There are two ways to do this, and people usually pick the one that feels less frightening rather than the one that costs less.
Selling first
You sell, the proceeds and the CPF refund land where they should, and you buy with a clean position: no ABSD, no refund to chase, and the full 75% loan limit back in play because the first housing loan is discharged.
The cost is the gap. You may need somewhere to live for a few months, and you may need to move twice. For a family with school runs and furniture, that is a genuine inconvenience, and for some people it is worth paying to avoid.
What it is not is a financial disadvantage. On the numbers alone, selling first usually wins.
Buying first
You secure the unit. No scramble, no compromise on the next home because a completion date is approaching.
In exchange, at the point of purchase you pay ABSD on a second property: 20% for a Singapore Citizen, 30% for a Permanent Resident. On a one and a half million dollar condo that is three hundred thousand dollars that has to exist, in cash, on the day.
You also borrow against a 45% limit rather than 75%, because the HDB loan is still outstanding, and 25% of the purchase has to be in cash.
The refund, and who actually gets it
The ABSD on that second property can come back, but the conditions are tighter than the way it is usually described.
- Legally married at the date of purchase of the second property
- At least one spouse a Singapore Citizen
- The new property bought jointly, in the two spouses’ names and nobody else’s
- Neither spouse owning any other residential property beyond the one being replaced
- The first property sold within six months, and the refund claimed within six months of that sale
Six months is counted from the purchase date where the new property is completed, or from the issue of TOP or CSC, whichever is earlier, where it is still being built.
Two things catch people. A couple who are both Permanent Residents get no remission at all, and neither does a PR married to a foreigner. And a couple who already own two properties and are buying a third are outside the scheme entirely: the ABSD is paid and it stays paid.
IRAS does not extend the window. If the flat has not sold in six months, the refund is gone, and it was never a small sum.
So which one
Buying first is worth it when the flat is genuinely easy to sell, when the ABSD can be funded without stretching, and when a specific unit is worth securing. It is a timing decision backed by cash.
Selling first is right for most people most of the time, and the discomfort is three months of renting rather than a six month deadline with a six figure number attached to it.
The answer is not universal. It depends on your citizenship, your marital status, what you own, how liquid your flat is and how much cash you can put up without losing sleep. That is a conversation, not a rule.
Model both before you commit to either. The difference is usually larger than anything you will negotiate off the asking price.
Figures checked October 2026. ABSD, BSD and SSD rates are set by IRAS, loan limits by MAS, CPF rules by the CPF Board, and flat rules by HDB. These change, sometimes overnight. Nothing here is tax or financial advice, and your own position depends on your profile, your timing and your lender. Check the current figure before you commit to anything.
