Property True Cost Calculator
See the real cost of owning an HDB flat or condo in Singapore - not just the monthly mortgage.
Property & Purchase
Affects default fees, property tax assumptions and Seller's Stamp Duty treatment.
Stamp duty is charged on the higher of price or market valuation.
Counts residential properties you already own, including overseas ones for ABSD declaration purposes.
Typically S$1,800-S$3,000 for HDB and S$2,500-S$4,000 for private property.
Valuation, buyer agent fee, mortgage insurance, HDB admin fees and similar one-off items.
Renovation is real money spent that you rarely get back at resale.
Loan & CPF
The HDB concessionary rate is 2.6% per year. Bank rates float and can reset.
Maximum is 75% for both HDB loans and first bank housing loans.
Up to 25 years for HDB flats and 30 years for private property.
The rest comes from cash. Bank loans require at least 5% of the price in cash.
Every dollar of CPF OA you use stops earning 2.5% and must be refunded with accrued interest when you sell.
Ongoing Holding Costs
S&CC for HDB flats, or MCST maintenance fees for condos.
IRAS estimate of yearly rent if the property were let out. Check it on the IRAS portal.
HDB fire insurance is small; private home and mortgage insurance costs more.
Aircon servicing, plumbing, painting, appliance replacement and general wear and tear.
Growth & Exit
Your assumption for how fast the property appreciates. Use 0% for a flat market.
How long you plan to keep the property before selling.
Usually 2% of the sale price, plus 9% GST on the commission.
Conveyancing cost when you sell.
Rental (Optional)
Gross rent before vacancy, agent fees and income tax.
Weeks the unit sits empty between tenants each year.
As a percentage of gross annual rent.
Marginal rate applied to net rental income after the 15% deemed expense deduction and mortgage interest.
What You Pay Upfront
Upfront Breakdown
Your Real Monthly Cost
Average over your holding period. Loan principal is excluded because it becomes your equity, not an expense.
Instalment plus running costs, less net rent. This is what actually leaves your accounts.
Break-even Sale Price
The price you must sell at to walk away neither richer nor poorer, after every cost above.
At your assumed annual growth rate.
After every cost, including CPF accrued interest and selling costs.
After repaying the loan and refunding CPF principal plus accrued interest.
Principal used plus accrued interest. Still your money, but locked in CPF.
- Return on Cash + CPF Invested
- 0%
- Annualised Return
- 0%
- S$0
- Outstanding Loan
- S$0
- Selling Costs
- S$0
- Seller's Stamp Duty
- -
Things to Check
Year by Year
| Year | Loan Left | Interest Paid | CPF Used + Accrued | Total Put In | Break-even Price | Growth Needed | Projected Price | True Profit / Loss |
|---|
Assumptions Used
- BSD: 1% on the first S$180,000, 2% on the next S$180,000, 3% on the next S$640,000, 4% on the next S$500,000, 5% on the next S$1,500,000 and 6% above S$3,000,000.
- ABSD rates are the ones in force since 27 April 2023.
- Owner-occupier property tax uses the annual value bands effective from 1 January 2025; rented-out units use non-owner-occupier rates.
- Seller's Stamp Duty for private property bought on or after 4 July 2025 is 16%, 12%, 8% and 4% for sales in years 1 to 4.
- CPF Ordinary Account accrued interest is compounded at 2.5% per year on every dollar withdrawn.
- Selling agent commission attracts 9% GST.
- Rental income tax uses the 15% deemed expense option plus a deduction for mortgage interest.
This is an estimate for planning only. Confirm stamp duty with IRAS, loan limits with your bank or HDB, and CPF usage rules with the CPF Board before committing.
Why the Monthly Mortgage Is Not the Real Cost
Almost every Singapore property calculator answers one question: what is my monthly instalment? That number is comforting and badly incomplete. It ignores the tens of thousands of dollars that leave your bank account before you get the keys, the costs that keep running for as long as you hold the property, and the money you quietly give up by paying with CPF instead of cash.
This calculator works out the full picture. It starts with the upfront block: the cash portion of the downpayment, the CPF portion, Buyer's Stamp Duty, Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty if it applies to you, conveyancing fees and renovation. For a S$1.6 million condo bought by a Singapore Citizen buying a second home, ABSD alone adds S$320,000 on top of everything else. That is not a rounding error, and no mortgage calculator will show it to you.
Then it adds the running costs. Maintenance or conservancy charges, property tax based on your annual value, home insurance, repairs, and the depreciation of a renovation that you will almost never recover at resale. On top of that sits the item most buyers never price in at all: CPF accrued interest. Every dollar of Ordinary Account money you use for the property stops earning 2.5% per year, and when you sell you must return the principal plus all the interest it would have earned. That refund goes back into CPF, not into your pocket, and it can quietly consume the entire paper profit on a flat.
