Retired couple (65+): rent out the HDB flat and live in Johor

A husband and wife aged 65 and over, children grown and living elsewhere, keep the HDB flat and rent it out whole. Option A rents a JB condo and stays on the 30-day social visit pass. Option B buys a home in Forest City on the MM2H SEZ/SFZ pass. Move the sliders to compare the extra money a year against staying put. Estimates only, not financial, tax, immigration or medical advice.

Option A: rent a condo, social visit pass

Legal grey area. Leaving and coming back again and again does not give a right to live in Malaysia. The 30-day pass is for visits, it does not allow work, and officers can refuse entry. [17]

Option B: buy in Forest City, MM2H SEZ/SFZ

Adjust the numbers

Results

Case	Saving a year	Capital tied up	Year 1

Central uses your sliders. Cautious and optimistic are fixed stress cases, not the sliders. Cautious: tax non-resident, two vacant months, RM2,800 condo rent, JB costs at 80%, RM2.95 per S$1, dearer medical, 40 trips, upkeep RM600 a month, 8% stamp duty. Optimistic: S$3,700 rent, RM1,800 condo rent, JB costs at 50%, RM3.30 per S$1, cheaper medical, 20 trips, upkeep RM350 a month, 4% stamp duty (half remitted). They exclude any large uninsured hospital bill and any gain or loss on the Forest City home.

Watch out

Option A is a grey area: Singaporeans may enter for up to 30 days without a visa, but the pass is for visits only. Repeated exits and re-entries give no right of long-term residence, and officers can refuse entry. There is no deposit or MM2H fee, which is why it looks cheaper. [17]
Where Option B's money comes from: keeping the HDB flat means no sale proceeds. The home and the deposit must be paid in cash from savings (plus the flat's rent). CPF cannot be used, because CPF Ordinary Account savings are for HDB flats and homes in Singapore only. You must buy before the pass is endorsed, and only 50% of the USD32,000 deposit can come back out, for a home bought within 6 months before endorsement. [11][12][16]
Option B's rules: the home must be in Forest City, bought directly from the developer, and cannot be sold for 10 years. MOTAC publishes no ringgit floor price, only "subject to Johor policy". The RM500,000 used here is the zone's own stated minimum, reported by secondary sources. Ask for a refund clause in case MM2H is rejected. [8][9][13][14]
Health and benefits (both options): MediShield Life does not pay for treatment in Malaysia, yet premiums (about S$1,326 a year each at 66 to 70) keep running without permanent residence abroad. MediSave works only for elective care at two hospitals, Regency in Johor and Mahkota in Melaka. Moving costs about S$2,500 a year in Singapore benefits. [18][19][20][21][22][23]
Flat rules and tax: only Singapore Citizens who own a Standard flat past its 5-year minimum occupation period may rent out the whole flat, with HDB approval for each 6 months to 3 years. If they become tax non-residents, rent is taxed at a flat 24%, which is the cautious case here. [2][3][4][5][6]

Assumptions behind the numbers

Both options: they keep the HDB flat and let it whole. Rent S$3,500 for a 4-room [1]. One vacant month and S$1,500 of letting costs are assumptions. The flat's Annual Value scales from S$16,020 with the rent, also an assumption. Tax: 15% of rent deducted, net rent split between two owners at resident rates, extra property tax from IRAS tiers [4][5][6]. No mortgage is assumed.
Living costs: S$2,349 a month for the couple, SingStat's average for retired households [25]. This figure came from search results, not the opened page. JB spending is 60% of that, an assumption. CPF LIFE: S$760 each, the median projected payout at 65 [24]. It affects only the stay-versus-move cash lines. No car: Grab and buses at RM800 a month, an assumption.
Health: RM4,000 each [30] plus S$400 of treatment trips to Singapore, an assumption. Trips: 26 round trips a year for two at S$6.60 each [31] plus S$20 local transfers, an assumption. Singapore benefits lost: S$2,500 a year [22][23]. One-off set-up costs of S$4,000 are an assumption. Exchange rate S$1 = RM3.1757 [26].
Option A: JB condo from RM2,100 a month, based on two listings of RM2,300 and RM1,900 [28][29]. No MM2H deposit or fees. The same 26 border trips a year as Option B, at the guide fares for two. The calculator has no slider for trips; crossing more often than that would cost more.
Option B: price RM500,000, the minimum the Forest City SFZ guide states for a qualifying direct-from-developer purchase [13][14]. MOTAC itself gives no figure [8]. For comparison, a Forest City 1+1 was listed at RM265,000 on 13 Nov 2026 [15]; I could not verify whether such a unit qualifies, so it is not used. Stamp duty: 8% for foreign buyers from 1 Jan 2026 (secondary source [14]), or 4% if the SFZ 50% remission applies, which only some completed units bought directly from the developer qualify for [13][14]. Legal fees are not modelled. Upkeep RM450 a month (maintenance, sinking fund, quit rent, insurance) is an assumption.
Option B deposit and fees: USD32,000 held in Malaysia, half (USD16,000) withdrawn toward the home and half left in. Fees RM1,000 participation, RM5,000 processing and RM2,500 for the spouse, spread over the 10-year pass, a fixed pass fee of RM500 a year for each of two passes (a conservative assumption), and RM300 renewal after the term [7][9][10]. Capital tied up is the home price plus the half of the deposit that stays. Stamp duty is counted as a year-1 cost and does not come back. The cash needed up front is higher, because the USD16,000 only returns after approval. Savings are assumed to earn 2.5% in Singapore and the Malaysian deposit 2.5%, so the deposit costs no return, an assumption. Option B counts the return on the property money as its opportunity cost.
Room: S$1,025 a month median [27], S$500 of costs, a month vacant.
Not modelled: a large uninsured hospital bill, one spouse passing away or needing care, any gain or loss on the Forest City home (it cannot be sold for 10 years), Malaysian tax on rent, legal fees, and the condo's rental deposit.

Sources