HDB resale rates by town: flats in 2016-2020 blocks resold at 4.7% a year

In the 12 months to September 2026, about 2.4 in every 100 HDB flats in blocks completed by 2020 were resold 12. Every town sat between 1.8 and 3.2 in 100 12. The bigger difference is block age: flats in blocks completed from 2016 to 2020 resold at 4.7 in 100 12.

This guide answers a question buyers rarely ask until they come to sell: how easily does a flat in a given town resell? It builds a resale rate for every town from two HDB datasets on data.gov.sg. One is the record of registered resales 1. The other lists every HDB block with its completion year and the number of flats of each type sold in it 2. Dividing the first by the second gives the share of flats that changed hands in a year.

How many HDB flats change hands in a year?

Between October 2025 and September 2026, 24,242 two-room to executive flats in blocks completed in 2020 or earlier were registered as resold 12. Those blocks hold 1,002,673 sold flats of the same types 2. That is a resale rate of 2.42%, or about one flat in 41 12.

Source: HDB resale flat prices 1 and HDB property information 2, data.gov.sg; Sightlines analysis. Resales are matched to their block by block number and street name; every resale in the window matched a block in the property dataset 12. One-room, multi-generation and studio flats are left out.

The rate barely changes with flat type, from 2.33% for five-room flats to 2.58% for two-room flats 12. Flat type makes little difference to how often a flat resells.

A further 402 resales in the window came from blocks completed in 2021 and 2022 12. They are left out of the rates, because the datasets do not show when those flats' owners bought them, and many may not have been free to sell for the whole year. HDB's resale terms say a seller can grant an Option to Purchase only after meeting the Minimum Occupation Period, which for a subsidised flat is 5 years from the date of purchase (HDB, terms updated 7 September 2026; rules as at 9 October 2026) 3.

Which towns resell fastest?

The table ranks all 26 towns with resales by their resale rate. It also gives the four-room rate and, for a sense of how steady the flow is, the median and lowest number of four-room resales a quarter over the last eight quarters 12.

Source: HDB resale flat prices 1 and HDB property information 2, data.gov.sg; Sightlines analysis. Quarterly counts cover all four-room resales registered from October 2024 to September 2026, eight quarters 1. A median ending in .5 falls between two quarters.

The spread between towns is narrower than many buyers expect. Punggol, the most active, resold 3.16% of its flats; Serangoon, the least active, 1.84% 12. Even at Serangoon's rate, 387 flats were resold in the year, and four-room resales never fell below 33 in a quarter 12.

Small towns are the exception for a buyer who needs a steady flow of comparable deals. Bukit Timah had a median of 4.5 four-room resales a quarter, and as few as 2 in its slowest quarter 1. Marine Parade had a median of 8.5 and a low of 6 1. The rate in those towns is ordinary, at 2.34% and 2.01% 12. There are simply few flats, 2,479 and 6,529 2.

Why do younger blocks resell more often?

Grouping blocks by completion year shows the clearest pattern in the data.

Source: HDB resale flat prices 1 and HDB property information 2, data.gov.sg; Sightlines analysis. Two-room to executive flats.

Flats in blocks completed from 2016 to 2020 resold at 4.74%, about two and a half times the 1.86% rate for blocks from 1979 or earlier 12. Blocks completed from 2010 to 2020 hold 18.2% of the flats but produced 31.1% of the resales 12.

This is not only a town effect. Sightlines compared blocks from 2010 to 2020 with blocks from 1989 or earlier inside each town 12. In all 18 towns with at least 1,000 flats in both groups, the younger blocks resold at the higher rate 12.

Source: HDB resale flat prices 1 and HDB property information 2, data.gov.sg; Sightlines analysis.

The data shows the pattern, not the reason, but two mechanisms fit it. The first is the Minimum Occupation Period 3. Owners in a young block tend to have bought at about the same time, so many may become free to sell within a short span; the datasets do not record purchase dates, so this cannot be confirmed from them. The second is financing. CPF Board says buyers can use a pro-rated amount of their CPF savings when a property's remaining lease is at least 20 years but does not cover the youngest buyer to age 95 4. Older flats have shorter leases left, so the rule is more likely to apply to them, which could thin the pool of buyers (CPF Board guidance last updated 6 July 2026; rules as at 9 October 2026) 4.

