr Lee.

Thus, “the supply tightness should start to recover next year”, he said.

Taken together with cooling measures to curb prices, which will also continue to “work their way through the market”, the HDB resale market will stabilise, he said.

The MOP is the minimum amount of time that owners of new flats must live in their unit before they can sell it on the open market.

Prices of HDB resale flats grew 9.7 per cent in 2024. A report released by property firm OrangeTee Group on Feb 11 also predicted that prices would have risen for 23 consecutive quarters by the end of 2025.

 

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Two new MRT lines under study; Jurong Region Line extension in West Coast to proceed​

In the nearer term, Mr Chee Hong Tat said new MRT stations or lines will be added here every year from now until the end of the decade.ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO

Kok Yufeng
Mar 05, 2025

SINGAPORE - A potential new rail line that could serve areas in Singapore’s west and north-west, such as Tengah, Bukit Batok, Queensway and Bukit Merah, is being studied for its feasibility.

Tentatively called the Tengah Line, it is one of two possible MRT lines that the Government is looking to build as part of the next bound of its rail expansion.

Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat laid out these plans during the debate on his ministry’s budget on March 5.

The other potential rail line, tentatively called the Seletar Line, has been under study since 2019.

Running from Woodlands to the future Greater Southern Waterfront, it could serve areas such as Sembawang, Sengkang West, Serangoon North, Whampoa and Kallang. “I hope it could also go through some parts of Toa Payoh,” Mr Chee added.

He said early assessments by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) are that the proposed Tengah and Seletar lines could meet at the Greater Southern Waterfront. Feasibility studies will thus look into the possibility of joining the two lines into a single line.

If both lines are found to be workable, up to 10 MRT lines could be crisscrossing the island in the 2040s, up from six today.

Meanwhile, a proposal to extend the Jurong Region Line (JRL) southwards to join the Circle Line (CCL) has been given the go-ahead, a decade after it was mooted, Mr Chee announced.

Called the West Coast Extension, the rail project will improve connectivity in the west by lengthening the JRL so that its Pandan Reservoir station connects with the Cross Island Line (CRL) at the future West Coast station by the late 2030s.

The plan is to extend the JRL further from West Coast station to connect with the CCL at Kent Ridge station by the early 2040s.

Besides supporting future developments, Mr Chee said the West Coast Extension will shave up to 20 minutes off journeys from western Singapore to the city centre.

It will also add to overall resilience of the rail network by providing an alternative travel option.

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Mooted in 2015, the initial plan for the extension was to possibly extend the JRL to join the CCL at Haw Par Villa station.

Discussions about the need for such an extension were reignited after a massive East-West Line breakdown in September 2024 crippled train services between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations for six days.

On the proposed Tengah and Seletar lines, Mr Chee said they can be expected to be completed in phases from the 2040s, if studies confirm that they are feasible.

“It will benefit more than 400,000 households, who will be within a 10-minute walk from this new combined line,” he added.

Plans for the Seletar Line were announced in 2019 as part of the Land Transport Master Plan 2040. LTA had said then that the potential new line, if built, could cut commutes by up to 40 minutes and relieve increasing travel demand in the north-east.

The Greater Southern Waterfront, where the Seletar and Tengah lines could pass through, is a 2,000ha area of land that has been earmarked for future redevelopment.

Twice the size of Punggol, it stretches from Marina East to Pasir Panjang.

The first Build-to-Order project there, which will yield around 6,000 Housing Board flats on the site of the former Keppel Club, is expected to be launched later in 2025.

In the nearer term, Mr Chee said new MRT stations or lines will be added here every year from now until the end of the decade.

The JRL - Singapore’s seventh MRT line - is expected to open in phases from 2027 to 2029.

The CRL, Singapore’s eighth and longest rail line, is expected to open progressively from 2030, connecting major hubs such as the Jurong Lake District, Punggol Digital District and the Changi region.

Noting that rail projects require careful planning, Mr Chee said economies that face persistent budget deficits would not have the fiscal resources to roll out such long-term and large-scale works.

“It also requires political stability, as well as a strong government which can plan long term, and have the ability and resources to turn these plans into reality, because the plans will span multiple terms of government,” he added.

 

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Plans for 8 more parks, another 13km of park connectors in Singapore​

One of the areas that will get new parks is Farrer Park.PHOTO: SPORT SINGAPORE

Wong Yang
Mar 05, 2025

SINGAPORE - To bring Singaporeans closer to nature, another eight parks and 13km of park connectors will be developed here.

During the debate on its budget on March 5, the Ministry of National Development (MND) also provided updates on the Budget Meal initiative and on an ongoing review of the Animals and Birds Act.

