Guides
Singapore Property Guides
Clear answers to the questions buyers and sellers actually ask, written from MAS, HDB, CPF and IRAS rules, with worked examples and a calculator link for each one.
Foundational Guides
Start hereThe standard questions every buyer or seller runs into: loan limits, stamp duties, and the buying and selling process.
How Much Home Loan Can You Get in Singapore
TDSR, MSR and LTV limits explained, with a worked example showing which one actually caps your loan.
Read guide →TDSR vs MSR
Both cap your loan, but only one usually binds. See which rule applies to your purchase.
Read guide →Option to Purchase (OTP) Explained
What an OTP locks in, the deadlines for HDB and private property, and what happens if it lapses.
Read guide →1% Option Fee vs 4% Exercise Fee
The option fee and exercise fee commit you to different things. See exactly what each one locks in.
Read guide →ABSD Guide: Rates by Citizenship
Current ABSD rates by citizenship and property count, plus how the married-couple remission works.
Read guide →The Full Cost of Buying a Property
Every cost that stacks on top of the price tag, from BSD and ABSD to legal and valuation fees.
Read guide →Can a PR Buy an HDB Resale Flat?
PR status duration, the household schemes available, and the block-level quota most buyers miss.
Read guide →HDB Resale Levy Explained
The levy isn't triggered by selling. See who actually pays it, how much, and when it's due.
Read guide →MOP Reached: What Are Your Options?
Sell, rent out the whole flat, rent a room, buy private property, or simply stay. What each one requires.
Read guide →Seller's Stamp Duty (SSD) Holding Period
SSD now runs 4 years on residential property bought on or after 4 July 2025, at rates up to 16%.
Read guide →Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) Rates
The tiered BSD table from 1% to 6%, worked examples, and the 14-day stamping deadline.
Read guide →HDB Loan vs Bank Loan
Rate, tenure, minimum cash, CPF use and refinancing compared, with an instalment table.
Read guide →HDB Resale Grants for First-Timers
The Family Grant, EHG and Proximity Grant: amounts, income limits and what you refund on sale.
Read guide →Buried in the Fine Print
What most sites skipWhat's actually written in HDB's Conditions of Sale, bank loan offer letters, and CPF rules, that most buyers never read and most guides don't bother explaining.
CPF Accrued Interest
Your CPF withdrawals accrue 2.5% compounding interest until you sell. See how much that quietly costs you.
Read guide →Legal Subsidy Clawback
A bank's legal fee subsidy isn't free money if you refinance away within the clawback window.
Read guide →The ABSD Remission 6-Month Clock
Married couples can get ABSD refunded, but only if the first property is sold within 6 months of buying (or of TOP/CSC for an uncompleted property). See exactly when the clock starts.
Read guide →Negative Equity in Singapore
If your loan outstanding exceeds your property's value, selling doesn't erase the gap. See how redemption works.
Read guide →Owning and Renting Out
After you buyThe annual taxes that come with owning a home, and how renting it out changes them.
HDB Buying and Selling
How the HDB resale process works from eligibility letter to key collection, on both the buying and selling side.
Buying an HDB Resale Flat: Step by Step
The 11 steps from HFE letter to key collection, with the deadlines and fees that catch buyers out.
Read guide →EIP and SPR Quota Explained
Why a flat can be off-limits to your household, and the three points at which HDB checks.
Read guide →The HFE Letter Explained
What it confirms, how income is assessed, validity, and what breaks it.
Read guide →Selling an HDB Flat: Step by Step
Intent to Sell, OTP, completion day, and exactly what is deducted from your sale proceeds.
Read guide →HDB Flats for Singles and Seniors
Age 35 and 55 thresholds, income ceilings, 2-room Flexi, short leases and Community Care Apartments.
Read guide →Temporary Extension of Stay
Stay up to 3 months after completion: who qualifies, what the buyer pays, and the $20 fee.
Read guide →HDB Ownership and Life Events
What you can and cannot do with an HDB flat after you own it: occupiers, ownership changes, renting out and life events.
Changing HDB Flat Ownership
Adding, removing or replacing a co-owner: eligibility, how you hold the flat, and the conditions that follow.
