27/12/2025

Going Direct to Private Without HDB: The Trade-offs No One Explains

Singapore has a growing “sandwich class” that the housing system is not designed for:

• Dual-income households (including mixed-nationality couples) earning above the HDB income ceiling
• High-income singles who want to buy well before age 35

This group exceeds the eligibility threshold for both BTO and resale HDB, leaving private property as the only viable ownership path. The challenge is not aspiration, but constraints: higher upfront capital, fewer safety nets, and less room for error.

Without public housing as an option many of these buyers enter the private market under time and social pressure. Decisions often anchor on affordability and immediate lifestyle fit, while exit paths, liquidity risk, and holding horizons receive less scrutiny. I work with these buyers to slow the process down, pressure-test assumptions, and avoid common first-purchase mistakes, including ones I’ve made myself.

What these buyers actually optimise for

1. Location (beyond MRT distance)

Proximity to MRT stations and amenities commands a clear premium, but buyers in this segment often prioritise additional, less discussed factors:

• Proximity to parents: for first matrimonial homes, caregiving, familiarity, and lifestyle continuity matter more than is usually acknowledged.
• Proximity to workplace: for some, shorter commutes outweigh being MRT-adjacent; for others working remotely, less central (“ulu”) locations are acceptable trade-offs for lower entry prices.

2. Affordability (capital, not income, is the bottleneck)

Affordability for private property is less about monthly servicing and more about upfront capital and liquidity buffers.

As a reference point, an older OCR 2-bedroom condo at around $1.0m typically requires:

• 25% downpayment (minimum 5% in cash), and
• additional cash/CPF for BSD, legal fees, renovation, and furnishings.

For buyers in their 20s and early 30s, assembling $200k–$300k in deployable capital usually takes multiple years of disciplined saving, and often leaves limited buffers post-purchase.

• Singles face longer accumulation timelines due to CPF contribution caps and the time required to reach higher income bands.
• Couples can split the burden, but frequently breach the HDB income ceiling quickly. Mixed-nationality households face an added constraint: limited or no CPF, increasing reliance on cash.

These realities explain why many buyers delay purchase, remain with parents, or rent; not due to lack of income, but due to capital structure.

3. Quality expectations

This segment places a premium on:

• functional layouts,
• build quality,
• long-term liveability.

This also explains why demand for new launches persists despite rising per-square-feet cost, buyers are often optimising for durability and future exit appeal, not just entry price.

What they don’t optimise for (but should)

Despite featuring heavily in marketing material, several critical factors are often under-weighted:

1. TDSR / bank eligibility

Most buyers assume the bank will offer the maximum 75% loan over the longest tenure, capped at 35% of income. Servicing is rarely the binding constraint; upfront cash is. As a result, loan structure is accepted passively rather than optimised.

2. Unit mix

Career-driven buyers often underestimate how unit mix affects daily living (noise, congestion) and eventual exit. Projects skewed heavily toward family units appeal differently from those favoured by investors or HDB upgraders, and this matters when it’s time to sell.

3. Size (vs usability)

Less experienced buyers gravitate toward 1-bedrooms or compact 2-bedrooms; more experienced buyers insist on at least a 2-bedroom-2-bath. In practice, layout quality and target exit buyer matter more than absolute size. Your eventual buyer will likely be either:

• an investor focused on rental yield (location-driven), or
• an HDB upgrader constrained by quantum.

4. Schools

Proximity to schools commands a premium, even for buyers with no near-term intention to have children. While it may not matter today, it often matters at exit, especially after minimum holding periods.

5. Facilities

Early-career buyers rarely place much value on facilities. However, minimal facilities can narrow your future buyer pool, particularly if the project lacks family appeal or tenant draw.

When to buy private

For this demographic, the question is rarely whether to buy private - it is when. The following conditions should generally be true:

• stable income with strong buffers,
• sufficient liquidity runway post-purchase,
• a clear, realistic exit strategy.

Want a property assessment?

I can convert your situation into a concise decision memo covering:

• key decision points,
• time horizon,
• realistic exit paths,
• a property shortlist aligned to those constraints.