Independent Singapore property research
Singapore property, measured.
PropertyMeter explains the rules, costs and numbers behind buying and investing in Singapore property, in plain English and checked against official sources.
Start with the essentials
View the full glossary →BSD
Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) is a tax paid by anyone who buys or acquires property in Singapore.
ABSD
Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) is a tax that some buyers of residential property in Singapore pay on top of Buyer's Stamp Duty.
SSD
Seller's Stamp Duty (SSD) is a tax on selling a residential property in Singapore within a set period of buying it.
TDSR
The Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) caps how much of your gross monthly income can go towards all your debt repayments when you take a property loan from a bank in Singapore.
MSR
The Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) limits the monthly repayment on a loan for an HDB flat or a new executive condominium to 30% of the borrower's gross monthly income.
LTV
The loan-to-value (LTV) limit is the maximum share of a property's price or valuation, whichever is lower, that you can borrow for a home in Singapore.
OTP
An Option to Purchase (OTP) is a document in which a seller gives a buyer the exclusive right to buy a property at an agreed price within a fixed period, in return for an option fee.
MOP
The Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) is the length of time HDB flat owners must live in their flat before they can sell it on the open market, rent out the whole flat or buy private property.
EC
An executive condominium (EC) is a condominium built and sold by a private developer, but with HDB rules for buyers, such as an income ceiling and a minimum occupation period.
En bloc (collective sale)
An en bloc, or collective sale, is when the owners of a strata development such as a condominium sell the whole development together, usually to a developer who will redevelop the land.
Browse by topic
Buying & selling
The steps, documents and deadlines in a Singapore property transaction.
Taxes & duties
Stamp duties and other taxes on buying, owning and selling property.
Financing & loans
Loan limits, debt ratios and how much you can borrow.
HDB & public housing
HDB flats, executive condominiums and the rules that come with them.
Private property
Condominiums, landed homes, tenure and collective sales.
CPF & housing
Using CPF savings for property, housing grants, accrued interest and withdrawal limits.
Market & data
Price indices, regions, yields and the numbers behind the market.
Industry & regulation
Agents, developers, planning and the bodies that regulate them.
How we work
Read our editorial policy →Official government sources only
Rates, limits and rules are checked against IRAS, MAS, HDB, MND, URA, CPF Board or the law itself, and linked.
Dated and kept current
Each page shows when it was last checked. When a policy changes, we update the affected pages first.
Independent
We don't list properties for sale, so our job is simply to explain the market clearly and fairly.