How much do you need to move out?
HDB approved rentals · 2025-10 to 2026-09
Work out the real cost of renting near your campus in Singapore — deposit, stamp duty and commission included, split between you and your flatmates. Then check what flats near your university actually rented for last month.
Pick your campus
Real approved rents, block by block. 12 months to 2026-09.
What it actually costs to move out
Monthly rent is about two thirds of the real number. Here is the cash you need before you get keys, and what it works out to each once you split it.
Above 6 people the owner must apply to HDB before the tenancy starts. It is not automatic, and there is a fee. The cap of 8 for 4-room and larger flats is a temporary relaxation running to 31 December 2028.
Needed before you get keys
—Monthly, after moving in
—Where the day-one money goes
- First month rent
- —
- —
- Stamp duty, 0.4% of total rent
- —
- Agent commission
- —
Excludes the deposit, which comes back at the end.
What rents are doing
Whole-flat medians near the six campuses, from contracts approved in the three months to 2026-09.
3-Room HDB
S$2,900half fall in S$2,700–S$3,100+1.8% · of 2,131 contracts4-Room HDB
S$3,450half fall in S$3,150–S$3,800+1.5% · of 2,368 contracts5-Room HDB
S$3,600half fall in S$3,300–S$4,000+2.9% · of 1,458 contractsRed flags when renting in Singapore
Most students who lose money lose it the same way: committing from overseas, to someone they have only messaged.
No CEA number, no deal.
Every agent here is registered and carries a number. Ask before you ask about the flat.
Not checked on cea.gov.sg? Not verified.
Name, number and agency must all match. One minute, and the most useful minute you will spend.
No HDB approval letter, no tenancy.
Without it your lease can be terminated — and you are the one moving out.
Money to a personal account before signing? Stop.
A small holding deposit against a signed LOI is normal. A full deposit with nothing in writing is not.
Rent far below the range on this page? Assume bait.
Underpricing is how fake listings get you onto WhatsApp and then onto a transfer.
Rules that decide whether you can rent at all
HDB flats have a minimum tenancy of 6 months, for a whole flat or a single bedroom alike. A 12-month student lease clears that comfortably, so everything on this page is available to you.
Whole flat
Renting a whole flat as a non-Malaysian non-citizen is subject to the Non-Citizen Quota: 8% at neighbourhood level, 11% at block level. If a block is full, only Singaporeans and Malaysians can rent there.
One bedroom
Renting a single bedroom is not subject to the quota at all. The trade-off is that the owner must continue to live in the flat with you.
Staying under 6 months, for a single exchange semester? HDB is closed to you entirely and you need the private market, which has a 3-month floor.
See exchangestay.sg for semester stays →Agent commission: what is law and what is only custom
- No legal rate exists. Every fee is negotiable and must be in writing.
- One agent, one side. Collecting from landlord and tenant in the same deal is an offence. CEA has fined agents for it.
- Told before, not after. The fee must be disclosed before the agent works for you — not after you sign the LOI.
- Go direct, pay nothing. No agent of your own means the landlord pays theirs.
- Custom, not law: about one month total, usually landlord-paid. Under S$6,000/month, tenants are increasingly billed half to one month.
Local tenants often pay nothing because they view flats themselves and deal with the landlord's agent directly. Students arriving from overseas usually cannot, so they engage their own agent and get billed. The difference is not your nationality — it is who engaged the agent. You can change that.
Common questions
- Can international students rent an HDB flat?
- Yes. Student Pass holders are eligible tenants, provided the pass has at least 6 months validity when the owner applies. Two limits matter: renting a whole flat is subject to the Non-Citizen Quota, and the minimum tenancy is 6 months whether you take a whole flat or a single bedroom.
- Does the Non-Citizen Quota apply to renting a room?
- No. The quota applies only when a tenant rents the whole flat. Renting a single bedroom is not subject to it. The trade-off is that the owner must keep living in the flat while you rent a room there.
- Why are these prices lower than PropertyGuru?
- Portals show asking prices set by landlords. These are rents that were actually agreed and approved by HDB. The gap between the two is the room you have to negotiate.
- How many of us can share one flat?
- Four people for a 1- or 2-room flat, six for a 3-room, and eight for a 4-room or larger. Above six, the owner must apply to HDB before the tenancy starts. The cap of eight is a temporary relaxation running to 31 December 2028.
- Why is the distance in kilometres, not travel time?
- Distance is measured straight-line from the town centre to campus, which is honest about what it is. Door-to-door travel time needs routing data we have not connected yet, and a made-up number would be worse than none.
- How often is this updated?
- HDB publishes new transactions monthly, and this site rebuilds itself from the live dataset on a monthly schedule. The period covered is shown at the bottom of every page.
Source: HDB approved rentals via data.gov.sg · 2025-10 to 2026-09
General information on Singapore tenancy rules, not legal or financial advice. Minimum tenancy periods, occupancy caps and stamp duty rates are set by HDB, URA and IRAS and can change; confirm current rules before you sign anything.
Last updated 2026-10-05
Rental data from HDB and URA via data.gov.sg and the URA Data Service. Location data from OneMap, © Singapore Land Authority.
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