CPFB | CPF refund when selling or transferring property

Home ownership

Refund of CPF savings when you sell or transfer your property

You’ll need to refund the CPF savings you used with the accrued interest when you sell the whole property, and when you transfer or sell your share of your property to another party. Learn more about how much to refund.

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REFUND

What happens when you sell your property?

Making refunds

Sale proceeds

Upon the sale or transfer of your property, the sale proceeds will be used to pay off the outstanding housing loan taken and refund the CPF amount you used for your property.

How much do you need to refund?

The amount that you have to refund is the CPF principal amount you withdrew and the accrued interest (P+I). If you have pledged your property to meet your retirement sum, you will also need to refund the pledged amount.

Check the amount to be refunded on the Home Ownership dashboard if you were to sell your property now.

View home ownership dashboard

What happens after you make the refund?

If you are below 55, your housing refunds will be credited to your Ordinary Account (OA). If you are above 55, your housing refunds will be first used to top up your Retirement Account (RA) to meet your required retirement sum and the balance refunds will remain in your OA. You can use your OA savings to:

Pay for another property or participate in other CPF schemes.
Keep the savings in your CPF accounts to earn risk-free interest rate. Find out more about CPF interest rates.
Get higher payouts in retirement by transferring the OA balance to your SA (if you are below 55) or RA (if you are age 55 and above).
Withdraw your CPF savings for immediate retirement needs if you are above age 55.

When sales proceeds are not enough to cover the refund amount

If you have sold the property at market value but the selling price of your property is not enough to cover the outstanding housing loan and the required CPF housing refund, you will only need to refund the selling price less the outstanding housing loan to your CPF account. You do not need to top up the CPF housing refund shortfall in cash, as long as the property is sold at market value.

View video explainer about refund process

Any option money (such as an option fee or option exercise fee) you receive from the buyer in cash is considered part of the selling price and must be refunded to your CPF account before the transaction can be completed.

When transferring or selling my share of the property to someone else

If you are selling your share of a property to someone else, the refund amount may be different.

Figure 1

Part share selling price – x% of outstanding housing loan

(where x% = your share of property sold)

Figure 2

Your required CPF refund/total required CPF refund of you and your co-owner x balance sale proceeds

(where balance sale proceeds = selling price of entire property minus the outstanding housing loan)

Making a voluntary housing refund

To reduce the amount you need to refund when you sell your property, consider making voluntary housing refunds. Voluntary housing refunds allows you to enjoy the attractive interest rates of your CPF savings.

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Making refunds