SERS vs VERS: How HDB Redevelops Old Flats, What You Get, and Why No More SERS Is Planned
The two ways the Government takes back ageing HDB blocks. How SERS works and what it paid, why HDB has no plans for more, what is known and not known about VERS, when flats reach 70 years of their lease, and what happens when a lease runs out.
SERS is compulsory: HDB selects blocks with high redevelopment potential, pays owners market value and a removal allowance, and offers eligible owners a SERS grant and new flats on fresh 99-year leases at subsidised prices fixed at the announcement. HDB says there are currently no plans for more SERS projects; the last was announced in April 2022. VERS will be voluntary: in precincts the Government selects, with flats around 70 years into their leases, residents will vote, and if they agree the Government buys back the precinct. It is planned to start with a few sites in the first half of the 2030s, and will pay less than SERS because the flats will have much shorter leases left.
Two schemes decide what happens to HDB flats as they age. The Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) has, since 1995, compulsorily bought selected old blocks and moved their owners into new flats on fresh 99-year leases. The Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (VERS), announced in 2018, will let residents of much older flats, in precincts the Government selects, vote on whether it buys their precinct back.
This guide explains both side by side: what SERS paid and why HDB now has no plans for more, what the Government has and has not decided about VERS, how many flats reach the 70-year mark of their leases and when, whether an HDB block can be sold en bloc like a condo, and what happens at the end of a lease. Official positions are HDB's and MND's, as at 19 September 2026.
What are SERS and VERS?
They are the Government's two ways of redeveloping old HDB blocks. SERS, since 1995, is compulsory and selective: HDB picks blocks, buys the flats and rehouses owners in new flats on fresh 99-year leases. VERS, announced in 2018 and not yet started, will be voluntary: in precincts the Government selects, residents of flats around 70 years into their leases vote, and if they agree the Government buys back the precinct.
| SERS (Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme) | VERS (Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme) | |
|---|---|---|
| Since | August 1995 | Announced 2018; first sites likely in the first half of the 2030s |
| Who decides | HDB; "residents do not get to vote" | The Government selects precincts; their residents vote |
| Which flats | Blocks with high redevelopment potential; "no fixed age criteria" | Flats from around the 70-year mark of their 99-year leases |
| What owners get | Market value and, if eligible, a SERS grant and a new flat on a fresh 99-year lease at a subsidised price fixed at the announcement, plus a removal allowance | Not yet decided; "the terms will be less generous than SERS" |
| Status | "There are currently no plans for more SERS projects" (HDB, 2026) | Details, including the package and the vote, still being worked out |
Sources: HDB's SERS page (updated 20 March 2026); MND, 9 May 2022; National Day Rally 2018; MND, 24 September 2025.
The two schemes do different jobs. SERS unlocks prime redevelopment sites early; VERS is meant "to facilitate the orderly redevelopment of ageing estates", spacing out the rebuilding of towns where many blocks were built at the same time (MND).
SERS was chosen for you and paid generously; VERS will be a decision you vote on, for less.
Is SERS still happening?
No new projects are planned. HDB's SERS page says there are currently no plans for more, because most sites with high redevelopment potential have already been selected. The last SERS announcement was Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 in April 2022; over the scheme's life, about 41,000 flats across 82 sites have been announced.
HDB's own words: "SERS involves compulsory acquisition and is highly selective. There are currently no plans for more SERS projects as most of the projects with high redevelopment potential have already been selected" (HDB).
- How many. About 41,000 flats across 82 sites have been announced for SERS, out of roughly a million HDB flats; MND has said only about 5% are suitable, and that this "is not a target" (MND).
- The latest. In April 2022, HDB announced SERS for four blocks at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, 606 mainly 3- and 4-room flats completed in 1979, with replacement flats nearby (HDB). We found no SERS announcement since.
- The largest. Tanglin Halt Road and Commonwealth Drive, rehoused at Dawson and Strathmore Avenue.
- In September 2026, MND repeated that "SERS can only apply to a small proportion of sites".
Check any block on HDB's upgrading status e-service, which shows whether it has been announced for SERS.
Do not buy an old flat counting on SERS: HDB has said there are currently no plans for more.
What did owners get under SERS?
Compensation at market value when SERS was announced, set by a professional private valuer, a $10,000 removal allowance, and stamp and legal fees for a replacement flat; plus, for eligible owners, a SERS grant towards a replacement flat of $30,000 for families ($15,000 for singles). Eligible owners were assured a new flat on a fresh 99-year lease at a subsidised price fixed at the announcement.
The package, as HDB set it out for the April 2022 Ang Mo Kio exercise under the heading "Rehousing Benefits for Eligible SERS Flat Owners" (HDB, Annex C), with MND's 2022 answers:
- Compensation for the existing flat "based on market value at the time of the SERS announcement", assessed by a professional private valuer, with appeals to an independent Appeals Board.
- A removal allowance of $10,000 per flat, and stamp and legal fees for buying a comparable replacement flat.
- A SERS grant, "if eligible", of $30,000 for families and joint singles and $15,000 for singles, for the purchase of a replacement flat.
