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How Will the Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) Model Affect Me as a Potential Buyer or Seller?

Published 8 August 2025

In a joint announcement, MND and HDB announced the development of the Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) model in October 2021, after comprehensive discussions with the public, industry experts, and industry stakeholders.

The key features of the PLH model are the doubling of the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) to 10 years and increased restrictions on who can buy, sell, or rent these flats.

In addition, new PLH flats are priced with additional subsidies than regular Build-to-Order (BTO) flats, so they remain affordable despite their prime locations.

PLH Model: Key Insights

Why Is the PLH Model Necessary?
How Will the PLH Model Affect Sellers and Landlords?
How Will This Affect Future Buyers?
Outlook: Will the PLH Model Affect Regular Flats?
Looking to Buy or Sell an HDB or Private Property?
Frequently Asked Questions on the Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) Model

Why Is the PLH Model Necessary?

This new model ensures that new public housing built in prime or central locations like the city centre and the future Greater Southern Waterfront will remain affordable, accessible, and inclusive for Singaporeans, both at the initial purchase and for any subsequent transaction on the open market.

In Singapore, nearly 4 out of 5 people live in HDB flats, of which about 90% own their homes. At the heart of Singapore’s public housing programme is affordability, accessibility, and inclusivity. Therefore, it is imperative that public housing for residents in prime locations reflect the same values.

Due to their attractive locations and attributes, these downtown flats are consistently breaking the million-dollar barrier and would likely only be affordable to the well-off if left exclusively to market forces.

These charts show that in 2021, Singapore hit a record number of million-dollar HDB transactions, with many of them located in prime locations such as Pinnacle@Duxton (in Tanjong Pagar). These deals can also occur outside prime areas, such as The Peak at Toa Payoh and other similar projects in Bishan.

The BTO launch site at Rochor was the first project under the PLH model during the November 2021 sales exercise. HDB estimates that there could be an average of one PLH project each year from 2022 onwards.

How Will the PLH Model Affect Sellers and Landlords?

Because PLH flats are in prime locations and additionally subsidised to meet affordability standards, flat owners will see their MOP doubled to 10 years before they can sell.

In addition, while they may rent out their spare bedrooms, they are not allowed to rent out the whole flat after MOP. These conditions, outlined in the table below, apply to those who buy PLH properties from HDB or on the open market.

However, the government intends to require resale of PLH flats only to buyers who can meet the prevailing eligibility conditions for BTO flats. This can be in the form of an income ceiling, which is currently at $14,000 monthly household income for families. This is because without the eligibility conditions, the resale prices of these prime location flats may rise beyond the reach of many Singaporeans.

HDB also intends to recover the additional subsidies upon the sale of PLH flats as a means of evening out with BTO flat owners who are not entitled to these additional subsidies. The subsidy recovery percentage is proportional to the level of the extra subsidy provided, but exact figures have not been released yet.

How Will This Affect Future Buyers?

The eligibility conditions for buying flats under the PLH model are mostly the same as those prevailing for the purchase of BTO flats.

However, the quotas for the Married Child Priority Scheme (MCPS), which is now under the Family Care Scheme (Proximity), along with the Senior Priority Scheme (SPS), were revised and adjusted depending on the location of the sites.

Currently, first-time families get a quota of 3% and 20% for 2-room Flexi and 3-room BTOs, respectively, while second-timers get 2% and 3%.

This allows public housing in prime central locations to be more inclusive, providing more opportunities to Singaporeans whose family members do not live near the area to also live in these neighbourhoods.

For singles, only those in a family nucleus can purchase a PLH flat on the resale market,, based on present rules. They still can ballot for 2-room Flexi units in non-mature estates.

Outlook: Will the PLH Model Affect Regular Flats?

With the implementation of the PLH model only applicable for future HDB projects and not retrospectively to existing public housing flats, it remains to be seen if these new measures will have any direct impact on the resale market.

But as more HDB flats are built in prime areas in the future, we could see prices acclimatise for existing and newer flats in those regions. Future BTO projects not in prime areas could also see higher take-up rates as prospective balloters could be turned off by the 10-year MOP.

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