How to Sell Your Condo in Singapore: The Full Process

Selling a condominium runs on a fixed sequence: settle your constraints, price it, appoint an agent, grant an Option to Purchase, wait for the buyer to exercise, then complete. The deadlines inside that sequence are contractual, and the costly errors happen when a seller commits to an onward purchase before the sale is firm.

Three things decide whether you should list at all: whether Seller's Stamp Duty still applies, what the sale nets after the loan and CPF refund, and where you will live next.

Settle three constraints before you list

Your Seller's Stamp Duty date. SSD applies to residential property sold within the holding period. For a purchase made on or after 4 July 2025 the schedule runs over four years, from 16% down to 4%. An earlier purchase follows the previous three-year schedule. Our condo selling costs guide sets out both.

What the sale nets. The proceeds first discharge the outstanding mortgage, then refund your CPF principal and accrued interest. What remains is the cash you carry to the next purchase. Our CPF accrued interest guide explains why that refund is larger than the amount you withdrew, and where it lands if you are 55 or above.

Your onward plan. Selling first gives certainty about the proceeds and avoids ABSD on a second property. Buying first secures the next home but requires funding both. Our guide on whether to sell the condo first or buy first works through the trade-off.

Sellers who skip the first two and discover them during the option period lose negotiating room at the worst moment.

Price from transacted data

Ask for recent transacted prices in the same project, not asking prices. Compare the same stack where possible, then the same floor band, unit size and facing. A high listing in the project tells you what someone hopes for, not what a buyer paid.

Where the project has few recent transactions, widen to comparable projects of similar age and tenure in the same locality rather than to the district average.

Set the asking price with the completion timeline in mind. A price that takes six months to find a buyer can push completion past a date that matters to you, such as an SSD threshold or the completion of an onward purchase.

Appoint an agent and read the agreement

Estate agents are regulated by the Council for Estate Agencies. The agency agreement fixes the commission, the term, whether the appointment is exclusive, and what happens if you sell to a buyer you found yourself.

Our property agent fees guide covers the fee structures, co-broking and the exclusivity trade-off in detail. Settle those terms before signing rather than at the point of an offer.

Appoint a conveyancing solicitor at the same time. The solicitor needs to be in place before you grant an option, because the option commits you to the sale terms.

From offer to exercised option

A private property sale is granted through an Option to Purchase. Market convention is an option fee of 1% of the price, an option period of 14 days, and a further 4% when the buyer exercises, making a 5% deposit. CEA notes these terms are negotiable, so confirm what your option says rather than assuming the convention.

Inside the option period the buyer arranges valuation and loan approval. Two outcomes are possible:

• The buyer exercises. The sale is firm. The buyer pays the balance of the deposit and the contract moves to completion.
• The option lapses. You keep the option fee and return to the market, having lost the option period.

The option states the completion date, commonly around 8 to 12 weeks after exercise. That date is the one your onward purchase and your moving plans must work around, so negotiate it rather than accepting a default.

Where the property is tenanted, the tenancy and its terms have to be disclosed and dealt with in the option. Our condo selling costs guide covers how a sitting tenant narrows the buyer pool.

From exercise to completion

Once the option is exercised, the work sits largely with the two solicitors. Your side handles:

1. Serving notice of redemption on your bank, since most mortgages require notice before the loan is discharged.
2. Requesting the CPF refund computation, so the completion account is correct.
3. Providing the title documents, the management corporation's records and any outstanding maintenance information.
4. Apportioning property tax and maintenance charges to the completion date.
5. Settling any outstanding charges that would otherwise delay discharge.

Stamp duty on the sale contract falls due within 14 days of execution where SSD applies, which lands well before completion pays you. Plan the cash for that gap rather than assuming it comes out of the proceeds.

On completion, the buyer's solicitor releases funds, your mortgage is discharged, CPF is refunded and the balance is paid to you. Keys and access devices change hands on the same day unless the option provides otherwise.

Where the sale falls out of sync

Three failure points account for most delayed or collapsed private sales, and each has a check that catches it early.

The buyer's financing. A buyer who has not secured approval in principle before taking the option may fail to exercise. Ask what stage their loan application has reached before granting the option, rather than after.

A valuation shortfall. Where the bank values the property below the agreed price, the buyer must fund the difference in cash. A buyer without that reserve either renegotiates or walks. The risk rises when the agreed price sits above recent transactions in the project.

Redemption timing. Mortgage redemption requires notice, and the discharge has to land on completion day. A notice period served late pushes completion, and a delayed completion can trigger interest payable to the buyer under the contract.

Where you have an onward purchase, a delay on this sale cascades into it. Build a buffer between the two completion dates rather than matching them exactly, and tell your solicitor about both transactions from the start.

The handover checklist

• Confirm the redemption notice period with your bank as soon as the option is granted, since a short notice period can delay completion.
• Get the CPF refund figure in writing before you commit the proceeds to anything.
• Read the meters and settle utilities to the completion date.
• Return all access cards, car park labels, keys and remote controls, and get a receipt.
• Notify the management corporation of the transfer so maintenance billing moves to the buyer.
• Update your address with IRAS and CPF, since property tax and any owner-occupier relief follow the address.

Sell when the SSD position is clear, the net proceeds cover your next step, and the completion date fits the onward purchase. Where any of the three is unresolved, resolve it before listing rather than during an option period, because a firm option removes your ability to change course.

Sources: CEA, buying or selling a private residential property, CEA, practice guidelines on options to purchase and sale and purchase agreements, IRAS, Seller's Stamp Duty, CPF Board, CPF refund when selling or transferring property, CEA, engaging a property agent.