The Act covers laws that deal with preventing the introduction and spread of animal-borne diseases, controlling the movements of animals, birds and fish, safeguarding their welfare, and preventing cruelty to them.

Other announcements include a new $100 million grant to help construction firms, architects, developers and other firms in the built environment sector to adopt technology that improves productivity and develop their enterprise and manpower capabilities.

Here are some of the highlights:

Another eight parks and 13km of park connectors will be built as part of plans to create more green spaces and connect Singaporeans to nature.

With these green spaces, the Government aims to develop more than 25 parks covering an area totalling over 170ha and more than 50km of park connectors by 2030.


Some areas that will get new parks include Farrer Park, Spottiswoode and Woodgrove, while the park connector network in areas including Yishun Avenue 1, Bukit Panjang North and Pioneer Road North will be expanded.

Among the parks in the pipeline is the 72.8ha Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat Nature Park that will beef up Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve’s capacity to be a sanctuary for wetland biodiversity and migratory shorebirds.

A roughly 8ha Teachers’ Estate Park will link the Central Catchment Nature Reserve to Khatib Nature Corridor.

As at the end of 2024, there are now more than 400 parks and 391km of park connectors here.

The National Parks Board said Singapore has met its 2021 target of developing 130ha of new parks by 2026 a year ahead of schedule.

The agency added that it will conduct concept studies for more than 100ha of land that could be developed into parks in the future.

Aljunied-Hougang Town Council submitted the fewest projects to be considered for funding by the Community Improvement Projects Committee (CIPC) among all town councils in the financial year 2024, said Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann.

The CIPC had given the town council in-principle approval for the 18 projects it submitted, which totalled $1.2 million, she added.

Ms Sim was responding to concerns raised by Leader of the Opposition and Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh on March 4 about CIPC funding for town councils in opposition wards.

CIPC funds are typically used for facilities such as covered walkways, footpaths, cycling tracks and playgrounds.

Ms Sim said the funds granted to each town by the CIPC depend on the number of HDB flats in the town, the number and value of projects submitted, and whether the submitted projects meet eligibility criteria. For instance, projects that are not value for money or cater only to specific interest groups or commercial entities will be rejected.

Broadly speaking, larger towns that submit more projects amounting to higher values get more funding, she added.

Ms Sim said the five town councils that had the least funding approved to date between financial year 2021 and financial year 2024 were Aljunied-Hougang, Marsiling-Yew Tee, East Coast, Holland-Bukit Panjang and Bishan-Toa Payoh, with approved funding ranging from $4.9 million to $11 million.

Most of these town councils are in smaller towns that have between 39,000 and 53,000 HDB flats each, although Aljunied-Hougang is a mid-sized town with 62,000 flats, added Ms Sim.

The five town councils that had the most funding approved to date during the same period were Ang Mo Kio, Pasir Ris-Punggol, Jurong-Clementi, West Coast and Sembawang, with funding ranging from $14.2 million to $21.1 million.

Ms Sim said these are larger towns that have between 69,000 and 104,000 HDB flats each.

Sengkang Town Council, which is also run by the WP, submitted the most projects to be considered for CIPC funding, with 248 projects worth $30 million.

This is about half of the more than $60 million in CIPC funding approved for all towns, said Ms Sim.

She pointed out that the CIPC could support only 47 of Sengkang’s higher-ranked projects, amounting to $4.5 million, due to funding constraints.

Said Ms Sim: “The CIPC is happy to clarify with any TC (town council) or CCC if they have queries on their rejected proposals. In fact, the CIPC has regularly provided explanations to town councils and CCCs that requested such information and will continue to do so.”

Privately owned coffee shops in HDB estates that renew their application to use their outdoor refreshment areas from May 2025 will be required to offer budget meals and drinks.

The outdoor refreshment areas are unenclosed spaces that are typically an extension of the coffee shop and may be sheltered.

The Budget Meal scheme was officially launched in January 2024 and requires all Housing Board rental coffee shops that renewed their tenancies from May 2023 to provide at least four budget meals and two budget drink options.

The Budget Meal scheme was officially launched in January 2024.ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
Budget meals are defined as lunch or dinner options that are typically priced at $3.50 or below, and drinks priced at $1.20 or below.

As at January, more than 60 per cent of the 397 HDB rental coffee shops and about 30 per cent of the 403 privately owned HDB coffee shops offer budget meals and drinks.

Giving an update on the scheme, Ms Sim said more than 80 per cent of HDB flats have a coffee shop offering budget meals within a 400m radius, or about a five- to 10-minute walking distance from a block.

Ms Sim said that the Government is on track to have all HDB rental coffee shops offer budget meals by 2026.

