Two Votes Short, Then Through: What Tiong Bahru's HIP Re-Poll Says About Small Blocks

The first vote went badly by the smallest possible margins. In November 2025, according to The Straits Times, Block 34 Kim Cheng Street got 67% in favour and Block 35 Lim Liak Street 73%. Both were short of 75%, by two votes and one vote. The other 27 blocks in the neighbourhood that voted at the same time all passed.

HDB did not drop the two blocks. The paper reported that HDB and the Seng Poh Residents' Network kept trying to reach residents who could not be contacted, and owners of rented-out flats who had not responded. Residents whose flats had already been done offered to open their homes to the two blocks, so neighbours could see the finished work.

A straw poll in July suggested the blocks could now pass, and HDB agreed to a re-poll. Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Foo Cexiang announced the result on Facebook on 28 October: 75% for Block 34 and 87% for Block 35. Works begin in November and should be finished by the end of January 2027.

These are not typical HDB blocks. The Straits Times describes all 29 blocks in the poll as four-storey walk-ups built in 1949 by the Singapore Improvement Trust, HDB's predecessor. HDB's block records, which we use for our block directory, agree:

Source: PropKaki analysis of HDB's block records.

Across the Tiong Bahru subzone our record holds 52 residential blocks from before 1960, with 1,335 flats between them. 30 of those blocks were completed in 1949, holding 556 flats. The median 1949 block has just 16 flats, and the range is 12 to 32. (The Straits Times counts 29 blocks in this poll; one 1949 block in our record may sit outside the precinct.)

One detail matters for later. The buildings date from 1949, but the flats' HDB leases do not. Every 3-room resale in these blocks in the past two years carries a lease that began in 1973 or 1974. That is why a block nearly 80 years old sells with about 47 years of lease left.

HIP goes ahead only if "at least 75% of a block's eligible Singapore Citizen households" vote in favour (gov.sg). Permanent resident households cannot vote. The Ministry of National Development has explained the high bar: the works happen inside people's homes.

The bar is the same for every block. What changes is how much each household counts:

• Block 34, 24 flats: one household is about 4.2 percentage points. If all 24 households were eligible, 75% means 18 yes votes; 67% is 16. That fits the two-vote shortfall reported.
• Block 35, 15 flats: one household is about 6.7 points. 75% of 15 rounds up to 12 votes; 73% is 11. That fits the one-vote shortfall.
• A median HIP-age block, 96 flats: one household is about 1.0 point.

In a big block, a few households who are overseas, ill, between tenants or simply not interested barely move the result. In a 15-flat block, two of them can sink it.

Six blocks have failed HIP votes in the last ten years, The Straits Times reported, citing a written parliamentary reply by National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat: one in Serangoon Avenue 2 (2017), three in Lengkong Tiga (2023) and these two. The first four were re-polled about a year later, and all four passed. Tiong Bahru's two now make it six out of six. In January, the paper said, the minister also said the authorities were studying whether to group smaller blocks together for HIP voting.

We sorted every residential block completed up to 1997, the years HIP covers, by the number of flats it holds:

PropKaki analysis of HDB's block records: 7,003 blocks completed up to 1997. Weight = 100 divided by the median block size in the band. It assumes every flat is an eligible household; where some are PR households, each vote counts for more.

Set the line at 30 flats and you get 717 blocks. That is 10.2% of the blocks in HIP's window, but only 1.7% of its flats (11,858 homes). 699 of them have four storeys or fewer, and 255 are also flagged for commercial use, such as shops. Most, 535, were completed up to 1986. Tiong Bahru accounts for 38.

So grouping small blocks for voting, the idea the minister said is being studied, would affect about one block in ten but very few flats. Our view: that is a reasonable trade. The failed votes in the past ten years all passed when asked again, which suggests the problem was reaching people, not people saying no.

