I’m 55, Have No Income, And Own A Fully Paid HDB Flat—Can I Still Buy Another One Before Selling?

Hi Stacked,

I read your article, “Why I Sold My 40-Year-Old Jurong Flat For A Newer Bukit Panjang One: A Buyer’s Case Study,” and found it very relevant to my situation.

I am currently considering whether I should sell my existing HDB 5-room flat and buy a resale HDB 4-room flat instead.

For context, I am 55 years old, have no employment income, and have met the CPF Full Retirement Sum. My current HDB five-room flat is fully paid, with a lease start date of 1986.

My main concern at this stage is whether it would be possible for me to buy first and sell later, given my circumstances.

I would greatly appreciate your advice on this matter. Thank you very much.

Hi, and thanks for reaching out to us! 

Before we discuss the main issues of making such a move, it’s important to be clear about what the move is meant to achieve. Based on what you’ve shared, it seems like your concern is to reduce exposure to future lease decay, unlock capital, or downsize into a more manageable home; these are common housing concerns many Singaporeans face. 

Framed this way, the decision is less about a “5-room versus 4-room” comparison and more about how timing, cash flow, and risk are managed throughout the transition.

The first key question is: can you “Buy First, Sell Later?”

Since we don’t have your full financial details, we’ll have to take a more general approach to answer this question. Thus, we can outline the circumstances under which buying first and selling later is possible, and you can then assess whether it applies to your situation.

To buy first and sell later, you must be able to pay for the next flat, without relying on the sale proceeds from the flat you’re currently selling.

Given that you’re currently not working, it’s likely that you’ll have a challenge accessing common financing options such as bank loans or the HDB loan. This means the purchase must be funded using your available CPF savings, and/or cash.

Since you have met the Full Retirement Sum (FRS), any CPF savings in excess of your FRS can be used to buy your next flat. If you’re to make the purchase this way, HDB will allow you a six-month window* to sell your existing flat.

*Six months from the time you complete the purchase of your next flat 

But if you need the sale proceeds from your current flat to finance the next purchase, you may instead need to consider the HDB Enhanced Contra Facility.

Using the Contra arrangement, the sale and purchase of both flats are carried out concurrently. That is, both transactions are completed on the same day. The CPF funds and any cash proceeds from your existing flat are then directly used for the purchase of the next flat.

There are several important constraints to be aware of:

1. Only one party can use the Enhanced Contra Facility
This means neither the buyer of your current flat, nor the seller of the flat you’re buying, can be using the Contra Facility for their own transaction. If either side needs it, this arrangement may not be possible. 

2. You’re on a much tighter selling timeline
When you submit your purchase application to HDB, a valid valuation report is required. That valuation is only valid for three months from the date it appears on the HDB Resale Portal.

Since both the sale and purchase must be submitted together under the Enhanced Contra Facility, this creates a strict time limit to secure a buyer for your existing flat. If the sale drags on for too long, you may find yourself pressured to accept a lower price, just to make it on time. 

3. Sale proceeds can’t be used for stamp duties or legal fees
The proceeds from your existing flat cannot be used to pay for Buyer’s Stamp Duty or legal costs. These need to be covered separately, using cash or CPF.

Put simply, buying first is best if you already have enough CPF and/or cash to pay for the next flat, without depending on the sale proceeds from your current one.

Also consider the following implications if you buy first:

Even if you can fund the purchase without sale proceeds, the following matter:

1. Your capital gets tied up, fast
There will be a time period when a huge amount of your funds will be locked into two properties at once. Neither flat is especially liquid, and neither can be turned into cash quickly if something unexpected comes up.

This means you need a further buffer for medical costs, family needs, or other surprises, before you go ahead and do this.

2. Costs start to overlap
Buying first usually means renovating the new flat, while keeping the existing one in saleable condition. It also means overlapping conservancy charges, utilities, renovation costs, moving-related expenses, etc. This gets worse if the sale takes longer than planned.

None of these costs is especially steep on its own, but when you total them up over the whole transaction, they ultimately increase the cash outlay by a significant amount.

3. You lose some leverage when selling
Once the new purchase is completed, selling your existing flat within the six-month deadline becomes a legal necessity. Prospective buyers could sense this urgency and take advantage of it; for example, perceptive ones will notice that if the listing has been on the market for a while.

This can cause them to ‘lowball’ you with unattractive offers and make it harder to stay firm on the price.

None of this makes buying first impossible, but it does mean you need to address additional issues of liquidity and timing.

The more common alternative: sell your current flat first, then buy another one later

This is the more common approach, and it’s often considered safer.  It prioritises certainty over convenience, and removes several of the pressures that come with buying first:

1. You lock in your proceeds and restore liquidity
By selling your flat before committing to the next purchase, you turn an illiquid asset into cash and CPF funds upfront. 

This gives you more financial flexibility and lets you shop for the next flat with a clear, confirmed budget, instead of relying on assumptions about what your current flat might sell for. 

2. You avoid pressure to sell low to “beat the clock”
Selling first means you’re no longer under pressure to sell your flat within the six-month window. Instead of being a forced seller, you have a better holding power to wait for the best offer.

This matters more for older flats, where demand can be uneven, and pricing tends to swing more sharply with buyer sentiment.

3. You look like a lower risk to sellers
Once your flat is sold, you tend to appear as a lower-risk buyer that sellers generally prefer. You’re not waiting on another transaction to complete, and there’s less risk of you suddenly backing out. That can make your offer more attractive, even if it isn’t the highest on paper.

