Property & Mortgages: buy a home and manage the loan

Choose between BTO, resale and private, work out stamp duty and your real loan limit, pick a loan and run it until you sell.

Buying a home is the largest purchase most people here make, and most buyers learn the rules from a property agent and a banker, both of whom are paid when the deal closes. The rules are public: HDB, IRAS and MAS publish them. But they are spread across many pages, they change, and they interact. Your eligibility decides your grants, your income decides your loan, and your loan decides what you can afford. This course puts the rules in the order you meet them, from choosing BTO, resale or private to the day the lock-in ends and you decide whether to refinance. Each module ends with a number or a decision worked out on your own figures.

What you'll be able to do

• Compare a BTO, resale or private home on cost, waiting time, restrictions and resale over ten years
• Check your HDB eligibility and the CPF housing grants you qualify for against HDB's current rules
• Calculate BSD, ABSD and any Seller's Stamp Duty for your purchase using current IRAS rates
• Work out your own maximum loan under the LTV limit, MSR and TDSR before you speak to a bank
• Compare an HDB loan and three bank packages on total interest over the lock-in
• Build a dated purchase timeline showing what is paid in cash and what from CPF
• Decide when to reprice, refinance, sell or upgrade with a written break-even

Syllabus

Module 1: Choose the path: BTO, resale, EC or private

Compare the four ways to buy a home in Singapore on price, waiting time, restrictions and resale, and decide whether buying now beats renting a while longer.

• 1.1 What a BTO really costs you in time and freedom
• 1.2 Resale flats: market price, but you move in sooner
• 1.3 Executive condos and private homes: who can buy and what changes
• 1.4 Rent longer or buy now: compare them honestly
• 1.5 Compare two homes over ten years

Module 2: Check your eligibility and the grants you can claim

Find out which homes you are allowed to buy, which CPF housing grants you qualify for, and which rules follow you after you buy, using HDB's own tools.

• 2.1 HDB eligibility: citizenship, family and income
• 2.2 CPF housing grants: who qualifies and where the money goes
• 2.3 Rules that follow you after you buy
• 2.4 Get your HDB Flat Eligibility letter and read it

Module 3: Work out the stamp duties before you commit

Calculate Buyer's Stamp Duty, Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty and Seller's Stamp Duty from the current IRAS rates, and know when ABSD can be refunded.

• 3.1 BSD: tiered rates that work like tax bands
• 3.2 ABSD: who pays it and when it comes back
• 3.3 Seller's Stamp Duty if you sell too soon
• 3.4 Build a stamp duty calculator

Module 4: Know your loan limit before a banker tells you

Work out how much you can borrow under the loan-to-value limit, the Mortgage Servicing Ratio and the Total Debt Servicing Ratio, using MAS and HDB rules and the stress-test rate.

• 4.1 LTV limits and the cash you must put in
• 4.2 MSR: the cap on instalments for HDB flats and ECs
• 4.3 TDSR and the stress-test interest rate
• 4.4 Variable income, other debts and guarantors shrink your limit
• 4.5 Work out your own maximum loan

Module 5: Choose the loan: HDB or bank, fixed or floating

Compare an HDB concessionary loan with bank packages, understand fixed, floating and SORA-pegged rates and lock-ins, and decide on tenure and whether to pay from cash or CPF.

• 5.1 HDB loan or bank loan
• 5.2 Fixed, floating and SORA-pegged packages
• 5.3 Lock-ins, clawbacks and the real cost of a package
• 5.4 Loan tenure, and paying from cash or CPF
• 5.5 Compare an HDB loan and three bank packages

Module 6: Get through the purchase step by step

Follow the steps of a resale, BTO and private purchase from option to keys, understand valuation and cash over valuation, and build a dated timeline of every payment.

• 6.1 The resale purchase, from option to keys
• 6.2 Valuation and cash over valuation
• 6.3 BTO and new launches: progressive payments
• 6.4 Lawyers, insurance and the paperwork at completion
• 6.5 Build your purchase timeline

Module 7: Own it well: yearly costs, lease and renting out

Count the yearly costs of owning, understand what a shrinking lease does to value and financing, and know the rules for renting out a room or a whole home.

• 7.1 Property tax, fees and upkeep
• 7.2 Lease decay: what a shrinking lease does
• 7.3 Renting out a room or the whole home
• 7.4 Build your annual cost of ownership

Module 8: Reprice, refinance, sell or upgrade

Decide what to do when your lock-in ends, work out the break-even on switching, and plan a sale or upgrade with the stamp duty, CPF refund and timing in view.

• 8.1 Reprice or refinance when the lock-in ends
• 8.2 Work out the break-even on switching
• 8.3 Selling: proceeds, the CPF refund and the timing
• 8.4 Upgrading or right-sizing in the right order
• 8.5 Build your home plan and five-year watchlist

Frequently asked questions

How long does the course take?

About nine hours of lessons and exercises. The exercises use your own income and a real home you are considering, so have recent payslips and a few listings ready.

How is this different from Big goals: wedding, home, car and kids?

Big goals plans the savings for a downpayment as one goal among several. This course covers the rules of buying: eligibility, grants, stamp duty, loan limits, choosing a loan, the purchase steps and managing the loan after.

Will the rules go out of date?

Yes, often. Stamp duty rates, loan limits, grants and income ceilings change with government policy. The course teaches how each rule works and sends you to HDB, IRAS, MAS and CPF Board for current figures, so your sheets use this year's numbers.

Is this financial advice?

No. The course is education and does not replace financial advice. It teaches how the rules work and how to decide, and never tells you which home or loan to choose. Check current rules with HDB, IRAS, MAS and the CPF Board, and speak to a licensed adviser or lawyer about your own case.

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