Singapore property glossary

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.

Annual value (AV) is IRAS's estimate of the gross yearly rent a property could earn if it were rented out, excluding furniture, furnishings and maintenance fees.

The Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) is the minimum amount CPF members are expected to set aside for retirement when they turn 55: $110,200 for those turning 55 in 2026, rising to $114,100 in 2027.

Build-To-Order (BTO) is HDB's main way of selling new flats: HDB offers flats in upcoming projects during a sales exercise, eligible households apply online, and a computerised ballot decides the order in which they book.

Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) is a tax paid by anyone who buys or acquires property in Singapore.

A caveat is a legal notice lodged with the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) by a buyer to protect their interest in a property, usually soon after exercising the Option to Purchase or signing the sale and purchase agreement.

CCR, RCR and OCR are URA's three market segments for private non-landed homes.

A Certificate of Statutory Completion (CSC) is issued by Singapore's Building and Construction Authority (BCA) when a building has met every statutory requirement and has all the clearances it needs.

Co-broking is when two or more property agents, each representing a different party, work together on one transaction, for example the seller's agent and the buyer's agent.

The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) is the statutory board that regulates Singapore's real estate agency industry.

CPF accrued interest is the interest your CPF savings would have earned if you had not used them to buy property.

The CPF Housing Grant is a grant for first-timers buying an HDB resale flat.

The CPF Ordinary Account (OA) is the part of your Central Provident Fund savings that you can use to buy a home and repay a housing loan.

The effective interest rate (EIR) is the true yearly cost of a loan, taking into account how interest is calculated and how often you repay.

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.

The Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG) is an income-based grant of up to $120,000 for first-timer families, and up to $60,000 for first-timer singles, buying a new or resale HDB flat.

The Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) sets limits on the share of HDB flats in each block and neighbourhood that households of each ethnic group can own, to keep a balanced mix of communities in HDB towns.

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.

The Family Care Scheme (Proximity) is an HDB priority scheme that gives parents and their children, married or single, a better chance in the BTO and SBF ballot when they apply to live with or within 4 km of each other.

A fixed-rate home loan charges an interest rate that stays the same for the first few years of the loan, regardless of market movements.

A floating-rate home loan has an interest rate that moves with a reference rate, such as SORA, the CPF Ordinary Account rate (for HDB loans) or the bank's own board rate.

A freehold property is owned with no time limit: the owner holds the land indefinitely, unlike a leasehold property, which returns to the State when its lease runs out.

A Good Class Bungalow (GCB) is a detached house in one of URA's designated Good Class Bungalow Areas, landed estates reserved for bungalows.

Government Land Sales (GLS) is how the Singapore Government releases State land to private developers, mainly through tenders run by URA.

Gross floor area (GFA) is the total covered floor space of a building, including half the thickness of its external walls but excluding voids, as defined by URA.

Gross plot ratio (GPR) is the ratio of a building's gross floor area (GFA) to the area of its site.

An HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter tells you upfront whether you can buy a new or resale HDB flat, how much in CPF housing grants you can get, and how much you can borrow from HDB.

An HDB housing loan is a loan from HDB to buy an HDB flat, at a concessionary interest rate pegged 0.1 percentage point above the CPF Ordinary Account rate (2.6% a year when the OA rate is 2.5%).

The HDB Resale Price Index (RPI) is HDB's quarterly measure of how HDB resale flat prices change over time, with the 1st quarter of 2009 set at 100.

The Home Improvement Programme (HIP) is HDB's upgrading programme for ageing flats, fixing common problems such as spalling concrete and old pipes.

The Home Protection Scheme (HPS) is a mortgage-reducing insurance run by CPF Board that pays off the outstanding housing loan on an HDB flat if an insured owner dies, becomes terminally ill or suffers total permanent disability.

An In-Principle Approval (IPA) is a bank's early, indicative assessment of how much it may lend you for a home, given before you commit to a purchase.

Joint tenancy is a way for two or more people to own a property together, in which all the co-owners together own the whole property rather than separate shares.

The Land Betterment Charge (LBC) is a charge on the increase in land value when the Government allows land to be used in a more valuable way, for example through planning permission to build more intensively or for a higher-value use.

The Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS) lets HDB flat owners aged 65 and above sell part of their flat's remaining lease back to HDB while continuing to live in it.

