Home Loan Tenure: How to Improve Approval Chances | Homejourney

From the bank’s perspective, the tenure is not just about your preference. It affects:

• Your monthly instalment size (shorter tenure = higher monthly payment)
• Your total interest paid over the life of the loan (longer tenure = more interest)[1][2]
• Whether you stay within MSR (for HDB/EC) or TDSR (for private) limits[1]
• Your maximum Loan-to-Value (LTV) limit, especially if the loan goes past age 65 or beyond 30/35 years[1][5]

In practice, I often see buyers in mature estates like Toa Payoh or Queenstown assuming they should always stretch to 30 or 35 years “because everyone does that”. But when we run their numbers on Homejourney’s mortgage calculator at , a slightly shorter tenure (e.g. 25 instead of 30 years) sometimes pushes their approval probability higher because the bank is more comfortable with the age profile and total interest risk.

Key MAS Rules: How Tenure Affects LTV, MSR, and TDSR

To make safe lending the norm, MAS sets clear rules around tenure, LTV, and debt ratios:[1][5]

• Maximum tenure: 30 years for HDB, 35 years for non-HDB.[1][5]
• MSR (Mortgage Servicing Ratio): For HDB flats and ECs, your total housing instalments cannot exceed 30% of gross monthly income.[1][3]
• TDSR (Total Debt Servicing Ratio): For all property types, total monthly debt (housing + other loans) cannot exceed 55% of gross monthly income.[1][5]
• LTV penalties: If your loan tenure exceeds 30 years or goes beyond your age 65, maximum LTV is reduced.[1][5]

The longer your mortgage term, the lower your monthly repayment, but the more likely you are to trigger a stricter LTV cap if you stretch past age 65. For example, a couple aged 40 buying a private condo in Sengkang with a 30-year tenure is usually fine. But if they try to go all the way to 35 years, their LTV may be cut, meaning they must pay more cash/CPF upfront.[1][2][5]

25-Year vs 30-Year Mortgage: Impact on Approval

Many Singapore buyers ask: “25 year vs 30 year mortgage – which gives me better approval odds?” The answer depends on your income, age, and overall debt profile.

• 25-year tenure: Higher monthly instalment but lower total interest. Often preferred by banks for younger borrowers as it helps them be debt-free earlier.[1][2]
• 30-year tenure: Lower monthly instalment, which can help you pass MSR/TDSR, but you pay more interest overall and may face tighter LTV if tenure crosses age 65.[1][5]

Insider example: For a $600,000 loan at ~3.2% interest:

• 25 years: monthly instalment roughly around mid–$2,900 range (approximate, for illustration only).
• 30 years: monthly instalment roughly around low–$2,600 range.

For a couple earning $9,000 combined, the 25-year option might push MSR/TDSR towards the limit, while the 30-year option may bring it comfortably below 55%, making approval easier. That said, if the 30-year tenure extends well past age 65, the reduced LTV could require a much higher cash/CPF downpayment.[1][5]

To test your own numbers safely, use Homejourney’s eligibility calculator at before you even talk to any bank.

How Banks Decide Your Tenure: IWAA and Age Rules

When there are joint borrowers (for example, a couple buying an HDB resale flat in Yishun), banks in Singapore must use the Income-Weighted Average Age (IWAA) to determine the allowed loan tenure.[1][2]

IWAA is calculated by weighting each borrower’s age by their income and dividing by total income.[1]

• A younger borrower with higher income lowers IWAA → increases possible tenure.
• An older borrower with higher income raises IWAA → may shorten maximum tenure.[1]

That is why, in practice, some couples in estates like Punggol and Tampines deliberately have the younger, higher-income partner as main borrower to maximise tenure and keep monthly instalments manageable. But they must still stay within MAS tenure caps and LTV rules.[1][5]

Step-by-Step: How to Use Tenure to Improve Approval Chances

Here is a tactical, Singapore-specific framework to use your loan period wisely to boost approval odds.

Step 1: Get Your Initial Tenure & Affordability Range

1. Check your age and planned retirement age. For most borrowers, assume 65 as a conservative target, because MAS rules get stricter when loans extend beyond age 65.[1][5]
2. Run your numbers on Homejourney. Use to estimate how much you can borrow at different tenures (20, 25, 30, 35 years), based on your income, debts, and age.
3. Note the tenure that keeps MSR/TDSR safe. If your total repayment is too close to 55% of income, consider a slightly longer tenure to reduce the monthly instalment – but stay within MAS tenure limits.[1][5]

Step 2: Optimise Tenure Before You Lock In Your Property Choice

Many buyers fall in love with a unit in Bishan or Tiong Bahru first, then try to “force” a loan approval. A safer approach is:

1. Shortlist properties within your safe tenure range. Use Homejourney’s property search at Property Search to filter homes that match what you can afford based on the tenure scenarios you just tested.
2. Test 2–3 tenure scenarios per property. For each unit, see how a 25-year vs 30-year mortgage changes your monthly instalment and MSR/TDSR.
3. Aim for a buffer. Ideally, your total debt ratio should sit a few percentage points below the MAS caps, in case income fluctuates or rates rise.

