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Your agent isn’t entirely right.

HDB’s Contra Payment Facility (CPF Housing Grant + sale proceeds + HDB loan applied directly towards the next resale purchase) is indeed only for buyers taking an HDB loan. If you are not taking a loan, you can’t technically use the official contra facility.

That said, what you’re describing is more like a timed completion / coordination — using the CPF refunds and cash proceeds from your sale directly for your purchase without bridging loans. This is possible, but it requires:
• Careful alignment of both your sale and purchase completion dates.
• Solicitors who know how to structure the timeline so your sale completes first, and CPF funds are credited back in time to use for your purchase.

It’s not as seamless as the HDB Contra Facility, but with proper planning, many people manage without taking any new loan.

Since your buyer is using contra, HDB will already be managing a more complex chain of fund movements. You can still rely on your CPF refunds + cash proceeds, just not through the same “contra” scheme.

What you can do now:
• Confirm with your lawyer/solicitor whether a back-to-back completion is workable for your specific case.
• If timing can’t be aligned, you may need to temporarily use a short-term bridging loan.

Would you like me to break down the step-by-step flow of how the back-to-back completion works so you can visualise how the CPF money moves?

— Aren Goh | PropNex Read More

Good day to you.

The contra facility is applicable to HDB owners who are currently under an HDB loan and are transitioning to another HDB purchase, whether through a second HDB loan or without a loan. Depending on your specific situation, you can either have a productive conversation with your servicing agent or communicate with the HDB officer assigned to your case.

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The term contra has been loosely used by the industry and consumer. If you are referring to the official enhance contra facility, your agent is technically correct.. ECF is specifically designed to help homeowners using an HDB loan manage their cash flow by offsetting the purchase of a new HDB flat with the sale proceeds of their current one.

In addition, only 1 party within a transaction is allowed to utilise this facility, and in this case, if the buyer of your flat is already using this facility, then you will not be eligible to do so.

Nevertheless, you can still time your transactions seamlessly in the sale and purchase, depending on whether CPF monies have been utilised for the current flat.

——

I have been in the real estate business since 2009, with more than 15 years of experience serving the Singapore real estate market.

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1. The official HDB Contra Facility works only if you are on an HDB loan. Without a loan, you can’t tap this exact scheme.
2. What you can do instead is line up your sale and purchase so the refunded CPF and cash from your sale are ready in time for the next purchase.
3. This approach needs precise timing of completion dates and a lawyer who knows how to sequence both transactions smoothly.
4. If the timeline cannot be matched perfectly, a short-term bridging loan may still be the backup option.

As Albert Einstein once said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”
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Hi Sir/Mdm,

To do contra, there are certain conditions from HDB that you will need to satisfy, one of which is that your current loan has to be a HDB loan.

For your case, if your current loan is bank loan, you will still be able to use your sale proceeds to fully cover the purchase of the next place. With a proper planning in terms of timeline, even if you do use contra, you will still be able to transmit smoothly from your current place to the next one with some buffer time for renovation and moving.

I have assisted many of my clients who are in the same situation. Please feel free to contact me so that I can understand your situation and provide you with further assistance.

Regards,
Nick Tan
(M) +65 96 44 48 54
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Selling our house was a pretty stressful ordeal, as we have already committed to buying our new home and hence have a timeline to meet. Losing a substantial deposit and worse still, not getting our dream home caused many sleepless nights as we are nearing our deadline. I am very glad we have decided to switch to Nick and seek his help after the dismal performance of our first agent. Not only is Nick very patient in explaining things to us, time Read More

Hi

If you are going from HDB loan to fully paying off the next resale hdb without loan, it is still possible to apply for enhanced contra facility for your case. This allows a seamless transition where you sale and purchase completions are arranged on the same day with the proceeds being authorized to transfer within the background from current HDB to your next hdb.

However only 1 party can be using ECF so if the buyer of your house is already using it, you can't apply for it anymore. It will disrupt the sale and purchase process should you not agree to the ECF being used by the buyer, and you may want to have the agent propose an alternative solution.

Hope the above clarifies. I am well-versed with HDB and private property transactions, having helped more than 100 homeowners transit smoothly with their housing plans. Please reach out to me at 97432395  for a more in-depth discussion :)

May I have more info on your requirements so as to make better recommendations? Thanks and looking forward to chat more

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-- HDB Toa Payoh 5-RM Sellers of Million-Dollar HDB, Mr. & Mrs Leong

We were fortunate to have met Ivan Ng. He was thorough in going through what the complicated home-selling process required of us and more so in understanding what we would like to achieve from the sale of our unit. His responsiveness and assurance, was a trait that we really appreciate. We managed to secure a sale that exceeded our expectation with Ivan’s advises. The offered price for our unit was a record set for the flats in the neighborhood. This was definitely supported by the fact that Ivan’s listing of our unit was detailed and stood out from other listings. Because of this, we also engaged Ivan's service to help us search and buy our new resale home. After some searches and viewings, we managed to secure one at a reasonable price with his help. With Ivan’s cheery and positive demeanour, selling our unit to procuring a new one, was a smooth journey for us. It was a pleasure to have worked with him.

-- HDB Executive Maisonette Sellers, Mr & Mrs Yeo --

Before contacting Ivan Ng, our Property Realtor, we were quite apprehensive about our Contra-deal ( concurrent resale & purchase of HDB flats) as at that time the outlook of the resale property market was quite sluggish & pessimistic. But surprisingly our property realtor, Ivan , was able to put us at ease with his professional competence, astute work experience & friendly nature . He was able to consummate our contra-deal within one month of our HDB application. Now we are convinced by his promise that (in Ivan's own words) ... "A contra-deal is where the sale & purchase transactions are done concurrently and completed on the same day. This results in a seamless transition of the funds from your sale proceeds and CPF proceeds towards your purchase price." More importantly Ivan has also managed to clinch a good deal for our contra-deal. We'll certainly recommend him to our kins & friends. Thank you very much, Ivan. We are definitely your satisfied customers! Read More