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

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.

- Grace Leong

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 the 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 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 the 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 Central Provident Fund housing refunds are more than $60,000.

"This will make it easier for seniors to benefit from the Silver Housing Bonus," said National Development Minister Desmond Lee in Parliament on March 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 threeroom or smaller HDB flat and received the SHB, said the Ministry of National Development (MND) 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CPF housing refunds refer to the CPF principal withdrawn to buy a property plus accrued interest that needs to be refunded back to the CPF after the property's sale. If home buyers have 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).