Lease decay is the fall in a leasehold property's value as its remaining lease gets shorter, because the land returns to the State when the lease ends.

Loan tenure is the length of time over which you repay a home loan.

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.

A lock-in period is the time at the start of a home loan during which you may pay a penalty if you repay part or all of the loan, or refinance it with the same or another bank.

A Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST) is the legal body formed by all the unit owners in a strata development, such as a condominium.

The Master Plan is Singapore's statutory land use plan, prepared by URA.

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.

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.

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.

Pipeline supply is the number of homes in approved or planned projects that are under construction or not yet started.

Price per square foot (PSF) is a property's price divided by its area in square feet.

A property agent, officially a real estate salesperson (RES), is a person registered with the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) to help clients buy, sell or rent property, working through a licensed estate agency.

Property cooling measures are rules the Singapore Government uses to keep the housing market stable, mainly through stamp duties (ABSD and SSD) and loan limits (LTV, TDSR and MSR).

Property tax is an annual tax on owning property in Singapore, charged by IRAS on the property's annual value (its estimated yearly rent).

A property valuation is an independent estimate of what a home is worth.

The Proximity Housing Grant (PHG) is an HDB grant for buyers of a resale flat who will live with or near their parents or child.

Refinancing means moving your home loan from your current lender to a new one, usually for a lower interest rate.

Rental yield is a property's yearly rent as a percentage of its price.

Singapore citizen owners can rent out their whole HDB flat once they have met the minimum occupation period, with HDB's approval, for at least 6 months at a time.

Repricing means switching your home loan to a new package with the same bank, usually to get a lower interest rate.

The resale levy is a fixed sum that second-timers pay HDB when they buy a second subsidised flat, such as a new BTO flat, after already enjoying one housing subsidy.

The Residential Property Act limits which homes foreigners can buy in Singapore.

A Sale and Purchase Agreement (S&PA) is the contract that sets out the price, payment schedule and completion terms when you buy a property.

A Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) is an HDB sales exercise for flats left over from earlier sales, including unselected flats from past BTO exercises, surplus SERS replacement flats and flats HDB has bought back.

The Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) is HDB's programme, started in August 1995, for redeveloping selected older HDB blocks.

Seller's Stamp Duty (SSD) is a tax on selling a residential property in Singapore within a set period of buying it.

The Silver Housing Bonus (SHB) is a cash bonus of up to $40,000 per household for Singapore citizens aged 55 and above who right-size to a 3-room or smaller HDB flat and commit up to $60,000 of the proceeds to their CPF Retirement Account.

The Singapore Overnight Rate Average (SORA) is the average interest rate at which banks lend Singapore dollars to each other overnight without collateral.

Under the Single Singapore Citizen (SSC) Scheme, unmarried or divorced Singapore citizens aged 35 and above can buy an HDB flat on their own.

A sinking fund is the reserve that a condominium's management corporation (MCST) must keep for major, long-term costs, such as repainting, major repairs and replacing lifts or other common property.

Stamp duty on leases is a tax on tenancy agreements in Singapore.

Standard, Plus and Prime is HDB's location-based classification for new BTO flats launched from October 2024.

The Step-Up CPF Housing Grant is a $15,000 grant for second-timer families moving from a 2-room flat (or public rental flat) to a 2-room Flexi or 3-room flat in a non-mature estate or a Standard project.

A strata title is the form of ownership used for condominium units and other subdivided buildings in Singapore.

A sub-sale is the sale of a private home by someone who bought it from the developer (or from an earlier buyer) before the development received its Certificate of Statutory Completion and strata titles.

A Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) is the permit from Singapore's Building and Construction Authority (BCA) that allows a new building to be occupied once it is safe and fit to live in, even if some technical clearances are still outstanding.

Tenancy-in-common is a way for two or more people to own a property together in which each co-owner holds a separate, distinct share, such as 60% and 40%.

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.

The URA Private Residential Property Price Index (PPI) is the official quarterly measure of private home price changes in Singapore.

The vacancy rate is the percentage of completed homes (or office or shop space) that is physically unoccupied.

The valuation limit (VL) is the lower of a property's purchase price and its valuation at the time of purchase.

The withdrawal limit (WL) is the maximum CPF Ordinary Account savings you can use for a property bought with a bank loan: 120% of the valuation limit, meaning the lower of the price and the valuation at purchase.