To avoid overburdening local food businesses, particularly stallholders running small or micro-businesses, the Government is also considering a review of the price-quality method used to evaluate tenders for HDB coffee shops.

This review considers increasing the weightage given to quality and consider the fees that prospective coffee shop operators will impose on individual stallholders.

To ensure stallholders can sustain their businesses, the Government is also reviewing HDB’s rental renewal policy to deter overly high rental bids for HDB rental shops and coffee shops.

The Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS) is reviewing enforcement powers and regulatory levers for animal welfare and management.

This includes looking at existing penalties such as fines, jail terms and the disqualification-order regime under the Animal and Birds Act to ensure that they remain effective in deterring animal cruelty and abuse. Disqualification orders bar a person from owning or being in charge of any animal or any class of animals for up to 12 months.

Besides reviewing enforcement powers – such as powers of seizure and arrest – to better manage cases of animal cruelty or failure in duty of care, NParks is reviewing the licensing regime for activities that could pose a higher risk to animal health and welfare and the use of animal training devices.

AVS, a cluster within NParks, is also reviewing disease measures to prevent and control the spread of animal-borne diseases, including those that are novel and emerging. These include penalties to deter the illegal import or transshipment of animals and veterinary biologics such as vaccines, diagnostic kits and genetically modified organisms.

Measures to ensure the quality, traceability and safety of veterinary health products, such as veterinary medicines and animal vaccines, are also being studied. NParks and AVS said this could include establishing a licensing regime and a registry of approved veterinary health products to regulate the supply chain of such items.

These are among the areas being looked at as part of an ongoing review of the Animals and Birds Act by AVS to strengthen its safeguards on animal health and welfare, as well as public health and safety.

The review comes as the number of confirmed reports of animal cruelty and welfare concerns hit a 12-year high of 961 in 2024.

NParks told ST that it needs time to formulate proposals and engage relevant parties because the review covers many areas. It added that later in 2025, AVS will engage various parties, such as animal welfare groups, pet shops and veterinarians for its review of the regulatory levers for animal welfare and management.

Construction firms, developers, architects, engineers and others in the built environment sector will be able to tap a new $100 million grant that co-funds the costs of adopting technology that improves productivity.

Replacing the Productivity Innovation Project grant, which ends on March 31, the new scheme will also co-fund the costs of initiatives to develop enterprise and labour capabilities, such as additional equipment, or consultancy and professional services.

Open for application on the Government’s Business Grants Portal from April 1, the grant will provide up to 70 per cent in funding support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and up to 50 per cent for non-SMEs.

Then, from April 1, 2027, to March 31, 2030, such support will taper off to up to 50 per cent for SMEs, and up to 30 per cent for non-SMEs.

Second Minister for National Development Indranee Rajah also announced new initiatives by the task force on architectural and engineering consultants set up in September 2024, which she co-chairs.

They include a pilot introduced in March 2024 to prioritise quality and control fee-diving, which is when firms bid for projects at excessively low rates, will be expanded to more public-sector projects.

Meanwhile, the Government will review contractual clauses for public-sector projects, such as limitation-of-liability clauses, to ensure a fairer balance of risks between government agencies and built environment consultants. The task force is engaging private developers to encourage them to adopt similar procurement approaches.

To attract talent to the sector, the task force will work with industry players such as architectural and consultancy firms and institutes of higher learning to create more enriching internship opportunities and review the starting salaries for fresh graduates.

It will release its final recommendations in the second half of 2025.

Separately, some proposed changes have emerged from an ongoing review by BCA of a code that specifies design and construction requirements to make buildings accessible to those with disabilities, the elderly and young families.

These include increasing the minimum depth of wheelchair-accessible passenger lifts and expanding the list of mandatory features that lactation rooms, which new buildings must provide, should be equipped with, such as seats and side tables.

BCA said a public consultation on a draft of the revised code has been completed, and it aims to release changes to the code later in 2025.

Housing developers undertaking complex projects will get more time to start and complete construction and sell all their units to support them in their transformation efforts.

National Development Minister Desmond Lee said the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) remission timeline for developers of such projects will be extended.

MND and the Ministry of Finance said in a release that these projects will be granted an extension of between six and 12 months to the ABSD remission timeline.

If developers do not meet these timelines, the upfront remittable ABSD component will be clawed back. These rules ensure a timely injection of housing supply, said Mr Lee.

He added that the extended ABSD remission timeline will apply to housing developers of complex projects.

Such projects include those that transform Singapore’s urban environment on a large scale, rejuvenate older estates, adopt technologies to improve productivity, or those which optimise land use through intensification or integration with other developments such as major public infrastructure.