Read guide →Your HDB Flat After Life Events
Divorce, death of an owner, marriage, break-up or a change in citizenship: who can keep the flat.
Read guide →Adding or Removing Occupiers
Which relatives can move in, the property conditions, and why removing a name can cost you the flat.
Read guide →HDB Owners Buying Private Property
MOP, what the ban covers, keeping your flat, and where ABSD comes in.
Read guide →Lease Buyback vs Silver Housing Bonus
Stay and sell the tail-end lease, or right-size for a bonus of up to $40,000: who qualifies.
Read guide →Renting Out a Whole HDB Flat
Citizen-only, MOP-gated, quota-limited: the full rulebook and the application steps.
Read guide →Loans, CPF and Financing
How loans, CPF and refinancing rules work in practice, written from MAS, HDB and CPF sources.
Cash and CPF for a Resale Flat
Which payments must be cash, what CPF can cover, and how the remaining lease caps CPF use.
Read guide →Co-Borrowers and Guarantors
Why a parent can't just guarantee your loan, and the lower LTV they face afterwards.
Read guide →If You Can't Pay Your HDB Loan
Short-term and long-term assistance, how to apply, and the cost of extending your loan period.
Read guide →Home Protection Scheme Explained
When HPS is compulsory, how the premium is paid, who is exempt and why health matters.
Read guide →Home Equity Loans (MWL)
Borrowing against your property: tenure, LTV, the 50% TDSR exemption and who can use it.
Read guide →Paying Your HDB Loan: CPF, GIRO and Age 55
Due dates, CPF vs GIRO, early repayment and what changes to CPF use when you turn 55.
Read guide →Refinancing Your Housing Loan
HDB to bank is one-way. MAS tenure cap, LTV and MSR/TDSR rules on refinancing, and the timeline.
Read guide →How TDSR Is Calculated
The 4% interest floor, the 30% income haircut, what counts as debt and a worked example.
Read guide →Using CPF for Housing
OA only, a mandatory valuation, reserving OA before 55, and what CPF cannot pay for.
Read guide →Taxes and Stamp Duty
Stamp duty, property tax and income tax questions, based on IRAS rules.
Stamp Duty Refund on an Aborted Purchase
A deal that collapses can still cost you stamp duty unless you claim within 6 months.
Read guide →ABSD Refund for Single Seniors (55+)
The eight conditions for singles aged 55 and above who buy a replacement home.
Read guide →What Counts as Residential Property?
Permitted use vs zoning, HDB shops with living quarters, and the 60/40 land rule.
Read guide →Objecting to Your Annual Value
What counts as a valid objection, the deadlines, and the honest odds.
Read guide →Is Property Sale Profit Taxable?
No capital gains tax, but IRAS can tax property trading. The four criteria it looks at.
Read guide →Stamp Duty Deadlines and Penalties
14 days to stamp, penalties of up to 4 times the duty, and the 0.4% mortgage duty capped at $500.
Read guide →Stamp Duty Relief: Family and Divorce
When BSD, ABSD and SSD can be remitted on a family or divorce transfer, and the conditions.
Read guide →Private Property and ECs
Executive condominiums and private property rules that buyers often get wrong. See the EC owners hub →
EC Rules After Buying
5 or 10-year MOP, renting rooms or the whole unit, the resale levy and buying your next home.
Read guide →Buying an Executive Condominium
Eligibility, the $18,000 income ceiling, the EC grant table and the 5% + 15% downpayment.
Read guide →Bridging Loan for an EC
Why a new EC rarely needs one, when a resale EC or your next home does, and the rules that cap it.
Read guide →Own an HDB Flat and Buying an EC
The 6-month disposal deadline, the two start dates HDB uses, and how to work backward from it.
Read guide →Financing an EC
Bank loans only, MSR until the MOP ends, 75% and 55% loan limits, and no Home Protection Scheme.
Read guide →Selling Your EC: Who Can Buy It
MOP, the years when only citizens and PRs can buy, full privatisation, and what resale buyers face.
Read guide →After You Sell Your EC
Private home, resale flat, BTO or another EC: the 30-month wait and resale levy for each.
Read guide →