How much can I borrow in Singapore?

Three limits, not one

Your loan is capped three separate ways, and the smallest cap wins. TDSR limits everything you repay each month — the new mortgage plus car loans, personal loans, and the minimum on every credit card — to a share of gross income. MSR is a second, tighter cap that applies only to HDB flats and executive condominiums, and covers the mortgage on its own. LTV caps the loan against the property itself.

For an HDB purchase, MSR almost always binds before TDSR: a household with no other debt hits the mortgage-only ceiling long before it approaches the all-debts one. For private property, MSR does not apply at all, and it is usually TDSR or your cash that binds.

The stress test is why your approval looks small

Banks do not size your loan at the rate they are offering you. They size it at a floor rate set by MAS — currently 4% — and check that your income still covers the repayment at that level. With packages priced well under the floor today, the gap between the loan you can service and the loan you will be granted is wide.

This is not a formality. It is the difference between the affordability figure on a bank's marketing calculator and the number on the letter of offer, and it is the most common reason a buyer's budget has to be redrawn after an option has already been taken.

What counts as income, and what gets a haircut

Fixed salary counts in full. Variable income — commission, bonus, self-employed earnings, rental — is recognised only after a haircut, because MAS requires lenders to discount income that is not contractual. For anyone paid mostly on commission, that discount is the single biggest input into their budget, and it is why two people earning the same headline figure can be offered very different loans.

Age matters too: loan tenure is capped, and a longer tenure spreads the repayment thinner and so passes the servicing tests more easily. A borrower in their fifties will be assessed over a shorter horizon than one in their thirties, and the same income supports a smaller loan as a result.

The cash ceiling nobody prints

Even where the rules allow the loan, your own money has to cover the rest — the deposit, the duties, the legal and valuation fees, and the buffer a bank will expect you to still hold afterwards. On an HDB purchase there is also cash over valuation to consider: anything agreed above the flat's valuation must be paid in cash, and cannot be met from CPF or the loan.

In practice most buyers are limited by cash long before they are limited by TDSR. That is the number worth establishing first, because it is the one that decides which listings are worth viewing at all.

Common questions

What is TDSR in Singapore?

Total Debt Servicing Ratio caps all your monthly debt repayments — the new mortgage plus every other loan and credit card minimum — at a set share of gross monthly income, tested at a floor interest rate rather than the rate you are offered.

What is the difference between TDSR and MSR?

TDSR covers every debt you carry and applies to all housing loans. MSR covers only the mortgage and applies only to HDB flats and executive condominiums. Where both apply, MSR is tighter and usually decides the loan.

Why is my loan stress-tested at a higher rate?

MAS requires lenders to assess repayment ability at a medium-term floor rate rather than the promotional rate, so borrowers are not approved for loans they could not service if rates rose.

Does a car loan affect how much property I can buy?

Yes, and more than most people expect. The full monthly repayment counts against TDSR regardless of how few instalments remain, so clearing it before applying can materially raise the loan you qualify for.