The town ranking follows from this. Punggol's blocks have a median completion year of 2011, and Serangoon's 1986 2. In Serangoon, blocks completed from 2010 to 2020 hold only 88 flats 2. A town with few young blocks will have a lower resale rate, whatever else is true of it.

Is the flow of deals steady through the year?

Mostly, with one soft quarter. Island-wide, registered resales of all flat types ran between 6,042 and 7,413 a quarter in seven of the last eight quarters 1. The exception was the fourth quarter of 2025, at 5,020 1.

Source: HDB resale flat prices, data.gov.sg 1; Sightlines analysis. Counts are by month of registration; October 2026 is still being reported and is left out 1.

The third quarter of 2026 was the busiest of the eight, with 7,413 resales 1. Four-room resales moved in step, from a low of 2,164 in the fourth quarter of 2025 to a high of 3,269 in the third quarter of 2026 1. The records show when deals were registered, not why the count changed.

How do you check a block before you buy?

Both datasets are public, and the check takes a few steps 12.

1. Find the block's completion year in the HDB property information dataset 2. It lists every block by number and street, with the year completed and the number of flats of each type sold.
2. Count recent resales in the block and street in the resale records 1. Use the same flat type and the last 12 months of registrations 1.
3. Compare with the benchmarks above. At the island-wide four-room rate of 2.48%, a block's four-room flats would see about 2.5 resales a year for every 100 flats 12. For blocks completed from 2016 to 2020, the all-type rate was 4.74% 12.
4. Check the town's quarterly flow. A town with dozens of four-room resales each quarter gives a seller many recent comparable deals for a valuation; a town with single figures does not 1.

A blank result is common and not a warning on its own. Of 9,777 blocks completed by 2020 with sold flats of these types, 1,735, or 17.7%, had no two-room to executive resale registered in the 12 months 12. The median block had 2 12.

A worked example: two four-room flats, two towns

A household is choosing between a four-room flat in Serangoon and one in Punggol, and wants to know how easily each might resell in future.

• Serangoon: 10,231 sold four-room flats in blocks completed by 2020, and 177 resales in the year, a rate of 1.73% 12. A median of 46.5 four-room resales a quarter over two years, and at least 33 in every quarter 1.
• Punggol: 23,061 sold four-room flats, 804 resales, a rate of 3.49% 12. A median of 211 a quarter, and at least 162 1.

The arithmetic says Punggol's four-room flats changed hands about twice as often, 3.49% against 1.73% 12. Yet Serangoon's flow is still steady: at least 33 four-room deals every quarter for two years is a market, not a desert 1.

The block-age table explains much of the gap 12. Punggol's blocks have a median completion year of 2011, against 1986 for Serangoon, so more of its flats sit in the young groups that resell fastest 2. For this household, the useful question is whether the specific block is young or old, and how many deals its street recorded, not which town has the higher headline rate.

What this does not tell you

A resale rate counts completed sales. It does not show how long flats took to sell, how many were listed and withdrawn, or the price a seller accepted 1. A high rate can mean many willing buyers. It can equally mean many owners who became free to sell at once, which may be part of the story in young blocks 3.

The rates use flats in blocks completed by 2020 as the base 2. The occupation period runs from each flat's purchase, not its block's completion 3. Some flats in the youngest blocks may not have been free to sell for the whole year, so their rate may understate how often eligible flats resell. The property dataset's coverage runs to the end of 2025 2.

What would change the answer:

• A new wave of blocks reaching their five-year mark could lift a town's rate, if the pattern in the 2010 to 2020 blocks holds 12.
• A change to financing rules on older flats could change how readily they resell 4.
• A quieter market would lower rates everywhere. The counts by quarter will show that first 1.

The rule that lasts: judge resale ease by the block's age and the street's recent deal count, not the town's name. For most buyers, resale ease need not decide the choice of town. Every town except the three smallest recorded hundreds of resales in the year 12.

This is general information, not financial advice. Check the current rules with IRAS, HDB, CPF Board or your bank before you commit.