Finally it looks forward. The tool calculates the price you would need to sell at, five and ten years out, just to break even after every cost, and translates that into the annual price growth the property has to deliver. If breaking even after five years requires 3.4% growth a year and the market has been doing 1%, you have learned something important before signing anything.
How to Use It
- Set the property and buyer profile: Pick HDB or condo, enter the price, and choose the buyer profile that matches your citizenship and how many residential properties you already own. This drives ABSD, which is often the single largest upfront line.
- Set the loan and CPF split: Choose an HDB concessionary loan at 2.6% or a bank loan at your own rate, then set how much of the downpayment and monthly instalment comes from CPF rather than cash.
- Fill in the running costs: Enter maintenance, the annual value used for property tax, insurance, repairs and your renovation budget.
- Add rental if relevant: Switch on renting out to see gross yield, net yield after all costs and tax, and cash-on-cash return. Property tax automatically moves to non-owner-occupier rates.
- Read the three headline cards: Total upfront, true monthly cost, and break-even price. Then check the year-by-year table to see how the picture changes as the loan amortises and CPF interest accrues.
Key Concepts
Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) is charged on every residential purchase on a sliding scale from 1% to 6%, on the higher of price or market value.
Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) depends on your residency and how many residential properties you already own. It ranges from 0% for a citizen's first home to 60% for foreigners and 65% for entities.
Loan-to-Value (LTV) caps how much you can borrow. Both HDB loans and first bank housing loans are capped at 75%, so 25% must come from your own cash and CPF.
CPF accrued interest is the 2.5% per year your Ordinary Account would have earned on the money you used for the property. When you sell, the principal and the accrued interest both go back into CPF before you see a cent.
Annual Value (AV) is IRAS's estimate of the yearly rent your property could fetch. Property tax is charged on the AV, at lower owner-occupier rates or higher non-owner-occupier rates.
Seller's Stamp Duty (SSD) applies to private residential property sold within four years of purchase, at 16%, 12%, 8% and 4% for years one to four.
Break-even price is the sale price at which your total proceeds exactly cover everything you put in, including interest, taxes, fees, renovation and CPF accrued interest.
Common Use Cases
- Deciding whether a resale flat or a condo makes more sense once ABSD and maintenance fees are included.
- Checking how much price growth a new launch needs before it is worth buying at all.
- Comparing paying the downpayment in cash against draining your CPF Ordinary Account.
- Working out whether renting out a second property actually covers its own holding costs.
- Estimating what you would really walk away with if you sold in five years instead of ten.
- Sanity-checking an agent's projection before you exercise the Option to Purchase.
- Planning how much cash buffer you need on top of the downpayment for stamp duty, legal fees and renovation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does CPF accrued interest matter so much?
Because it is refunded to your CPF before you see any cash. If you used S$200,000 of CPF over ten years, roughly S$56,000 of accrued interest builds up on top of it. On a flat that only appreciated slightly, the entire paper gain can end up going back into CPF instead of your bank account.
Is the loan principal a cost?
No. The principal portion of your instalment converts cash into equity in the property, so this calculator excludes it from the true monthly cost and shows it separately as forced savings. Interest, on the other hand, is money gone for good.
How is the break-even price calculated?
It is the sale price where your net proceeds, after selling agent commission with GST, legal fees and any Seller's Stamp Duty, exactly cover the outstanding loan, everything you paid in, and the CPF accrued interest you must refund. Any rental income you received reduces it.
Do I pay ABSD on an HDB BTO flat?
ABSD depends on how many residential properties you own, not on whether the flat comes from HDB. A citizen buying a first home pays no ABSD. If you own another property you must generally dispose of it, and HDB eligibility rules apply on top of the tax rules.
Why does my property tax change when I rent the unit out?
Owner-occupier rates start at 0% and are heavily subsidised. Once the whole unit is let out, non-owner-occupier rates apply, starting at 12% of annual value. For a condo this can add several thousand dollars a year.
Does this apply to Seller's Stamp Duty on HDB flats?
HDB flats are subject to the 5-year Minimum Occupation Period, which is longer than the 4-year SSD window, so SSD does not normally apply in practice. The calculator sets SSD to zero for HDB and warns you if you plan to sell before the MOP ends.
Are the rates in this calculator current?
They reflect BSD rates from 15 February 2023, ABSD rates from 27 April 2023, owner-occupier property tax bands from 1 January 2025, the Seller's Stamp Duty schedule from 4 July 2025, and the 2.6% HDB concessionary rate. Always confirm with IRAS, HDB and CPF before you commit.