The decision layer for buying, upgrading, or refinancing property in Singapore.

Roov is a Singapore property decision tool. It answers three questions before you commit to a purchase: can I afford it, is the timeline safe, and is it a good asset. It reads current statutory rates — ABSD, BSD, TDSR, MSR, LTV and the MAS 4% stress floor — from a versioned table rather than hard-coding them, and it works off real URA and HDB transaction data.

Your limit is the lower of two ceilings: what the loan rules allow and what your cash and CPF cover. Banks size the loan against TDSR — total monthly debt, including the new mortgage, capped at 55% of gross monthly income — and, for HDB flats and ECs, MSR, which caps the mortgage alone at 30% of income. Both are stress-tested at a 4% floor rather than the rate you are quoted, so the loan you qualify for is smaller than today's rates suggest. LTV then caps the loan against the property value. Roov computes both ceilings and shows which one binds.

Two duties, both due within 14 days of the signed agreement. Buyer's Stamp Duty applies to everyone, on a rising scale of the purchase price or market value, whichever is higher. Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty depends on residency and how many homes you already own: a Singapore citizen pays nothing on a first home, 20% on a second and 30% on a third or more; permanent residents pay 5%, 30% and 35%; foreigners pay 60%. A married couple buying a second home can have the ABSD remitted if they sell the first within six months of completion.

A first-timer family buying a resale flat can stack three grants: the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant, up to $120,000 and scaled to household income up to $9,000; the CPF Housing Grant for Resale Flats, $80,000 for a 4-room or smaller and $50,000 for 5-room or larger; and the Proximity Housing Grant, $30,000 if you live with parents or child and $20,000 if you live within 4km. That is up to $230,000. Singles aged 35 and over get half of the EHG and Family Grant amounts. From 24 August 2026 the income ceiling for the Family Grant is $16,000 and for singles $8,000.

Apply for your HDB Flat Eligibility letter first — it is mandatory, it confirms your grants and loan eligibility, and it takes weeks, so starting late delays everything after it. Then set your budget, view flats, and check recent transactions in the same block before you offer. Any amount you agree above the valuation is cash over valuation and must be paid in cash. Secure the flat with an Option to Purchase, arrange financing, and submit the resale application to HDB. Expect three to six months end to end, of which about eight to twelve weeks follow the OTP.

A BTO is cheaper and comes with a fresh 99-year lease, but you wait roughly three to five years and only the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant applies. A resale flat costs more and its lease is already running, but you move in within months and can stack all three grants — which for a lower-income first-timer family closes much of the price gap. The real question is whether you can wait, and what the wait costs you in rent or in a lease you are already burning.

An HDB concessionary loan is fixed at 2.6% and lets you borrow up to 75% of valuation with as little as 5% cash or CPF down, but it is available only for flats and only if you meet the income and ownership rules. A bank loan is often priced below 2.6% today, but the rate moves, it needs 5% in cash of the purchase price, and it is stress-tested at 4%. Roov compares the two on total cost over your actual holding period, not on the headline rate.

It depends on three numbers the advertised rate does not show: what your loan actually resets to when the lock-in ends, the legal and valuation costs of moving, and whether the new package's lock-in traps you above market later. Refinancing to another bank usually beats repricing with your current one, because new-customer pricing is better than retention pricing. Roov works the saving net of costs, and shows the break-even month.

On residential property sold within the holding period after purchase — four years for property bought on or after 4 July 2025, on a scale that falls each year held. It is charged on the higher of the sale price and market value. HDB flats rarely attract it, because the five-year Minimum Occupation Period means the flat cannot usually be sold inside the window in the first place.

Decoupling means one co-owner transferring their share to the other, so the outgoing owner counts as owning no property and can buy the next one without Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty. It applies to private property only — HDB decoupling has not been available to married couples since 2016. It is not free: BSD is payable on the transferred share, the remaining owner has to carry the whole loan on their own income, and the sums only work at certain price and income combinations. Roov models the whole transaction before you commit to it.

Selling first frees your cash and CPF and avoids ABSD, but leaves you needing somewhere to live and exposed to a rising market. Buying first secures the home you want, but requires the ABSD in cash within 14 days — remitted later only if you sell the first property within six months — and a bridging loan to cover the gap. The right answer depends on your CPF balance, the ABSD you would have to front, and how tightly the two completion dates can be made to meet.

Yes, for the core tools — affordability and eligibility, live mortgage rates, stamp duty, HDB grants eligibility, purchase and sale timelines, and a two-unit cost comparison. Pro (S$12 a month or S$100 a year, 31% less paid yearly) adds valuation, the investment scorecard, the upgrading planner, unit-level transaction data and the rest of the deep tools.

Transactions come from URA and HDB, mortgage rates from published bank packages with SORA from MAS, and statutory rates from IRAS, MAS and HDB. Every rate is stored with the date it took effect, so a report run last year still shows the numbers that were correct then.