A jumbo HDB flat at 93B Telok Blangah Street 31 has been listed for sale at $2.18 million, and the Housing Board has said it is reviewing the scheme that allows such flats to exist. The Straits Times reported that HDB called the asking price "significantly higher" than comparable transactions, and that no resale application for the flat has been submitted yet.
The flat is two three-room units joined into one. The owners bought the first from HDB in December 2017 and the one next door in August 2021, after that neighbour was allowed to sell during the minimum occupation period because of family circumstances. The listing agent puts the combined flat at 1,465 sq ft with 91 years left on the lease.
What a jumbo flat is
HDB has let owners combine a three-room or smaller flat with an adjacent unit since 1993, for households that need more space. The owners must first get HDB's assessment that the two units can be joined structurally. Once approved, the two become a single flat under one lease, and it can be sold on the open market after the five-year minimum occupation period. It is one flat, not two, for every rule that follows: eligibility, financing, and letting.
What the street actually sells for
Roov's HDB records for Telok Blangah Street 31, resales in the last 12 months:
3-room: 23 resales, median $750,000, from $672,888 to $800,000. Median $1,025 psf.
4-room: 51 resales, median $975,000, from $865,000 to $1,138,000. Median $974 psf.
In block 93B itself, a 3-room of about 732 sq ft resold for $695,000 in August, and 4-roomers of about 1,001 sq ft have changed hands between $945,888 and $1,042,800 since April.
HDB's own yardstick was two three-room flats at the top of the recent range, about $1.54 million in total. The asking price is more than $600,000 above that, or over 40 per cent.
Per square foot, it asks for a record
$2.18 million over 1,465 sq ft is about $1,488 psf. That is 45 per cent above the street's 3-room median, and almost exactly the highest price per square foot any HDB flat has fetched in the last 12 months in Roov's records: $1,500 psf, for a 4-room at Pinnacle@Duxton on Cantonment Road in May.
In total price, it would also be a new national high. The record today is the 5-room at 96A Henderson Road that sold for $1,728,000 in April. Behind it, Roov's records show a 5-room at Cantonment Road at $1,701,000 this month, and two 5-room flats in Dawson at $1.65 million and $1.7 million.
Million-dollar flats are not rare any more. They were 366 resales in 2023, 1,035 in 2024 and 1,593 in 2025, and 2026 has already reached 1,405 in the months recorded so far. What is rare is a flat asking this far above the ones next to it.
What $2.18 million buys in District 4
The more useful comparison for a buyer is not other HDB flats but what else the same money buys nearby. Roov's URA records show resales in District 4 over the last 12 months of 99-year condominiums about the size of this flat, at or under its asking price:
The Pearl @ Mount Faber: 4 resales, median $2,135,000 for about 1,372 sq ft.
Reflections at Keppel Bay: 2 resales, median $2,105,000 for about 1,313 sq ft.
The Berth by the Cove: one resale at $2,015,000 for about 1,453 sq ft.
Those are private condominiums with facilities, bought without HDB's eligibility rules, and in the case of Keppel Bay, on the waterfront. Whether a jumbo flat is worth more to a particular household is a real question, since space counts and some families need exactly this layout. But at this price the buyer is choosing between them, not between this flat and a cheaper HDB one.
Where the money actually has to come from
This is the part that matters most, and HDB named it directly. A housing loan, whether from HDB or a bank, is sized on the lower of the price and the valuation. Anything paid above the valuation is cash over valuation, and it cannot be borrowed or paid from CPF. It is paid in cash, up front.
HDB has not said what this flat would value at, and nobody can until a resale application is made. But as an illustration: if the valuation came in near the $1.54 million HDB used as its yardstick, a buyer at $2.18 million would need about $640,000 in cash for the difference, before the downpayment, stamp duty and legal fees. Very few households hold that in cash, which is exactly why HDB warned that a sale at this price would "likely entail a substantial cash over valuation".
Before you pay a premium for any flat, check the recent prices yourself. Roov's valuation tool sets a unit against the transactions around it, and the affordability calculator shows what you can borrow and what has to come from cash. Our guide to how much you can borrow explains why the loan stops at the valuation.
On renting one side
The listing agent told ST that some buyers are thinking of living on one side and renting out the other. A combined flat is one flat under one lease, so it is let under the rules for a single HDB flat, whether as rooms or as a whole. Check HDB's current rules on renting out a flat and its rooms before counting that income into the price.
What happens next
HDB's review is of the scheme, not only this flat. It has not said what might change or when, and a sale at this price still needs HDB's approval of a resale application from both parties. For anyone who already owns a jumbo flat, nothing has changed today. For anyone thinking of buying one, the valuation is the number to wait for.
If the appeal is simply more space for a large household, there are other routes. We looked at what Tampines' bigger flats are actually worth for families living together, and our guide to buying an HDB resale flat covers eligibility, grants and the valuation step in order. If the premium is pushing you towards private property instead, the upgrading guide sets out the sequence and the cash involved. We also covered why HDB resale is cooling while private keeps climbing, and what scrapping the 15-month wait-out changed for private owners moving back to HDB.