New Launch Option to Purchase

Rates and thresholds change. The current figures are kept in one place: the Singapore property rules reference.

In a resale transaction, an individual seller grants an Option to Purchase directly to a buyer, with the option fee and exercise sums commercially agreed between the two parties. For a new launch, the buyer instead deals with the developer's sales team, pays a booking fee to reserve a specific unit and lock in the price, and is then given a fixed option period to exercise by signing and returning the Sale and Purchase Agreement together with a further payment. The structure of a licensed developer's sale documents is prescribed under the Housing Developers Rules, intended to give buyers a more standardised and protective process than a privately negotiated resale contract.

This matters to a buyer because the more standardised process generally leaves less room to negotiate the core terms of a new launch booking compared with a resale OTP, but the buyer still needs to act within the option period or risk losing the unit and the booking fee already paid. Knowing this upfront helps set expectations for how much flexibility there really is once a booking is made.

Buyers coming from a resale background commonly assume the familiar resale option fee and exercise period apply here too, when in fact the booking fee amount, the option period length, and the further sums due on exercise are set by the individual developer's sale terms for that launch, not by the resale market convention, so the actual figures on the booking form should always be confirmed rather than assumed. A booking is also not necessarily as reversible as buyers expect; forfeiture of the booking or option fee is a real risk if a buyer walks away without a valid basis.

Read the booking form and the option period terms carefully before paying anything, confirm exactly what happens to your booking fee if you do not proceed, ask your conveyancing lawyer to review the Sale and Purchase Agreement before you exercise, and check how your financing timeline lines up with the option period so you are not rushed into signing before your loan is in order.

Winfred Quek is an Associate Marketing Consultant at Crestbrick Pte Ltd (CEA Licence No. L31010886H). CEA R073319H. This page is for general information only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Verify current figures with IRAS, HDB, CPF Board, or MAS before making any decision.