SINGAPORE - The vast majority of households who have opted for the Housing Board’s Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS) received between $100,000 and $300,000 in proceeds for selling part of their flat’s lease back to HDB.

This was the case for more than 90 per cent of the 12,656 households who have tapped the scheme as at June 30, HDB said in an update on the LBS on Aug 14.

HDB’s figures show that the take-up rate for the LBS has remained steady, at an average of 1,680 households annually over the last five years.

Launched in 2009, the LBS allows those aged 65 and older to supplement their retirement income by selling part of their flat’s lease back to HDB.

Proceeds from the sale are used to top up their Central Provident Fund (CPF) Retirement Account and purchase a CPF Life plan, which provides monthly payouts for life. Any balance proceeds after the CPF Retirement Account top-up are returned to home owners in cash.

Depending on the quantum of the CPF top-up, HDB also provides an additional cash bonus to home owners under the LBS. This ranges from $7,500 to $30,000.

Households can choose to retain lease lengths from 15 to 35 years (in increments of five years), as long as the remaining lease covers the flat’s youngest owner until the age of 95.

In its statement, HDB said just over half of the households who took up the LBS live in three-room or smaller flats.

About 33 per cent own four-room flats, while the remaining 14 per cent live in five-room or larger flats, HDB added.

About 65 per cent of households opted to retain at least 30 years of their lease.

Pointing to the the fact that more than half of the households who have tapped the LBS lived in three-room or small flats, Professor Sing Tien Foo, provost’s chair professor of real estate at NUS Business ...