All of these can offset the inconvenience of selling before buying.

Next, let’s address your concern regarding lease decay 

Given that your existing flat’s lease commenced in 1986, it has about 59 years remaining. As far as owner-occupancy goes, this is enough to stay to the end if you choose, with no worries about insufficient lease.

But let’s look at resale prospects, where lease decay matters more. At the current age, there could be real issues if you want to resell later, particularly 10 to 15 years down the road.

As the remaining lease shortens, the pool of eligible buyers will narrow. This is due to CPF usage rules becoming more restrictive for flats with lower remaining leases. The effect is most pronounced among younger buyers, as the flat’s remaining lease must last until the youngest buyer turns 95, for them to qualify for a full loan, full CPF Housing Grants, and maximum CPF usage.

In any case, older flats don’t suddenly become unsellable, but they do become more price-sensitive. What makes lease decay easy to underestimate is that you may not notice any severe effects on the saleabilityof your property until most of these factors collide when you plan to sell.

Prices don’t fall in a neat, straight line year by year. Instead, they tend to soften more noticeably over time, especially once certain remaining-lease thresholds are crossed. 

For homeowners in their mid-50s, this shifts the question from whether lease decay matters to when it is likely to start affecting them in a significant way.

Shifting into a newer 4-room flat could help you avoid these lease decay issues

A flat with a longer remaining lease faces fewer financing and CPF-related constraints in future. That means having a larger pool of prospective buyers, which improves your exit options later in life. This could help if (touch wood) the flat needs to be sold due to health, family, or financial reasons.

As such, the decision isn’t just about moving to a smaller unit. It’s about swapping to another asset that’s likely to retain resale options later on. 

Rather than relying on theory alone, it helps to look at how the market has actually behaved. 

Here, we’ve looked at average resale prices of 5-room flats, sorted according to the age of their block. This will show us whether older flats have begun to show different price movements versus newer ones.

From the above, we can see that resale price growth tends to soften as flats age. Even though prices still rise in absolute dollar terms, it’s clear that newer flats command higher prices and appreciate better compared to older ones.

Note that the Covid-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 created a brief market disruption. At the time, work-from-home arrangements boosted demand for larger unit types, which disproportionately benefited larger older flats. We can see prices of these types of units rose across the board during that period, regardless of age.

However, once we set aside that black swan event, the underlying trend came back: newer flats pulled ahead more consistently, and price gaps between newer and older flats became clearer over time.

To be sure, lease age alone does not determine outcomes. 

Location, surrounding supply, and layout efficiency also affect how a particular flat price moves, relative to others in the same age band. But all things being even, lease decay does cause weakening gains and demand; it just doesn’t always do it in a uniform or predictable manner. 

As such, it is worth considering getting a newer flat if your means allow, and if you need to retain resale options in future. 

Next, let’s consider the question of right-sizing to a smaller flat and unlocking your capital 

Rightsizing isn’t solely about the age of a flat. You can also consider it a way to move into a home that better fits your current living needs.

A 5-room flat that once made sense for a growing family can feel empty, or just like a lot of extra housework, over time. Moving into a smaller, more manageable home can make everyday living simpler, particularly when certain spaces are no longer serving a clear purpose.

Rightsizing can also unlock capital that’s currently tied up in the flat. By moving from a 5-room unit into a 4-room flat, or even a 3-room flat, it may be possible to release a significant amount of funds. These proceeds can be set aside for retirement needs, healthcare, aspirational goals, or simply kept as savings for peace of mind.

As such, right-sizing is not always about trading down in quality. It can be a lateral rather than backward move, toward more practicality.

If the next home is intended to be a long-term residence in your senior years, the age of the flat matters less than how well it supports day-to-day life. Smaller options such as a 3-room flat or a 2-room Flexi, for example, can further reduce maintenance while unlocking additional capital.

Ultimately, rightsizing is as much a lifestyle decision as it is a financial one. It’s about choosing a home that feels easier to live in, while also creating greater flexibility in how savings can be used.

To put this into perspective, the table below shows how average resale prices in 2025 vary across 3-room, 4-room, and 5-room flats in different HDB towns.

We’ve highlighted the potential capital that may be unlocked by moving into a smaller unit type.

Across most towns, the price gap between 5-room and 4-room flats in 2025 typically ranges from about $120,000 to over $300,000, and is even wider when comparing 5-room flats to 3-room flats.

Putting it altogether, this is what it finally comes down to.

What should you do?

At its core, your question is a practical one: whether it’s possible, and sensible, to buy first and sell later.

The short answer is that buying first can be done, but you must have sufficient CPF and/or cash to complete the purchase, without relying on the sale proceeds from your existing flat.

And again, it comes with a different risk profile compared to selling first, as we touched on earlier.

For some homeowners, buying first feels more comfortable because it avoids interim housing (e.g., having to rent or live with family) and keeps daily life uninterrupted. For others, selling first provides greater peace of mind by removing the time limit to sell, while giving a clear picture of what you can afford before committing to the next purchase.

Neither approach is inherently right or wrong. They simply balance convenience and risk in different ways.

What matters most is not whether the move can be executed (both moves can be done), but which transition feels manageable. Buying first tends to concentrate more risk into a shorter period, while selling first spreads that risk out more evenly, even if it is annoying to have to move twice.

As for right-sizing, we can say that whether the motivation is to move into a smaller home, unlock capital, or prepare for a different stage of life, the result should be a position that feels less exposed, not more.

If the sequence you choose gets you there with less pressure along the way, then it’s likely the right one.