Lease Buyback vs Silver Housing Bonus vs Selling

Lease Buyback lets parents sell part of their flat's tail end lease to HDB and stay put, with a cash bonus of up to $30,000. The Silver Housing Bonus rewards moving to a smaller flat, up to $40,000 combined. Selling outright and downsizing gives the most cash but means leaving the home. The real decider is whether staying put matters to them.

Money: Lease Buyback, sell the tail, keep the home

Under the Lease Buyback Scheme, eligible households sell the tail end of their flat's lease back to HDB while keeping enough lease to live in the flat for as long as they choose, typically to age 95 or beyond depending on the option chosen. The proceeds from the tail end lease go partly into the owners' CPF Retirement Accounts to start or boost a CPF LIFE monthly payout, and partly as cash in hand.

On top of the retirement sum top up, HDB pays a cash bonus of up to $30,000 for a three room or smaller flat, up to $15,000 for a four room flat, and up to $7,500 for a five room or bigger flat, scaled to how much the household commits to the CPF top up. The household continues to own and live in the remaining lease, continues to pay service and conservancy charges, and can still leave the flat and the remaining lease to their children.

Money: Silver Housing Bonus, move smaller, get cash now

The Silver Housing Bonus rewards seniors who sell their current home and right size to a three room or smaller HDB flat, using part of the proceeds to top up their CPF Retirement Account for a higher CPF LIFE payout. Following an enhancement effective 1 December 2025, an eligible household can receive a cash bonus of up to $30,000 when right sizing to a three room flat, and up to $40,000 combined when the move is to a two room or smaller flat, on top of whatever sale proceeds they keep in hand.

Unlike Lease Buyback, the Silver Housing Bonus requires an actual move to a smaller flat, so it suits parents who are open to less space in exchange for a fresh, often newer or single level unit, plus a meaningful cash bonus and a stronger CPF LIFE payout.

Money: selling outright with no scheme attached

The third path is simply selling the current flat on the open resale market and either buying a smaller flat outright, renting, or moving in with family, without going through either scheme. This usually delivers the largest single lump sum, since the full resale value is realised rather than a partial tail end lease, but it comes with the CPF refund obligation, including accrued interest on any CPF used to buy the flat originally, agent commission on the sale, and no scheme bonus. It is the most flexible option and the one with the least ongoing tie to HDB's rules, but also the one that most disrupts daily routine for elderly parents who have lived in the same block for decades.

Safety: the question that actually decides it

Every comparison chart collapses to one question for an adult child helping a parent decide: does staying in this specific flat matter to them, more than the extra cash a sale or a smaller unit would bring. If your parents' entire social circle, their regular clinic, their favourite hawker stall, and forty years of memory are tied to that block, Lease Buyback usually wins even though it produces a smaller headline cash figure than selling outright. If they have already been talking about a quieter, smaller, easier to clean unit, Silver Housing Bonus often fits better and pays a real cash bonus for a move they already want to make.

Selling outright makes the most sense when the flat itself has become genuinely unsuitable, too many stairs, too far from family, or too large and expensive to maintain, and when the family has a clear plan for where the parents will live next. Do not let the size of the bonus alone drive the decision, since a few thousand dollars of difference in scheme payout rarely outweighs an elderly parent's wellbeing in a home and neighbourhood they know.

Timing: eligibility and next steps

Both schemes have age and flat type conditions, and households must not have disposed of a private property within a set period before applying. HDB's own eligibility check tools and appointment booking are the fastest way to get an exact, personalised figure rather than relying on a general guide like this one, since the bonus scales with how much of the CPF Retirement Account gets topped up and varies by household composition.

Frequently asked questions