- An assured new flat, "if eligible", with a fresh 99-year lease at the designated replacement site, at a subsidised price "fixed at the time of the SERS announcement"; 2-room Flexi options on 99-year or short leases for owners aged 55 and above; exemption from the resale levy if the SERS flat is a subsidised flat; an HDB loan for eligible owners.
- Alternatives: apply for a flat elsewhere with a 10% priority allocation, take an ex-gratia payment "of $30,000 plus SERS grant, if eligible" instead of the rehousing benefits, or sell the SERS flat, with its rehousing benefits, on the open market.
- Extra options at Ang Mo Kio, whose flats had only about 57 years of lease left: owners aged 45 and above could buy the replacement flat on a 50-year lease, and those aged 65 and above could take the Lease Buyback Scheme on their existing flat and buy a short-lease replacement of the same type (MND, January 2023).
How long it takes. "The entire SERS process takes an average of five years or more" from announcement to moving in (HDB). The replacement flats also carry "almost double the lease of the existing flats".
HDB's live SERS page no longer lists the package; these terms are from the 2022 exercise.
SERS paid market value, then subsidised the move on top.
Is SERS compulsory?
Yes. The Government acquires the land compulsorily under the Land Acquisition Act, and residents do not get a vote. Owners can appeal the compensation to an independent Appeals Board.
At the 2018 National Day Rally, then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong put it plainly: "HDB decides on SERS, and residents do not get to vote", and "with generous compensation, we can make the acquisition compulsory" (MND). SERS "involves compulsory acquisition" (HDB), and disputes over the compensation go to an independent Appeals Board.
That is the main difference from VERS, which cannot proceed unless residents vote for it.
Under SERS the question was never whether to go, only what you would get.
What is VERS, and when will it start?
A voluntary scheme for flats around the 70-year mark of their leases: residents of a selected precinct will vote, and if they agree the Government buys back all the flats and redevelops the site. MND expects to start with a few sites, likely in the first half of the 2030s, and scale up in the late 2030s. The package, the vote threshold and the funding are still being worked out.
What the Government has said (MND, September 2025; Committee of Supply, March 2026):
- When: "start with a few selected sites, likely in the first half of the next decade", then "progressively scale up the VERS programme by the late 2030s", when more flats reach the 70-year mark.
- How: residents vote; "The Government will buy back the whole precinct" if they agree (National Day Rally 2018).
- Not every old flat: "it is not necessary for every older flat to go through VERS", and residents who are offered VERS may "collectively decide not to proceed". Those residents "can continue to stay in their flats until the leases run out", supported by upgrading such as HIP II.
- Why: to stage redevelopment over decades rather than "tear down many old flats within a short time in the 2070s and 2080s" (Minister Chee, May 2026).
What has not been decided: the compensation package, the voting threshold, how sites are chosen and paced, and the funding (MND, July 2022; MND, April 2026). MND and HDB will consult the public on draft proposals before finalising the policy.
VERS is a vote you may one day get, on terms not yet written.
How many HDB flats will reach 70 years of their lease, and when?
Very few before the late 2030s. Counting from each flat's lease start, the clock VERS runs on, the first sold flats reach the 70-year mark in 2036; 24,464 do by 2041 and 78,552 by 2046, 7.1% of today's sold flats. That fits MND's timing: more flats reach the 70-year mark from the late 2030s.
| By year | Blocks | Sold flats at 70+ years of lease | Share of today's sold flats | For comparison: sold flats in blocks 70+ years old |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 1,335 |
| 2031 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 1,584 |
| 2036 | 3 | 120 | 0.0% | 15,867 |
| 2041 | 216 | 24,464 | 2.2% | 32,985 |
| 2046 | 642 | 78,552 | 7.1% | 101,734 |
| 2051 | 1,551 | 194,272 | 17.6% | 212,564 |
PropKaki analysis of HDB's block record joined, by block and street, to HDB's resale records, which give each block's lease start. It holds today's stock constant (no SERS, demolition or new building) and counts sold flats only. 1,133 sold flats in older blocks, 779 of them in blocks completed before 1960, have no HDB resale record, so their lease start cannot be dated and they are left out.
Why count the lease, not the building? MND counts to "the 70-year mark of their 99-year leases" (MND). Most leases began within a year of the block's completion (82% of sold flats in blocks built up to 1990), but the oldest blocks were often sold years after they were built: in blocks finished before 1970, the lease began a median of 3 years later. Counted by building age, 15,867 sold flats would be past 70 by 2036; counted by lease, 120.
| Lease began | Reaches 70 years | Sold flats |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 to 1969 | 2036 to 2039 | 11,130 |
| 1970 to 1974 | 2040 to 2044 | 35,011 |
| 1975 to 1979 | 2045 to 2049 | 105,649 |
| 1980 to 1984 | 2050 to 2054 | 121,821 |
The first leases, from the late 1960s, reach 70 from 2036; the far larger 1970s groups cross in the 2040s. MND: "Starting from the late 2030s, we will start to see more HDB flats reach the 70-year mark of their 99-year leases."
If your flat's lease began in the 1970s, it reaches 70 in the 2040s: that is when VERS could reach you.