Step 3: Adjust Borrower Structure to Improve IWAA

If you are buying as a couple or family:

• Make the younger, higher-income person the primary borrower if feasible to lower IWAA and potentially secure a longer tenure.[1][2]
• Be honest about contribution: banks will verify income via payslips, CPF, and NOA, especially when you apply via Singpass/MyInfo through Homejourney.
• If one borrower has significant other debts (car loan, personal loan), consider whether it is better to include or exclude them as joint borrower, balancing income boost vs TDSR impact.

Step 4: Use Multi-Bank Comparison to Find Tenure-Friendly Packages

While MAS rules are standard, each bank structures its packages slightly differently. Through Homejourney’s bank rates page at Bank Rates , you can:

• Compare offers from DBS, OCBC, UOB, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Maybank, CIMB, RHB, Public Bank, Hong Leong Bank, and Citibank side-by-side.
• See which packages allow tenure adjustment after lock-in (some charge an admin fee to change tenure later).
• Assess fixed vs floating or SORA-pegged packages, and how the effective rate interacts with your chosen tenure.

Instead of submitting separate applications one by one, you can apply once via Homejourney’s multi-bank application, which sends your details securely to multiple partner banks at the same time.

Understanding Interest Rates vs Tenure (and Where the Chart Fits In)

Tenure decisions cannot be isolated from interest rate trends. Most Singapore home loans today are either:

• SORA-pegged floating packages, where your rate moves with the Singapore Overnight Rate Average.
• Fixed-rate packages, which lock in a rate for a few years, often 2–3 years.

For longer tenures, you are exposed to more interest rate cycles over time. This is why Homejourney offers real-time SORA tracking on Bank Rates , so you can see where current rates are before committing to a 25-year or 30-year mortgage.

The chart below shows recent interest rate trends in Singapore:

Use this chart together with the tenure options in the Homejourney calculator to see how sensitive your monthly instalment is to rate changes over time.

Documentation Checklist: Make Your Tenure Story Clear to Banks

A clean, complete set of documents helps banks process your preferred optimal loan tenure faster and with fewer questions. When you apply through Homejourney using Singpass/MyInfo, much of this is auto-filled, reducing manual errors.

Core Documents (Typical Requirements)

• NRIC (front and back)
• Latest 3 months’ payslips or commission statements
• Latest 12 months’ CPF contribution history (auto-pulled via MyInfo when you apply with Singpass)
• Latest Notice of Assessment from IRAS (especially if self-employed)
• Option to Purchase (OTP) or HDB flat booking documents
• Existing loan statements (for refinancing)

Pro tip from experience: If you work near Raffles Place or Tanjong Pagar, it is common to see buyers pop into bank branches during lunch to ask about tenure. But you often get incomplete answers because each bank will promote its own packages. Using Homejourney instead lets you upload everything once, apply to multiple banks, and keep your tenure strategy consistent across all offers.

Common Tenure Mistakes That Hurt Approval

From observing many real cases across HDB towns like Jurong West, Sengkang, and Bukit Panjang, these are the most common tenure-related mistakes:

• Stretching tenure too long just to “maximise cashflow”. This can cut your LTV once tenure passes 30 years or extends beyond age 65, forcing a higher downpayment and sometimes leading to rejection when buyers cannot meet the higher cash/CPF requirement.[1][5]
• Not considering IWAA. Adding an older co-borrower with higher income can unintentionally shorten allowed tenure, raising instalments and breaking MSR/TDSR.[1][2]
• Underestimating rate risk. Taking the longest tenure and a floating package without checking how a 1–2% rate increase would affect monthly instalments can make banks nervous about long-term affordability.
• Ignoring minimum loan sizes for future refinancing. Many banks require a minimum outstanding loan (often around $100,000) to accept refinancing; if your remaining tenure is short and loan small, you may be stuck with higher rates.[2]

Homejourney’s mortgage brokers (accessible via Bank Rates ) can help you simulate different scenarios, especially if you plan to refinance midway through your tenure.

What Happens After Approval: Can You Change Tenure Later?

After your loan is approved and disbursed, many banks allow you to adjust your tenure after the initial lock-in period, usually for an administrative fee.[1][2] For example, you might start with a 30-year tenure to keep instalments low during the first few years of raising a family in Punggol, then shorten the tenure later when your income rises.

However:

• Any change is subject to the bank’s approval and MAS rules at that time.
• Shortening tenure increases monthly instalments; banks will reassess MSR/TDSR.
• Lengthening tenure may not be allowed if it breaks current maximum tenure or age rules.

This is why getting tenure right at the start, with help from Homejourney’s tools and brokers, is safer than assuming you can always “fix it later”.

How Homejourney Makes the Tenure Decision Safer

Homejourney is designed to protect borrowers by combining data, regulations, and local insight into one platform:

• Eligibility calculator

  References

  1. Singapore Property Market Analysis 1 (2026)
  2. Singapore Property Market Analysis 5 (2026)
  3. Singapore Property Market Analysis 3 (2026)
  4. Singapore Property Market Analysis 2 (2026)