Summary
HDB’s guidelines for selling price is to follow the market price.
Valuators will only come down to the unit to perform valuation only when the selling price differs significantly from the market price.
With sellers not doing valuation anymore, HDB prices have stabilised a lot.
Article
As a buyer of an HDB flat, you will have to perform a valuation after you have agreed on the burying price of the house and paid the deposit (usually around S$1000). In the past, the seller will perform the valuation, with the sellers adding COV onto the valuation that HDB gives them.
Now that sellers are not allowed to perform valuation, many sellers are confused as to what price they should be selling. HDB’s guidelines are to follow the market price. HDB does not allow sellers to apply for valuation before they start selling the place. Instead, the buyer will agree with the seller on the price, and the seller will give the buyer the OTP to apply for valuation.
Only the buyer will know the valuation, and he or she does not have to tell the seller the valuation. This has caused the market to neglect COV. However, COV still exists even though it is not talked about.
Nowadays, not all valuators will come down to the unit and take photos. If they deem that the valuation is similar to the selling price, they will simply ascribe the selling price as the valuation. However, if the selling price differs from the market price substantially, valuators will come down to the unit to perform the valuation.
These changes have allowed prices to stabilise a lot, since sellers in the past kept adding COV onto the valuation, leading to an upward spiral. The gradual decline in HDB prices over time simply reflects the ageing of property.