HDB
Housing & Development Board
Just Tell Me
HDB is Singapore’s Housing & Development Board, the public agency that plans towns, builds flats and supports public housing.
Also called: Housing & Development Board, Housing and Development Board
Explain Like I’m Five
HDB is the public agency behind most of Singapore’s public housing. It does more than construct blocks: it plans towns, supports home ownership and looks after the wider living environment through housing programmes and estate improvements.
Where You’ll Run Into It
You will see “HDB” on flat listings, housing applications and signs around public-housing estates. People also use it as shorthand for the homes themselves, as in “I live in an HDB flat.”
Example
“Is that an HDB flat or a condo?”
The speaker is asking whether the home is part of Singapore’s public-housing system or a private condominium.
The Part People Get Wrong
HDB is the agency, while an HDB flat is a home built or sold under the public-housing system. The terms are closely linked, but they are not exactly the same thing.
Sources
Related
- housingResale flatUpdated
A resale flat is an existing HDB flat bought from its current owner instead of directly from HDB in a new-flat sales exercise.
- housingTown councilUpdated
A town council manages and maintains common property in the HDB estates within its town, funded partly through Service and Conservancy Charges.
- housingVoid deckUpdated
A void deck is the open, sheltered ground-floor space beneath many HDB blocks, used for passage, community activities and social functions.
- housingBTOUpdated
BTO means Build-To-Order: an HDB sales exercise where eligible buyers apply for new public housing flats in selected projects.