To determine your mortgage eligibility in Singapore, you need to check your income against MAS rules (TDSR and MSR), loan-to-value (LTV) limits, your age and loan tenure, plus your credit profile and existing debts. Homejourney simplifies this by letting you calculate your borrowing power instantly, compare bank rates, and submit one secure application to multiple banks.
This cluster guide on How to Determine Your Mortgage Eligibility: Frequently Asked Questions supports our main pillar guide on mortgage eligibility and affordability in Singapore Mortgage Eligibility in Singapore: Practical Guide with Homejourney Tools . It focuses on the most common questions Singapore buyers ask before they apply for a home loan, with practical, local examples drawn from real cases in areas like Punggol, Tampines, Bukit Panjang and Queenstown.
What does “mortgage eligibility” mean in Singapore?
In Singapore, your mortgage eligibility is the maximum loan amount banks are willing to offer you based on Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) rules, your income, age, existing debts, credit history, and the property type you are buying.[5] It answers four core questions:
- Can I qualify for a mortgage at all?
- How much can I borrow safely and under MAS rules?
- How long can I take the loan (tenure) given my age?
- Which banks are likely to approve me and at what rates?
For example, a 32-year-old salaried engineer working in Changi Business Park earning S$7,000/month and buying a 4-room BTO flat in Tampines will be assessed very differently from a 48-year-old self-employed consultant living in Bukit Timah with irregular income and multiple existing loans. Homejourney’s tools help both profiles check their home loan eligibility in minutes, without guesswork, using verified inputs and MAS formulas.
Key rules that affect mortgage eligibility: TDSR, MSR and LTV
The three most important Singapore-specific rules you must understand before you ask “am I eligible for a mortgage?” are:
- Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) – your total monthly debt repayments (including the new home loan) cannot exceed 55% of your gross monthly income for new property loans.[5]
- Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) – for HDB flats and Executive Condominiums (ECs), your housing instalments alone cannot exceed 30% of your gross monthly income.[5]
- Loan-to-Value (LTV) limits – MAS caps the percentage of the property value banks can lend, depending on whether it is your first, second, or third housing loan and the tenure/age combination.[5] For a first loan within 30 years and not past age 65, the maximum LTV is typically 75% for bank loans, with the rest paid using cash/CPF.
These rules are designed to protect borrowers and maintain financial stability. They form the backbone of most loan eligibility calculator tools in Singapore, including Homejourney’s built-in mortgage eligibility calculator on our bank rates page Bank Rates [5].
Income requirements: employed, self-employed, and variable income
Your income type greatly affects whether you qualify for a mortgage. MAS allows banks to use different haircuts (discounts) for non-fixed income.[5] In practice:
- Salaried employees (e.g. teachers in Bukit Merah, engineers in Jurong Island, nurses at SGH): banks typically count 100% of fixed base salary, plus a portion of variable bonuses.
- Self-employed / commission-based / freelance (property agents, Grab drivers, freelancers in media): banks usually apply a 30% haircut on variable income, meaning only 70% is counted for eligibility.[2]
- Part-time / contract staff: banks scrutinise employment history and contract duration; short-term contracts or frequent job changes can lower your effective recognised income.
For example, if you are a self-employed photographer living in Queenstown earning an average of S$8,000/month over the past two years, banks may count only about S$5,600/month after haircut. That smaller figure goes into your TDSR/MSR calculations, which reduces your borrowing capacity.[2][5]
Banks like DBS, OCBC, and UOB will typically request documents such as IRAS Notices of Assessment, CPF contribution history, and recent payslips or bank statements to verify your income.[9][7] Homejourney speeds this up by allowing you to apply via Singpass/MyInfo so your income and employment data are auto-filled and securely verified, reducing manual document errors and making the overall experience safer.
How TDSR and MSR affect how much you can borrow
To use TDSR and MSR to estimate your mortgage eligibility Singapore amount, follow this simple framework:
- Calculate 55% of your gross monthly income – this is your maximum total monthly debt repayment under TDSR.[5]
- For HDB/EC, calculate 30% of your income – this is your maximum monthly housing instalment under MSR.[5]
- Subtract existing monthly debts (car loan, personal loan, credit card instalments, education loans).
- The balance is your maximum allowable home loan instalment under MAS rules.
Locals who have gone through BTO launches in Punggol or resale searches in Yishun often realise that HDB’s own loan eligibility (HLE letter) can sometimes be stricter than bank TDSR/MSR, but MAS rules are the common minimum standard for banks.
Step-by-step example: How much can I borrow?
Consider a couple buying a 4-room HDB resale flat in Sengkang near Compassvale, walking distance from Sengkang MRT (about 5–8 minutes from Exit C). Both are 30 years old:
- Borrower A income: S$4,500/month (salaried)
- Borrower B income: S$3,500/month (salaried)
- Total household income: S$8,000/month
- Existing debts: S$400/month car loan, S$200/month study loan
Step 1 – TDSR limit
55% of S$8,000 = S$4,400 maximum total monthly debt.[5]
Existing debts = S$600
Maximum housing instalment under TDSR = S$4,400 – S$600 = S$3,800
Step 2 – MSR limit (HDB)
30% of S$8,000 = S$2,400 maximum monthly housing instalment.[5]
For this couple, MSR (S$2,400) is more restrictive than TDSR (S$3,800), so the bank must use S$2,400 as the maximum allowable instalment. Assuming a 25-year tenure and a conservative stress-test rate of 4% p.a., S$2,400/month translates to an approximate loan size of about S$500,000–S$520,000.
At an LTV of 75%, that means the couple is looking at properties roughly in the S$650,000–S$690,000 range (subject to valuation). This is in line with recent 4-room HDB resale prices in some Sengkang and Punggol clusters, though specific unit prices depend on floor, remaining lease, and proximity to MRT and amenities.
You can replicate this for your own situation using Homejourney’s loan eligibility calculator on the bank rates page Mortgage Rates or Bank Rates . It auto-applies TDSR/MSR and LTV rules, giving you a realistic range within seconds.
Age and loan tenure limits
Your age affects both your home loan eligibility and your monthly instalments. MAS rules cap the maximum tenure for residential property loans, and banks must ensure the loan does not extend beyond a certain retirement age (commonly 65–75, depending on bank policy).[5][7]
Key age-related considerations:
- For a first housing loan with tenure ≤30 years and not past age 65, maximum LTV can be up to 75%.[5]
- If the tenure exceeds 30 years or goes past age 65, the maximum LTV falls (e.g. to 55%), and minimum cash downpayment may increase.[5]
- Older borrowers (e.g. above 45) often need shorter tenures, which increases monthly instalments and may reduce maximum loan size under TDSR/MSR.