HIP was first offered to flats built up to 1986 that had not had the earlier Main Upgrading Programme. In 2018 it was extended to flats built from 1987 to 1997 (HDB, Annex B, May 2026). Here is where every HDB flat stands against that rule, by the year its block was completed:

PropKaki analysis of HDB's block records: 1,175,959 flats in 10,796 residential blocks, rental flats included.

Together, the first two rows hold 693,585 flats, or 59.0% of the stock. Our record cannot tell which blocks had the Main Upgrading Programme, so this is the most that could qualify, not the number that do. HDB itself put the two windows at about 320,000 and 230,000 eligible flats. Our 1987-1997 count is within 2% of HDB's figure. Our pre-1987 count is higher because it includes blocks upgraded under the older scheme.

Next in line are the 157,445 flats in blocks from 1998 to 2006. HDB has not said when they will join.

By town, the 15 planning areas with the most flats in blocks completed up to 1997:

PropKaki analysis of HDB's block records, by URA planning area. Upper bounds: blocks that had the Main Upgrading Programme are counted.

Two patterns stand out. In Bedok and Ang Mo Kio, almost all the HIP-window flats predate 1987. In Pasir Ris and Choa Chu Kang, almost all of them came in with the 2018 extension. Small blocks are a different map: Yishun (68), Bukit Batok (64), Hougang (59) and Bukit Merah (58) have the most blocks of 30 flats or fewer, and those are the places where a handful of votes is most likely to decide a poll.

HIP has two parts (HDB, Annex B):

• Essential improvements: repairing spalling concrete, replacing waste and soil stacks, a new clothes-drying rack, and an electrical load upgrade where needed. They are compulsory once the block votes yes, and free for citizen households.
• Optional improvements: toilet and bathroom upgrade, new entrance door and grille gate, new refuse-chute hopper. You choose item by item. You can skip the toilet upgrade only if your toilets pass a water test for leaks.

HDB's figures for the full optional package, including 9% GST:

Source: HDB, Annex B to its May 2026 HIP release. Final amounts are set after the works.

Almost every flat in these two blocks is a 3-room, so a citizen owner taking everything pays about $600. Our view: for a block nearly 80 years old, the essential repairs are the real benefit, and they are free. That is also why a failed vote is costly. It does not save the owners who voted no any money; it delays free structural repairs for everyone. Permanent resident households pay the full cost of what is done and get no vote (HDB).

Three rules matter for anyone selling or buying during a poll like this one:

1. The vote binds the whole block. If the block passes, the essential works happen in every flat, including flats whose owners voted no or did not vote. A buyer takes on the result with the flat.
2. The owner on the billing date pays. HDB bills after all works in the precinct are done, and the person who owns the flat on the billing date is liable (HDB, change of ownership and upgrading costs). If the bill is issued before your resale completes, you must settle the full amount, with any interest, before completion. Once the resale is under way, you cannot use CPF to pay it.
3. Check the dates before you sign. HDB publishes scheduled billing dates for precincts, and its upgrading status e-service shows whether a block has been picked or voted. Agree in the deal who pays for which optional items.

This is not a theoretical issue. In our resale records, these two blocks had 7 resales between January 2024 and the latest data, at $735,000 to $850,000 for 88 sqm 3-room flats. The most recent was on Block 35 in November 2025, the month of the failed vote. We do not know whether that buyer voted. But anyone who bought here in the past year bought into a block whose repairs depended on a re-poll.

October 2026 resales are still being registered, so any sale around the re-poll is not in our data yet.

It is tempting to compare upgraded and not-yet-upgraded blocks, but the data does not support it here. The 27 blocks that passed in November 2025 are still being upgraded, and these two start next month. There is no "after" yet to compare.

What the data does show is how unusual these flats are:

PropKaki analysis of HDB resale registrations. October 2026 is still being registered and is left out. The SIT 3-room prices ranged from $618,888 to $850,000.

The SIT flats are bigger, and they sell for more per square foot despite a shorter lease. That premium reflects the estate's location and character, not HIP. Their median has risen every year since 2020, from $581,594 in 2020 to $800,000 in 2025, on 15 to 28 sales a year.

