Singapore's HDB — Public Housing for Roughly Three-Quarters of Resident Households

The Housing & Development Board, set up in 1960, builds and allocates subsidised flats that most residents buy on long leases, financed in large part through compulsory CPF savings.
Official SingStat data show 77.2% of resident households lived in HDB dwellings in 2025, with condominiums and other apartments at 17.9% and landed property at 4.7%. The share of owner-occupied resident households was 90.8% in 2024, up from 89.7% the year before. Older resident-based figures cited by the Lincoln Institute put about 82% of residents in HDB flats and homeownership at 91%; these count people rather than households and are not directly comparable.
The model relies on conditions that are hard to copy: the state owns most land, enjoys strong planning powers and can mandate savings. Eligibility rules favour citizens and married couples, and ethnic integration quotas shape allocation.
Lesson: sustained public supply of owner-occupied housing can reach most households, but the approach is tied to Singapore's institutional setting.

Read the full analysis: https://www.singstat.gov.sg/find-data/explore-data-themes/households/resident-households/latest-news-data