It’s no secret that buying a property in Singapore is expensive. Fortunately, there are plenty of housing grants offered by the government to help HDB flat buyers finance their home. One of these grants is HDB’s Proximity Housing Grant (PHG), a grant that helps resale flat buyers to make it more affordable to live with or closer to their families.
If this sounds like you, this article will explain how the grant can help you and the qualifications needed to obtain this grant.
Let’s begin…
What is The Proximity Housing Grant?
First introduced in 2015, the Proximity Housing Grant, or PHG, is an HDB grant that helps Singaporean HDB resale flat buyers who want to live with/closer to their parents/children.
Living with or close to your parents/in-laws can be extremely beneficial; your parents can watch over the kids when you’re away at work or if you have an errand to run; while parents who live closer to their children and grandchildren can spend more quality time together.
Who’s Eligible for PHG?
As mentioned, PHG is available for Singaporean singles or married couples/families who are looking to buy a resale flat to live with, or near their parents or children.
According to HDB, “near” means living within a 4km radius to your children or parents, which means that they don’t necessarily need to live in the same area/township as you.
Also note that your parents/children do not need to live in an HDB flat, so you’re still eligible for PHG even if they live in a private property.
| Eligibility Criteria | Description |
| Type of Property | Resale HDB flat only. BTO flat buyers are not eligible for PHG. |
| Citizenship | Applicants must be Singaporeans. The family nucleus must have at least a Singapore citizen or a Singapore Permanent Resident. |
| Age of Applicant | At least 21 years old if you are applying as a family. At least 35 years old if you are applying as a single under the Single Singapore Citizen Scheme, Joint Singles Scheme, or Public Scheme. |
| Family Nucleus (the family that you will be applying with) | Spouse and children (if any), Fiancé/ Fiancée (a photocopy of your marriage certificate must be submitted within 3 months from the resale completion date if your marriage is registered overseas), Children under your legal custody, care, and control (if widowed/divorced – if you are sharing custody with your ex-spouse, you’ll need to get a written agreement from him or her as well, before you can include your children in the flat application. ). |
| Income Ceiling | Unlike other grants, the PHG doesn’t have an income cap, so you’ll be eligible for the full grant amount as long as you meet the requirements of the PHG. |
| Flat Type and Lease | You are qualified for the PHG even if your parents/children live in a private property. If you’re buying as a family/couple, the resale flat must be 2-room or larger. For singles living near parents, the flat type must be a 2 to 5-room flat. For singles living with parents, it could be any type of flat. |
| No. of Applications | You can only receive the PHG once. You won’t be entitled to the PHG if you’ve received it before. |
| Remaining Lease of Flat | 20 years or more. |
How Much Can You Get From PHG?
Under PHG, family (married/engaged couples) home buyers will receive a PHG of $30,000 if they live with their parents/children and $20,000 if they live near their parents/children.
Singles, meanwhile, will receive a PHG of $15,000 if they live in the same resale home as their parents/children and $10,000 if they buy a resale HDB flat near their parents/children.
Here’s a simplified table for better visualisation:
|
Family nucleus |
Living with parents/child |
Living near parents/child within 4 km |
|
Family |
$30,000 |
$20,000 |
|
Singles |
$15,000 |
$10,000 |
HDB’s Proximity Housing Grant: More than a subsidy
The most obvious benefit of the PHG is that you’ll be able to fork out a lower amount to buy an HDB resale flat. Resale flats tend to be more expensive than BTO flats, and a resale flat becomes more affordable with the PHG.
So this means your options for HDB housing will become much wider too. This is assuming your budget is relatively tight and you’ve been restricting your options only to BTO flats, which launch only every quarter and can have quite high quite competition for popular estates.
The PHG can be used together with other housing grants to lower the price of your resale flat even further. This includes the following grants:
- CPF Housing Grant for Family
- CPF Housing Grant for Singles
- Enhanced CPF Housing Grant
With the PHG combined with any of these grants, you could end up saving a decent amount of money for your flat purchase.
These savings could go toward funding your children’s education, moving your renovation plans forward, or beginning an investment plan.
See also:
- Your Definitive Resource on HDB’s Housing Grants, Policies, and Programmes
- HDB Grants for BTO, Resale Flat and EC Buyers: How Much Can You Get?
- HDB Grant: Should You Take It to Buy an HDB Flat?
How Do I Check For Proximity Distance?
You may check use HDB’s e-service to find out the eligibility of the resale flat from your parents’/family’s home.
If you are looking to purchase a resale unit near your parents’ place, you can search for a unit on PropertyGuru and input the details of the unit into the HDB tool. The information you’ll need:
- Postal code of your intended purchase, OR
- Block number and street name of your intended purchase
And you’re good to go!
Do I Need to Return the PHG Grant When I Sell My Flat?
Yes – this applies to all CPF housing grants. You will need to return the grants back to your CPF accounts upon selling your flat.
As most (if not all) of the funds will be returned back to your CPF Ordinary Account (OA), you may use this to finance your next home purchase.
Note: A maximum of $60,000 from the grants that you’ve taken up (including PHG, AHG, EHG and/or SHG) will be returned to your CPF OA. Any excess will be distributed evenly to your CPF Special Account (SA) and Medisave account.
More FAQs Related to HDB Proximity Housing Grant:
How do I apply for a Proximity Housing Grant?
You may do so by filling in the HDB’s Application form for Proximity Housing Grant and submitting it to their office.
How do I check my eligibility for a proximity grant?
You may use the distance checker on the HDB website here to check if your resale HDB flat qualifies for the grant.
Does Proximity Housing Grant apply to BTO?
No. The PHG is only granted to resale HDB flat buyers.
How much HDB grant can I get?
This is dependent on your income, application scheme and type of flat. For more information on the types of HDB grants, check out our guide here.
Do I need to pay back HDB grants?
Yes, the grants that you have taken (plus interest accumulated) will be returned into your CPF account when you have sold your HDB home.
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