99-Year Leasehold in Singapore: How Much Lease Is Left, and What Happens When It Ends

You own it for the length of the lease. In the Government's words (a gov.sg explainer sourced to HDB): "Yes. Leasehold property buyers such as HDB flat buyers are owners too." Buyers of a new flat "own the rights to their flats for 99 years", and "buyers of a 99-year leasehold private property own the rights to their property for the duration of their lease". During that time "you can decide to live in the flat, renovate it, rent it out or even sell it" (gov.sg), within the rules: an HDB flat can be sold or rented out whole only after its minimum occupation period, 5 years for a standard flat and 10 for Plus and Prime flats, whose owners can never rent out the whole flat (HDB).

The clock runs from the lease's start date, not from the day you buy. A resale buyer takes over whatever is left; URA's caveats usually record a private lease's start date, and HDB records the lease left at every resale.

At the end, the land and the building go back. SLA: "Under Common Law, ownership of the land and the buildings erected on it reverts to the lessor at the expiry of the lease" (SLA). For HDB flats, MND: "After 99 years, the land is returned to the State, and we can recycle it to build new homes for future generations" (MND).

Why leases. "In land-scarce Singapore, a leasehold system is important to allow the government the ability to reallocate land to meet the changing socio-economic needs" (SLA), and MND says "A leasehold system ensures fairness to future generations" (MND).

How common. HDB sells its flats on 99-year leases, apart from short-lease flats such as the short-lease 2-room Flexi, and 72.9% of the 25,935 private home sales lodged so far for 30 August 2025 to 30 August 2026 were on 99-year leases (URA caveats, ECs included). Whether leasehold is a worse buy than freehold is a separate question, covered in freehold vs leasehold condo and, on resale profits, freehold vs leasehold: which made more money.

A 99-year lease is ownership with an end date, and the date is in the lease, not in the building.

HDB records the lease left at every resale. Across the 12,227 resales in 2026 H1:

The shortest lease on a flat resold in the half was about 40 years. The oldest lease that changed hands began in 1966 and runs out in 2065.

Whether a lease is long enough depends on the youngest buyer's age: 65 years of lease covers a 30-year-old to 95.

PropKaki dates the sold flats in blocks completed by 1990 by the start of their lease, taken from HDB's resale records (99.6% of those flats can be dated; the rest, mostly in a few pre-war blocks, appear in no resale record), and adds 99 years:

The count is by lease start, the clock a lease actually runs on, not by the year the block was built. MND: "Starting from the late 2030s, we will start to see more HDB flats reach the 70-year mark of their 99-year leases", and it plans "a second round of upgrades via HIP II for flats which pass the 60-year mark", which "will ensure that our older flats are able to last the flat owners till the end of their 99-year lease" (MND). How many flats reach the 70-year mark, and when, is counted in SERS vs VERS.

Count from the lease's start date: on that clock, no dated HDB lease ends before 2065.

The lease ends, and the flat goes back. MND: "HDB flats are sold with 99-year leases. A leasehold system ensures fairness to future generations. After 99 years, the land is returned to the State, and we can recycle it to build new homes for future generations" (MND). Buyers of a new flat "own the rights to their flats for 99 years" (gov.sg).

You can stay until then. "For residents who do not go through VERS, they can continue to stay in their flats until the leases run out" (MND). And "For the minority who may outlive your lease, the Government will ensure that no one will be left without a roof over their heads" (gov.sg).

Before the end, two schemes can buy lease back. VERS "is a voluntary scheme that will allow home owners in selected precincts, with flats about 70 years, to vote and decide if they want the Government to take back their flats earlier for redevelopment" (gov.sg). It has not started: MND says its details "are still being firmed up" and that it can "start with a few selected sites, likely in the first half of the next decade" (MND); see SERS vs VERS. Owners aged 65 and over who meet HDB's conditions can sell part of the lease to HDB under the Lease Buyback Scheme (next question).

What you own is the years left on the lease; at 99 years there are none left to own.

Lease Buyback Scheme. HDB: "You can sell part of your flat's lease to HDB and choose to retain the length of lease based on the age of the youngest owner. The proceeds from selling part of your flat's lease will be used to top up your CPF Retirement Account (RA)." All of HDB's conditions must be met: every owner "must have reached the eligibility age (currently set at age 65) or older", at least one owner "must be a Singapore Citizen", household income of "$16,000 or less", no private home, all owners living in the flat "for at least 5 years, or 10 years for Plus and Prime flats", and "At least 20 years of lease to sell to HDB"; short-lease flats, HUDC flats and ECs are excluded (HDB). The payouts, the bonus and the downsides are in our HDB Lease Buyback Scheme guide.

VERS. In precincts the Government selects, residents of flats about 70 years into their leases will vote on whether the Government takes the flats back early (gov.sg), starting with a few sites "likely in the first half of the next decade" (MND); the scheme is explained in SERS vs VERS.

Selling lease back to the Government runs through its schemes, on its terms: the Lease Buyback Scheme now, VERS in selected precincts once it starts.

From URA caveats for resales that give a lease start date (new sales and sub sales left out):

A further 499 sales on 99-year leases gave no start date; 499 of them were new sales, which the table leaves out anyway. No executive condominium resold with under 60 years left: the oldest EC lease that resold began in 1996.