Our view: HIP is unlikely to show up as a price premium in an estate like this. What it removes is a risk. A buyer looking at a block from 1949 worries about spalling concrete and old pipes. After HIP, that worry is smaller, and the price can depend more on location and lease.

National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat said in March that flats will get a second round of upgrading, HIP II, when they reach 60 to 70 years, and that it will be more extensive than the current HIP (MND). HDB has not published its scope, cost or timing.

By the year each block was completed:

PropKaki analysis of HDB's block records.

Every one of the 1,335 flats in blocks 70 or older is in Tiong Bahru's SIT estate. That is an unusual position: these blocks are only now getting their first HIP, while their buildings are already past the age HIP II is meant for.

There is a catch in the measure. It is not yet clear whether HIP II's age will be counted from the building or from the lease, and these flats' leases began in 1973-74. By lease, they are in their early fifties. Until HDB publishes HIP II's rules, we would not assume a second round is close for anyone.

Four limits to keep in mind:

• The HIP window is a ceiling. Our block record cannot see which blocks had the Main Upgrading Programme, which have already been picked, or which are done. The 693,585 figure is the most that could qualify.
• Vote weights are simplified. We divide 100 by the number of flats. Real votes count eligible citizen households only, so in a block with PR households, each vote counts for more than our figure.
• Counts can differ from the reporting. We list 30 blocks completed in 1949 in Tiong Bahru; The Straits Times counts 29 in the poll. We have used the reported figures for the vote.
• Resales lag. HDB's October 2026 registrations are still coming in, and a two-year median for 34 sales moves easily with one large or small flat.

None of this changes the main point. Small blocks are a small share of HDB homes, but in each one a few households decide whether everyone gets free repairs.

From the reporting: the vote results, dates, block sizes, the outreach, the works timeline, the six failed polls and the minister's comments on grouping small blocks come from The Straits Times of 29 October 2026, which cites MP Foo Cexiang's Facebook post and a written parliamentary reply.

From HDB, gov.sg and MND: the HIP windows, essential and optional items, and cost shares (HDB, Annex B, May 2026); the 75% rule (gov.sg); the billing-date rule and billing schedules (HDB's upgrading-cost pages); HIP II (Minister Chee Hong Tat, Committee of Supply, March 2026). Read on 30 October 2026.

PropKaki's own data:

• Stock and block size use HDB's block records: residential blocks with at least one flat, grouped by the year each block was completed and weighted by flats, not blocks. Every table sums to the full stock.
• Town figures use URA planning areas.
• Resale figures use HDB resale registrations from October 2024 to September 2026 for the SIT blocks (52 pre-1960 blocks in the Tiong Bahru subzone, 3-room flats only) and for all other Bukit Merah 3-room resales. Yearly medians are calendar years 2019 to 2025.
• Vote weights are arithmetic: 100 divided by the number of flats.

How we work: PropKaki methodology.

The news:

• The Straits Times: Two Tiong Bahru HDB blocks to proceed with HIP upgrading after successful re-poll, 29 October 2026.

Official:

• HDB: Home Improvement Programme (HIP).
• HDB: Annex B, Background of HIP, May 2026.
• gov.sg: 5 things you should know if your home is undergoing HIP.
• HDB: Change of flat ownership and liability to pay upgrading cost.
• HDB: Scheduled billing date and statement of account.
• HDB: Upgrading status e-service.
• MND: Speech by Minister Chee Hong Tat at the Committee of Supply debate, March 2026.

Further reading on PropKaki: HDB upgrading in 2026: HIP, NRP, SUP and HIP II.

This is commentary by the PropKaki Editorial Desk on reporting by The Straits Times. The vote results and the residents' story belong to that reporting; the block and resale analysis, the framing and the opinions are ours.

It is opinion and general information, not legal, financial or property advice, and not a valuation of any flat. If your block is being polled or upgraded, check its status and billing date with HDB before you buy or sell.

Published 30 October 2026.