Possibly – but only with his consent, and only if the address meets ACRA's requirements. You cannot simply nominate someone's address without their agreement.
Every Singapore company must have a registered office that is a physical address in Singapore (a P.O. box is not acceptable). It must be open and accessible to the public for at least three hours during ordinary business hours on each business day, because it is where official correspondence from ACRA, IRAS and the courts is served, and where the company's statutory registers must be available for inspection. That accessibility requirement is the practical obstacle with a friend's home – someone must be there to receive documents.
If the address is a residential property, it can only be used for business purposes under the Home Office Scheme. Prior written approval must be obtained from HDB (for HDB flats) or the Urban Redevelopment Authority (for private residential property), and the application must be made by the owner, tenant or authorised occupier. The scheme is intended for small-scale operations and carries conditions – limits on the number of non-resident employees, no significant increase in human traffic, no external signage, and the residential character of the premises must be preserved. Certain business activities are excluded.
Practical risks worth weighing: your friend's address becomes publicly searchable on ACRA's register, he takes on responsibility for receiving your company's official mail, and any change of tenancy or relationship means an address change must be filed with ACRA within 14 days. Missing served documents because nobody was there to receive them can lead to enforcement action against the company and its directors.
A registered office (virtual office) service avoids all of this – the address is compliant, staffed during business hours, and independent of personal relationships. Apexia provides registered office services alongside corporate secretarial support.