This comes as demand for older HDB flats surged in the second quarter of 2019, with the number of resale transactions for flats that were 40 years old and above jumping 40 percent to 564 units in May-June 2019, from 403 units over the same period last year. Resale transactions for flats between 30 and 40 years old also climbed 10.4 percent to 1,219 units. In May, the government unveiled the updated rules on CPF usage and HDB housing loans, which provided greater flexibility to homebuyers to use their CPF to purchase property and obtain bigger housing loans provided the property’s remaining lease could cover the buyer until the age of 95. Total HDB resale transactions rose 29.8 percent quarter-on-quarter to 6,276 units in Q2 2019 – its first increase since Q3 2018. For the first half of this year, HDB resale transactions grew 6.8 percent year-on-year to 11,111 units.