One in Three EC Income Ceiling Waiver Appeals Approved Over Five Years: HDB

In a July 10 response to The Sunday Times’ queries made in April, HDB revealed that 845 out of 2,583 appeals for the income ceiling waiver had been approved over the past five years. The monthly income ceiling for EC buyers currently stands at S$16,000.

On April 8, National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat told Parliament that appeals from EC buyers to waive the income ceiling more than doubled to 1,147 in 2025 from 461 in 2024. He was responding to a question from Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh. Before the 2025 spike, appeals had dropped by half from 496 in 2022 to 237 in 2023. Prior to that, they had inched up steadily from 43 in 2020 to 199 in 2021.

HDB attributed the surge in appeals to a bigger supply of EC units in 2025 and strong demand. A total of 2,108 EC units were offered in 2025, the highest annual supply over the 2020 to 2025 period and more than double the units launched in 2024. Three EC projects launched that year drew 4,133 applications: Aurelle of Tampines, Otto Place in Tengah and Coastal Cabana in Pasir Ris.

HDB said appeals are considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account extenuating circumstances such as heavy financial commitments for ongoing medical care and long-term expenses. The current income ceiling for BTO flat buyers is S$14,000 for families and S$7,000 for singles. The Ministry of National Development and HDB are reviewing the income ceilings.

Median prices of new EC units have more than doubled over the past decade, rising from S$797 per square foot in 2015 to S$1,754 psf in 2025. Over the same period, median HDB resale flat prices grew 51 per cent from S$400 psf to S$604 psf.

Fuelling the jump in EC prices is robust demand from second-time buyers who can tap funds from selling their HDB flats, as well as higher land and development costs and growing competition for EC government land sales sites.

The proportion of first-time EC buyers has declined in recent years. In 2020, about half of EC buyers were first-timers. This proportion dropped to between 30 and 40 per cent in 2024 and 2025. Introduced in 1995, the EC housing scheme was designed to provide an affordable option for higher-income Singaporeans, with new ECs typically priced 20 to 30 per cent lower than private condominiums of similar size and location.

Following a review of the EC scheme, the Government introduced several new measures in May. The minimum occupation period has been extended to 10 years from five, to ensure ECs are mainly for owner-occupation. Developers must now reserve 90 per cent of EC units for first-time buyers, up from the previous 70 per cent, and the priority period has been extended from one month to two years.

Developers can no longer offer the deferred payment scheme. From May 8, the normal payment scheme, which involves progressive payments based on construction milestones, applies to all EC buyers. Previously, buyers could defer paying up to 80 per cent of the purchase price until the project’s completion.