One of the biggest financial decisions anyone in Singapore will face eventually, and potentially the largest purchase: buying a property in Singapore. Instead of taking the usual bottom-up approach, calculating your finances first before considering which property to look at, we will give you the rough estimate of the minimum income required for you to own one of the three particular property types: HDB, EC, or Condo.
Public House from Housing Development Board (HDB)
Home ownership is high in Singapore due to the Singapore Government offering affordable public houses to citizens through the HDB. 80% of homeowners in Singapore live in a HDB flat1. A typical new 4-room flat in non-mature estates is about $300,000 while those in mature estates costs a little more than $400,000. We will use $400,000 as the base for calculations as a 3-room resale flat in mature estates could be priced at $350,000.
1Data from Singapore Department of Statistics. https://goo.gl/KPgVGI
Executive Condominium
The Executive Condominium scheme was introduced by HDB in 1995 to meet the growing demands of people who wish to live in a more affordable condominium development. A typical new 3-bedroom unit in an executive condominium costs around $700,000. You can only take a bank loan to finance the purchase of your executive condominium.
Private Condominium
3-bedroom unit in a private condominium in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) is priced around $1.1 million on average.
Minimum Income Required
- The minimum incomes required as shown in the above chart is calculated based on the Total Debt Serving Ratio and Mortgage Servicing Ratio first.
(HDB at $5010, EC at $4200, and Condo at $7185) - The higher adjusted income shown is calculated based on the minimum income required to earn and save sufficient amount in the CPF Ordinary Account to afford the downpayment of the properties while using the least amount of cash upfront over a 5-year period.
(EC at $7610, and Condo at $11960)
As such, to be able to comfortably afford your selected homes, it is strongly recommended that you live within your means. This means to make sure that you have enough income leftover after paying for your mortgage loans to afford other basic necessities of life such as food and transportation, even if you are willing to forgo setting aside monies for savings and entertainments.
Calculation Table
The following calculation does not take the various grants available to eligible homeowners into consideration.
(Image credits (from top): All images are from Shutterstock)
Information provided in the published article is general in nature and does not constitute professional financial and property investment advice. While extensive effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the stated information, individuals must not rely solely on the content to make financial or investment decision. It is advisable to further seek professional advice on investment choice based on individual needs and investment intents.
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