These 2 months we will see a lot of new rules implementing to reduce excessive speculation and exuberance in the property scene.

In a nutshell the changes are:

• HDB allow buyers to take a 2nd concessionary loan from HDB even if they downsize to a smaller flat or move to a flat of the same size. Previously, only upgraders qualified for a second concessionary loan. However the sales proceeds from the sale of a flat, seller can only keep the greater of $25,000 or half of the cash proceeds. The remaining cash and CPF balance has to be used to finance the purchase of the next flat if they take up a HDB concessionary loan.
• MOP increased to three years for all flats bought in the resale market. Currently, the MOP is 2.5 years for buyers who choose to take up an HDB concessionary loan and just 1 year for buyers who either take a commercial bank loan or do not take any loan.
• 3,800 more elderly lessees will now benefit from its lease buyback scheme which has been revised. The scheme allows the elderly to monetise their flats by selling the tail end of the flat’s lease back to HDB.
• HDB will withhold $10,000 of the subsidies for a household made up of 1 Singapore Citizen + 1 PR when they buy a HDB flat. Once the PR converts to citizenship, or when the couple has a Singapore citizen child, the Board will return the withheld subsidy.
  
• A quota cap for PR households of 8 per cent in each block and 5 per cent within each neighbourhood.
• It will be applied on top of the ethnic integration policy (EIP) but will not apply to Malaysian PRs.
• EIP for Indian/Others limit was raised from 10 per cent and 13 per cent at the neighbourhood and block levels to 12 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.