250 of the 9,497 private 99-year resales had under 60 years of lease left.

Named estates and projects whose 99-year lease began in 1960 or earlier, sold in the latest 12 months:

Prices on the same estate vary with the house type, the land and the condition, not only the lease, so the table does not show what a short lease does to a price.

Condos and apartments. Leaving out landed estates where a single strata unit changed hands (one did at Mayfair Park), the oldest 99-year leases on condo and apartment developments resold in the same months were at People's Park Complex, from 25 March 1968 (5 resales, a median 42 years left, lease ending 2067), and The Plaza, from 3 September 1968 (6 resales, 42 years left, ending 2067). What an ageing lease means for condo buyers is covered in lease decay and condo prices.

The two oldest leases still changing hands, from 1947 and 1952, have 20 and 25 years to run.

The age-95 test. Since 2019, "the amount of CPF that can be used and HDB loan amount would depend on the extent the remaining lease of the property can cover the youngest buyer until at least the age of 95" (gov.sg).

HDB's loan. Where the remaining lease covers the youngest applicant to 95, HDB lends up to 75%; where it does not, "A lower loan limit pro-rated from 75%, based on the extent the remaining lease can cover the youngest applicant to the age of 95 and above". The repayment period is also capped at the shortest of "25 years", "65 years minus the average age of the applicants" and the "Remaining lease of the flat minus 20 years" (HDB).

CPF. The CPF you may use depends on the "Remaining lease of the property", among other things (CPF). CPF's own rough guide to the most CPF you can use, as a share of the price (or the valuation, if lower): with 60 years of lease left, 80% for a youngest owner of 25 and 100% from 35; with 40 years left, 40% at 25, 50% at 35, 67% at 45 and 100% at 55. And "No CPF savings can be used if the remaining lease of the HDB flat or DBSS flat is 20 years or less at the time of purchase", with the same rule for private homes (CPF). HDB's loan table, likewise, applies only where the remaining lease "is More Than 20 Years" (HDB).

The advice the Government gives. "We encourage potential flat buyers to choose a flat with sufficient lease to cover you and your spouse till at least age 95" (gov.sg). A worked example of what the rule does to a cheaper, older flat is in how to buy a home in Singapore; how banks value short leases is in lease decay and bank valuation.

The lease you can borrow against is the lease left, measured against the youngest buyer's 95th birthday.

SLA's lease policy (SLA):

• The rule: "In general, the Government's policy is to allow leases to expire without renewal."
• The exception: "the Government will consider renewal of State leases on a case-by-case basis where they are in line with planning intention and help to further specific economic and social objectives". For homes, "the Government may allow lease renewal if it results in land use intensification, mitigation of property decay and preservation of community."
• When: applications are considered "no earlier than after half of the lease period has expired, and no later than 3 years before the expiry of the lease", though for "relatively high-density residential developments" the Government "is prepared to consider applications before at least half of the lease has expired".
• How long: "up to the original tenure (i.e. a 60-year lease will not be extended to more than 60 years) or up to the tenure in line with URA's planning intention, whichever is lower".
• The cost: "the lessee is required to pay a land premium as advised by the Chief Valuer", while "The Government has decided to waive the building premium when a lease renewal is granted".

What happens when a private lease simply runs out is covered in freehold vs leasehold condo.

A lease can sometimes be renewed, for a price and at most for its original term; it cannot become freehold.

The table counts land-titled houses only. Strata landed homes, such as cluster houses in condo-style developments, are left out; they are more often on 99-year leases. What a 999-year lease is, next to freehold, is in 999-year lease vs freehold; landed prices by house type are in semi-detached vs terrace house.

A 99-year house is the exception, not the rule, and the terrace is where you are most likely to meet one.

Across every use, 1,015 of the 1,225 sites in those records were sold on 99-year leases and 166 on shorter ones, 164 of them for non-residential uses. The two 60-year residential sites: 2012: Residential (option for retirement housing is allowed); 2023: Assisted Living Development.

So "sold by the Government" means leasehold, but not always 99 years. Site-by-site results and tender prices are in GLS sites and tender results.

Government land always comes with a lease; 99 years is the norm, not a rule.

PropKaki figures. HDB's lease left is from HDB resale records for 2026 H1, the latest complete half-year, as HDB records it at each sale. The HDB lease-end years date each sold flat in blocks completed by 1990 by its lease start in HDB's resale records (99.6% dated), the same method as our SERS vs VERS page, never by building age. Private figures are from URA caveats lodged so far for 30 August 2025 to 30 August 2026: tenure as recorded, with 499 99-year sales that give no start date left out of the lease ages; the landed table counts land-titled houses only. Government land is from URA's and HDB's land-sale records (1,225 sites). How we work: PropKaki methodology.

Rules. MND, two gov.sg explainers (one sourced to HDB), SLA, HDB and CPF Board, read on 19 September 2026.

What we have not claimed: what a shorter lease does to any particular home's price (a town's or a project's location, size and condition move prices too), or whether any home suits you. This is a guide, not legal or financial advice.