Affordability Calculator

How to use this calculator

1. Gross monthly income. Before CPF and tax. Basic pay only.
2. Bonus, commission, rental. Separate, because banks discount it 30%. If half your income is commission, this field is doing a lot of work.
3. What you are buying. This is what switches MSR on. HDB and EC direct from developer are subject to it; private condo and landed are not.
4. Home loans you are still paying. Sets your LTV — 75% on your first, 45% on your second, 35% after that.
5. Other loans. Car, personal, renovation, credit card minimums. These come straight off your TDSR headroom.
6. Tenure and age. Longer tenure lifts the ceiling. Running past 30 years, or past 65, cuts your LTV from 75% to 55% — usually a bad trade.

The result updates as you type.

What can you actually borrow?

Two rules decide it, and in Singapore they are both hard ceilings rather than guidelines.

TDSR — Total Debt Servicing Ratio. Every loan repayment you make, added together, cannot exceed 55% of your gross monthly income. That includes the new mortgage, your car, your renovation loan, and the minimum payment on your credit cards. It applies to every property purchase, whoever you are.

MSR — Mortgage Servicing Ratio. On an HDB flat or an EC bought direct from the developer, your housing loan alone cannot exceed 30% of gross monthly income. It sits on top of TDSR, and because 30% is well below 55%, it is usually the one that binds.

Whichever ceiling is lower is your monthly limit. Work backwards from that figure at the stress-test rate and you have the loan.

Why 4%, when nobody is quoting 4%

Banks do not assess you at the rate they will give you. MAS requires them to test your loan against a floor — currently 4% p.a. for residential property — so that a rate rise does not turn a working budget into a default.

It means your approved loan is smaller than your quoted rate suggests, and that gap is deliberate. It also means shopping for a lower rate does not increase what you can borrow. It only changes what you pay.

How we calculate it

Your monthly ceiling is the lower of the two limits, less what you already repay. That figure is then run backwards through a standard annuity formula at the 4% stress rate to give the loan it supports:

P = M × [ 1 − (1 + r)⁻ⁿ ] / r

Purchase price is the loan divided by your LTV. Upfront cash and CPF is the remaining share of the price, plus BSD, plus roughly S$3,000 in legal and valuation fees.

Run a few what-ifs

The number on its own tells you less than the gaps between numbers.

Clear a car loan. An S$800 monthly repayment is S$800 straight off your TDSR headroom — worth about S$150,000 of borrowing power at 25 years. Almost always the biggest single lever, and the only one you fully control.

Add a co-borrower. Two incomes raise both ceilings. But tenure is then set by the income-weighted average age, so a younger, lower-earning partner moves it less than you would expect.

Stretch the tenure. 25 to 30 years lifts the ceiling roughly 11%. Push past 30, or past age 65, and LTV falls from 75% to 55% — which costs you far more than the tenure gained.

Turn variable income into fixed. S$2,000 of commission counts as S$1,400. The same S$2,000 on your basic pay counts in full.

Buy your second property. Nothing about TDSR changes, but LTV drops from 75% to 45%. The loan barely moves; the cash you need roughly doubles.

Questions people ask

Is this the number my bank will give me?

It is the number the rules allow. Banks apply the same TDSR, MSR and stress rate, so a straightforward salaried case usually lands close. Self-employed income, variable pay, a thin credit file or an existing guarantee can all pull the real figure down.

Does MSR apply to an EC?

Only when you buy direct from the developer. Buy an EC on the resale market after its five-year MOP and MSR no longer applies — TDSR alone governs, which usually means a larger loan.

How much of the down payment can be CPF?

On a 75% LTV purchase you put down 25%, of which at least 5% must be cash. The other 20% can come from your CPF Ordinary Account. Stamp duty can also be paid from CPF, though on a resale you usually pay cash first and reimburse yourself.

What if my income is mostly commission?

Banks count 70% of it. The calculator does this automatically, so enter the real figure rather than pre-discounting it. If commission is most of your income, expect the bank to want two years of notices of assessment.

Does an HDB loan work differently?

Yes. HDB lends up to 75% at a concessionary rate over a maximum 25 years, and assesses you itself rather than at the 4% bank floor. This calculator models a bank loan. If you are weighing HDB against a bank, that comparison is worth a conversation — the answer changes with how long you plan to hold.

Will checking this affect my credit score?

No. Nothing here is submitted anywhere. There is no credit check, no sign-up, and nothing is stored.