SERS vs VERS: which is better for owners?
SERS, by design: it paid market value plus a grant and a subsidised new flat, usually for flats with around 70 years of lease left. VERS will pay less, because the flats will be around 70 years into their leases, with about 29 years left, and MND has said it should not create a 'lottery effect' or become a 'wealth generating' programme. But VERS is voluntary.
| SERS | VERS | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical lease left when offered | Around 70 years for past SERS flats (about 57 at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3) | Around 29 years (flats about 70 years into their leases) |
| Compensation | Market value and a removal allowance; if eligible, a SERS grant and a new flat at a price fixed at the announcement | "Lower compared to SERS", MND says; details not decided |
| Your say | None; compulsory | A precinct vote |
| Still available | No plans for more | Planned from the 2030s |
Sources: SMS Sim Ann, 9 January 2023 (lease left); MND, 24 September 2025 ("Flats offered VERS will have shorter remaining leases compared to the flats which were previously offered SERS, so the overall compensation for VERS flats would be lower"). The 29 years is our arithmetic on a 99-year lease at 70.
MND has also said VERS "should not create a 'lottery effect' or end up becoming a 'wealth generating' programme".
Is VERS better than SERS? Not for your wallet. It is better only in that you get a vote.
Can an HDB block be sold en bloc like a condo?
Not through any route the Government has described. Its routes to redevelop HDB blocks are SERS, which HDB decides, and VERS, which residents vote on and the Government buys back; it has not described any condo-style collective sale for HDB flats. SERS was loosely modelled on private en bloc sales, but it is a compulsory acquisition.
- SERS is the closest thing to an HDB en bloc. NLB Infopedia describes it as "loosely modelled after the private sector's en bloc sales", but the Government acquires the land compulsorily and HDB, not the owners, decides.
- VERS will add a vote, but the buyer is the Government, not a developer, and the terms will be set by the Government.
- A private collective sale, in which owners agree a price with a developer, is not something the Government has described for HDB flats.
"HDB en bloc" means SERS or, in future, VERS: the Government buys, the Government sets the terms.
What happens when an HDB lease runs out?
The flat returns to the State. MND: HDB flats are sold with 99-year leases, and after 99 years the land is returned to the State to build new homes. About 2.5% of HDB households own flats whose leases do not cover them to age 95; residents who do not go through VERS can stay until their leases run out.
- The rule: "HDB flats are sold with 99-year leases... After 99 years, the land is returned to the State, and we can recycle it to build new homes for future generations" (MND).
- Who is exposed: "about 2.5% of HDB households do not own flats that cover the owners to at least age 95"; MND notes the median lifespan of Singaporeans is 84.
- Before then: HIP II is planned to keep flats that pass the 60-year mark liveable to the end of their lease.
If you own an older flat and want income from its remaining lease without moving, see our guide to the Lease Buyback Scheme; for upgrading, our guide to HIP and NRP.
A 99-year lease ends at 99 years. Plan around the lease, not around a scheme that may not reach your block.
What is the biggest mistake people make about SERS and VERS?
Paying a premium for an old flat in the hope of SERS. HDB says there are no plans for more SERS projects, and VERS will be voluntary, decided site by site, and pay less than SERS because the flats will have much shorter leases left. A flat's price should make sense without either.
The "en bloc lottery" story dates from when HDB was announcing SERS sites. It no longer holds:
- No new SERS sites are planned. "There are currently no plans for more SERS projects" (HDB).
- VERS is not SERS by another name. Compensation "would be lower compared to SERS", and MND wants to avoid a "lottery effect".
- Not every old flat will be offered VERS, and residents offered it may vote no.
Buy an old flat for the years of lease you will use, not for a redevelopment payout that may never come.
Official sources
Check HDB and MND directly for the current position.
Methodology and sources
Where every figure comes from, and what we deliberately did not claim.
Official positions. SERS's status is from HDB's SERS page (updated 20 March 2026); its scale and the 5% estimate from MND's answers of May 2022 and September 2026; the latest site, the timeline and the package from HDB's April 2022 release and Annex C and MND's 2022 answers; typical leases at SERS and the extra Ang Mo Kio options from Senior Minister of State Sim Ann (January 2023). VERS is from the 2018 National Day Rally, MND's answers of 5 July 2022, 24 September 2025 and 8 April 2026, the Committee of Supply speech of 4 March 2026 and Minister Chee's speech of 8 May 2026. All read on 18 and 19 September 2026.
Proprietary figures. The count of sold flats reaching 70 years of their lease is PropKaki's analysis of HDB's block record joined, by block and street, to HDB's resale records since 1990, which give each block's lease commencement year; 99.6% of sold flats in blocks built up to 1990 are dated this way, and the rest are left out. It holds today's stock constant. The 29 years is our arithmetic. How we work: PropKaki methodology.
What we have not claimed: that any block will be offered VERS, what VERS will pay, or that HDB flats are legally barred from a private collective sale, on which we found no official statement either way. This is a practical explainer, not legal or financial advice. Check hdb.gov.sg and mnd.gov.sg before you rely on it.
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