Flat owners can now list their units for sale on HDB portal

SINGAPORE — Owners of Housing Board flats or their property agents will have the option to list their homes for sale on the HDB Flat Portal from May 13.

The latest enhancement to the portal, which aims to streamline the process of buying and selling a flat, seeks to provide buyers and sellers access to secure property transactions as well as improved services by property agents, HDB said.

To ensure genuine listings, sellers must have an intent to sell registered to list their homes, the board said.

Buyers will need an HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter — which indicates their eligibility to buy a flat, receive grants as well as financing options — to schedule viewings with sellers.

"This will improve user experience and ensure transparency as the resale flat listing service aims to become a trusted listing marketplace for genuine buyers and sellers," HDB said.

The service will be free of charge for the time being, it added.

Buyers will be able to access the listings and begin transactions with sellers when the service is officially launched later in May. The date has yet to be announced.

Currently, only real estate agents can put up listings on major property portals such as PropertyGuru and 99.co, which comes with fees.

Other platforms such as Ohmyhome and Carousell lets home owners do so themselves for free.

On the HDB Flat Portal, listings will be automatically filled with details such as the address, flat type, floor area and floor plan from HDB's data.

Each seller can post only one flat listing, so that there are no duplicate listings.

Sellers will be prompted if their listing price is at least 10 per cent above the highest transacted price of similar units nearby in the past six months. They will also receive a prompt if the price is abnormally low.

This is so they can make an informed decision on their listed price, which promotes a more sustainable property market in the long run, HDB added.

In response to queries, HDB said it "reserves the right to remove listings which have unrealistic pricing or contain misleading information from our portal", and may seek clarifications from the sellers or their property agents.

"The Government will not condone behaviour, whether by sellers or their property agents, that seeks to disrupt the market or fan consumer sentiment," it said.

HDB added that it will work with the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) to investigate and take enforcement action if property agents are suspected of professional misconduct.

On May 8, the Ministry of National Development, HDB and CEA flagged the listings of two HDB flats that were put up for sale for $2 million.

The authorities said that a listing for two adjacent five-room flats in Sengkang that was marketed as a jumbo flat was "misleading", and another for a five-room flat in Toa Payoh had an "unrealistic asking price".

To make the HDB Flat Portal a "one-stop platform" for buyers, the resale flat listing service will be integrated with financial calculators, loan listing services and information on the buyer's HFE letter.

Buyers can also compare resale flat listings with new Build-To-Order flats on aspects such as price and remaining lease, so that they can consider both options "holistically and make more informed decisions on their flat purchase", HDB said.

Meanwhile, sellers or their property agents can list their homes and carry out resale transactions on a single platform.

HDB said it would reach out to eligible flat sellers by e-mail from the soft launch on May 13 to provide them early access to list their homes on the platform. They can also appoint property agents to do so on their behalf.

Transactions cannot be carried out during the soft launch period.

The board said the service was developed in collaboration with the public and industry stakeholders, including real estate agencies and property portals.

Chris Koh, director of property consultancy Chris International, said the service would help to sieve out buyers and sellers who are not genuine.

As sellers must have an intent to sell to list their units on the portal, this would prevent sellers and property agents from placing advertisements to "test the market", he said.

"There have also been cases of property agents placing repeated or fake listings to fish for customers, or to increase their number of listings," he added, noting that the service would curb such occurrences.

ALSO READ: Misleading and unrealistic: Authorities flag $2m HDB resale flat listings, including one for jumbo unit in Sengkang

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.