Condo Loan in Singapore: LTV Limits, Tenure and Monthly Cost

A bank can lend up to 75% of a condo’s price or valuation, and that ceiling drops to 55% when the loan runs past 30 years or past your 65th birthday. A separate test usually decides the outcome first: the bank must size your instalment using an interest rate of at least 4% a year, even when your package charges less than that.

Most condo loan applications are settled by that 4% assessment rather than by the loan-to-value ceiling. The sections below work through both limits on a $1.8 million purchase.

How much a bank will lend on a condo

Loan-to-value (LTV) is the loan expressed as a percentage of the property’s value. Banks apply it to the lower of the purchase price or their valuation.

For loans on residential property where the Option to Purchase (OTP) is granted on or after 6 July 2018, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) sets these limits:

Outstanding housing loans	LTV limit	Minimum cash downpayment
None	75% or 55%	5% at 75% LTV, 10% at 55% LTV
1	45% or 25%	25%
2 or more	35% or 15%	25%

The minimum cash portion cannot come from CPF. Eligible CPF Ordinary Account (OA) savings can cover the rest of the equity, subject to CPF housing rules.

A published limit is a ceiling. It does not oblige any bank to lend that percentage, and it says nothing about what your income will support. Our condo downpayment guide works through the cash and CPF split once the approved loan is known.

Two conditions cut the limit from 75% to 55%

MAS caps housing loan tenure at 35 years for non-HDB property. The lower LTV limit applies if either condition is true:

1. The loan tenure exceeds 30 years.
2. The loan period extends beyond the borrower’s age of 65.

A 35-year condo housing loan therefore carries a 55% ceiling by definition. So does a 30-year loan taken by a borrower aged 40, because it ends at 70.

On a $1.8 million purchase, the two ceilings are far apart:

Item	75% LTV	55% LTV
Maximum loan	$1,350,000	$990,000
Equity required	$450,000	$810,000
Of which minimum cash	$90,000	$180,000

Stretching tenure to reduce the monthly payment can cost $360,000 more in equity. Price the tenure decision against the equity it consumes before choosing it.

Joint borrowers use an income-weighted average age

For a joint application, MAS requires banks to use the income-weighted average age rather than the older borrower’s age:

(Borrower 1 age × borrower 1 income + borrower 2 age × borrower 2 income) ÷ combined income

Take a couple aged 42 earning $9,000 a month and 35 earning $6,000 a month. Their weighted age is 39.2. A 30-year loan would end at 69.2 and attract the 55% ceiling, so holding the 75% ceiling means capping tenure at 25 years.

A higher-earning younger borrower pulls the weighted age down. Ask the bank to compute this figure before you fix the tenure.

TDSR is tested at 4%, not at your package rate

The Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) limits total monthly debt repayments to 55% of gross monthly income for loans where the OTP is granted on or after 16 December 2021. It counts car loans, personal loans, credit card minimums and other property loans alongside the new mortgage.

When banks compute the instalment for this test, MAS requires them to use the higher of the applicable package rate after any promotional period and a medium-term interest rate floor. That floor has been 4% a year for residential property loans since September 2022.

On a $1,350,000 loan over 30 years:

Basis	Assumed rate	Monthly instalment used
TDSR assessment	4.00% floor	$6,445
A package charging 3.5%	3.50%	$6,062

The test adds $383 a month of assumed cost. At the 55% cap, a $6,445 assessed instalment needs gross monthly income of about $11,718 with no other debt. A $1,500 car loan raises that requirement to roughly $14,445.

Clearing a car loan or personal loan before applying can lift the approved amount more than shopping for a marginally lower rate. Our TDSR and MSR guide sets out how each debt enters the calculation.

What the monthly payment costs

The figures below assume a $1,350,000 amortising loan and a constant rate for the full tenure. They are illustrations of the rate and tenure mechanism, not a forecast of any package.

Interest rate	30-year tenure	25-year tenure
2.5%	$5,334	$6,056
3.0%	$5,692	$6,402
3.5%	$6,062	$6,758
4.0%	$6,445	$7,126

They exclude fire insurance, monthly maintenance charges, property tax and any mortgage insurance. Ask each bank for the instalment at the offered rate and at a rate two percentage points higher.

Buyer’s Stamp Duty (BSD) sits outside the loan. On a $1.8 million residential purchase, BSD is $59,600 under the bands applying from 15 February 2023. Our Buyer’s Stamp Duty guide shows the band-by-band working.

Fixed and floating packages price different risks

A fixed-rate package holds the rate for a stated number of years, then moves to a rate defined in the same contract. A floating package tracks a published benchmark, commonly the Singapore Overnight Rate Average (SORA), plus a spread. Neither structure fixes your cost for the full tenure.

Read these terms in the Letter of Offer before comparing headline rates:

• the rate during the fixed or promotional period, and the rate after it
• the lock-in length and the early redemption penalty
• the penalty on partial capital repayments during lock-in
• the legal and valuation subsidy, and the clawback period attached to it
• how many free repricing or conversion options the package includes
• the cancellation fee on any undisbursed portion of the loan

A subsidy with a three-year clawback constrains refinancing for three years. For a new launch, the undisbursed portion matters more, because the bank releases the loan in construction stages set out in our new launch payment schedule.

Get an In-Principle Approval (IPA) before paying a booking fee or exercising an OTP. An IPA states what the bank is prepared to lend based on your documented income and debts, which is the figure your offer should be built on.

A second condo loan changes the arithmetic

With one outstanding housing loan, the LTV ceiling falls to 45%, or 25% under the tenure and age conditions above, and at least 25% of the price must be cash. On the same $1.8 million purchase:

Item	First loan at 75%	Second loan at 45%
Maximum loan	$1,350,000	$810,000
Equity required	$450,000	$990,000
Of which minimum cash	$90,000	$450,000

Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) applies on top for a second residential property. Selling the first property before completion, or redeeming its loan, can restore the first-loan limits, so the sequence of the two transactions changes the cash you need. Our condo affordability guide covers how the upfront funds and the monthly commitment interact.

Checks before you commit to a package

Work through these in order, using the exact unit and your own figures:

1. Ask the bank for the income-weighted average age and the longest tenure that still holds the 75% ceiling.
2. Get the assessed instalment at the 4% floor, then the income and debt level that clears TDSR at 55%.
3. Confirm the valuation the bank will use, because the amount above valuation needs cash.
4. Compare the rate after the fixed period, the lock-in end date and the subsidy clawback date against your likely sale or refinancing date.

A 75% loan and a 35-year tenure cannot be held at the same time. Decide which one your cash position needs more, then get an IPA that reflects it before you negotiate a price.

Sources: MAS, loan tenure and loan-to-value limits, MAS, MSR and TDSR rules, MAS, reply on the 4% medium-term interest rate floor, MoneySense, how much you can afford, IRAS, Buyer’s Stamp Duty.