A subscription account does not accumulate priority on its own just by existing. The deposit rule and payment pattern matter as much as tenure.
The 'tenure' item in the priority score only measures how long you have held the account. Actually qualifying for top priority also requires meeting a minimum deposit balance set by region and unit size. Ten years of tenure with an insufficient balance still misses top priority — keeping the balance topped up matters as much as holding the account long.
The priority score does not count deposit frequency or amount — only tenure (capped at 17 points) counts. Rather than depositing a large lump sum, it is more efficient to maintain just enough to clear the regional minimum and put any spare money into an interest-bearing account instead.
Part of the supply is allocated by priority score and part by lottery. Even with a low score, the lottery portion is still open to you. Special categories — newlyweds, families with multiple children, first-time buyers — have their own separate quotas that usually do not compete against the general priority pool.
Winning a unit means finding money for the down payment, interim payment and balance. Interim and balance loans are capped by income and existing debt, so estimating your DSR while still preparing to subscribe makes the financing plan far easier once you win.
How you maintain the account depends on what kind of housing you are aiming for. Private developments choose winners through the score and lottery systems described above, so the deposit threshold and tenure are what count. Public national housing in the general supply, by contrast, ranks applicants mainly by the number of payments and the recognised total paid in. There, only up to a set amount per month is recognised, so paying steadily up to that cap does make a difference. The monthly cap has been changed in past reforms, so check the current figure on the official subscription portal. In short, 'paying more doesn't help' applies only to the private score system.
The private-housing score adds up three items — years without a home, number of dependants, and account tenure — for a maximum of 84 points. Tenure is capped at 17 points, the smallest share; homeless years and dependants weigh more. So opening the account early helps, but it doesn't raise your score on its own. Homeless years are calculated differently depending on your and your spouse's ownership history, and the definition of dependants has detailed conditions. Calculating your score on the official portal shows where you gain and lose points. Entering the score wrongly and winning can lead to disqualification and penalties, so be careful.
With no plans to buy soon, you may be tempted to close the account and put the money elsewhere. The first thing to weigh is that closing it resets tenure to zero; opening a new account later does not carry the old period over. If money is tight, a common choice is to cut deposits to the minimum and keep it open rather than close it. Under some conditions you can also borrow against the account to cover an urgent need without closing it. Subscription rules change often with policy, so treat this guide as general structure only, and before applying check the latest criteria on the official portal and in the recruitment notice.