Counts the milestones shown since the cooling-measure cycle began in September 2009. The July 2005 easing is shown as earlier context and is not included.
Planning illustration only. Confirm the applicable ABSD, financing limits and ownership structure before any purchase.
A planning allowance for owner-borne repairs and replacement of items within the unit, such as air-conditioning equipment, plumbing fixtures, water heaters and landlord-provided appliances. It excludes MCST/common-property maintenance, tenant-recoverable damage and the separately modelled refurbishment allowance. Adjust it according to the unit’s age, condition and furnishings.
Property tax is estimated using the modelled annual rent as the property's Annual Value.
This is a planning allowance. Avoid including costs here that are already included in the separate periodic-refurbishment assumption.
Mortgage includes principal repayment and interest. Principal repayment builds equity; interest and ownership expenses are costs.
Choose where the projection should end. This determines how many years of rent, loan repayments, costs and property growth are included. It is not a recommendation to sell.
Used only to estimate the additional income tax arising from rental income. Confirm actual taxable income, deductions, ownership structure and tax residence before relying on this estimate.
Year 1 property costs: property tax, MCST, routine in-unit repairs and estimated additional rental-income tax.
Individual figures are rounded for display; the result uses the calculator’s underlying unrounded figures.
Property-agent commission and refurbishment are periodic, lumpy assumptions applied in their actual holding year (not genuinely regular monthly bills); they are not subtracted again from the monthly snapshot above. The full multi-year property model includes all of these in their appropriate years.
This uses IRAS's simplified 15% deemed-expense method plus qualifying mortgage interest. Actual tax depends on ownership, tax residence, chargeable income and whether deemed or actual expenses are claimed.
Rent before vacancy, through each deduction, to what is left before the mortgage — using the same underlying figures as the property outcome below, not a new assumption. Mortgage repayments and selling costs are shown separately and are not part of this rent-only breakdown.
The model assumes property-agent commission equal to one month’s gross rent every 2 years when securing a new tenant. Property-agent commissions and periodic refurbishment are shown as $0 in Year 1 because they are applied only in their scheduled modelled years. Their full effect appears in the Full holding period view.
This is the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the URA/SingStat Private Residential Property Price Index from 2Q1996 (129.7) to 2Q2026 (219.4) — precisely (219.4÷129.7)^(1/30)−1 ≈ 1.767683% p.a., displayed as 1.8%. This is a long-run reference, not a forecast. Source: data.gov.sg — Private Residential Property Price Index.
A product-neutral comparison: the same upfront amount and the same annual cash-flow pattern as the property, invested instead, using an end-of-year timing approximation.
Illustrative, non-guaranteed rate. Fees and taxes on the investment side are not separately modelled here — treat this as a gross-of-fees comparison. Every year uses the property's own signed cash flow: a year the owner funds becomes an investment contribution, and a year the property produces a genuine surplus becomes an equal withdrawal from the investment path — not a fabricated windfall or a floored-at-zero contribution.
| Property | Same-Budget Investment | |
|---|---|---|
| Initial amount committed | — | — |
| Year 1 owner-funded cash flow carried across from Section 2 | — | — |
| Net cash added after rent and costs, after purchase to age X | — | — |
| Modelled value at age X | — | — |
| Typical time to convert to cash | Often several months from listing to completed sale; timing depends on price, demand, financing and the transaction. | For liquid listed investments, usually a few business days after sale. Other investments may take longer. |
| Diversification | Concentrated in one property and one location | Can be spread across many holdings and markets, depending on the selected portfolio |
The Year 1 amount is shown as a starting reference. The full comparison uses each year’s actual modelled property cash flow, which changes as rent, costs and mortgage payments change.
Current market reference: early-2026 portal data showed median resale-condo listing ages of approximately 81–106 days. Listing age or removal is not the same as a guaranteed completed-sale period. SGX-listed securities generally settle on a T+2 basis after a trade is executed.
Resale listing reference: straitstimes.com
Private-property transaction overview: cea.gov.sg
Securities settlement reference: dbsvickers.com
Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) follows the full IRAS tiered schedule (1%/2%/3%/4%/5%/6% at $180,000/360,000/1,000,000/1,500,000/3,000,000 breakpoints). Legal & acquisition costs are estimated at a flat $3,500. Loan-to-Value (LTV) assumes the standard 75% tier (25% minimum downpayment), with tenure capped at min(30, 65−purchase age) years, consistent with MAS's age-65/30-year condition for the higher LTV tier. ABSD is assumed at $0 for this planning illustration (see assumption chip above) — confirm actual ABSD liability before any purchase.
Ownership costs (Section 1) = non-owner-occupied property tax (IRAS rates 12%/20%/28%/36% on Annual Value, approximated using modelled annual gross rent) + MCST ($400/month in Year 1 by default, escalating 2% p.a. by default) + a routine in-unit repairs allowance ($250/month in Year 1 by default, escalating 2% p.a. by default). This allowance is a fixed planning figure set independently of property price; it does not automatically change if the property price changes. All four MCST/repairs figures are adjustable in "Adjust ownership-cost assumptions" beneath the Section 1 summary. Selling costs assume 2% of sale value, netted against proceeds.
The modelling end age (how long the projection runs for) must be later than the purchase age and no later than 90. A custom modelling end age is dynamically limited to purchase age + 1 through 90. If a fixed choice (10 years from purchase, 20 years from purchase, until age 65, until age 90) is invalid for the selected purchase age, an inline message is shown and no result is calculated from it — the tool never silently substitutes an arbitrary short loan or clamps to a hidden value.
Rental-income tax defaults to the IRAS simplified deemed-expense method: taxable rental income = max(rent actually collected after modelled vacancy − 15% deemed rental expenses − qualifying mortgage interest, 0). Additional rental-income tax = Singapore resident income tax on (other annual income used to estimate rental tax + taxable rental income) − Singapore resident income tax on that other annual income alone. Property tax, MCST, the routine in-unit repairs allowance, property-agent commissions and periodic refurbishment remain genuine cash costs elsewhere in this model but are not additionally deducted for this tax estimate, and mortgage principal is never deductible — only the qualifying interest component is used. The same method is applied consistently in Year 1 and every year of the full-period calculation. The other-income figure is a visible, adviser-editable planning value (starting value $120,000) applied as a flat annual assumption across all years — there is no hidden age-based income curve. Actual taxable income, deductions, ownership structure, tax residence and eligibility for the deemed-expense method must be confirmed before advising a client.
Property growth is a plain, editable input starting at the precise 30-year historical CAGR of the URA/SingStat Private Residential Property Price Index from 2Q1996 (129.7) to 2Q2026 (219.4): (219.4÷129.7)^(1/30)−1 ≈ 1.767683% p.a., displayed as 1.8%. This is a reference starting value, not a preselected recommendation — it can be edited like any other assumption. Source: data.gov.sg — Private Residential Property Price Index. Rent growth defaults to the same rate as property growth ("linked") and updates automatically when the property-growth input changes; selecting a custom rent-growth rate uses the adviser-entered value instead.
The headline Year 1 equation (Section 2) is rent collected after vacancy, less Year 1 property costs (property tax, MCST, the routine in-unit repairs allowance — $250/month by default, escalating 2% p.a. by default, adjustable, and set independently of property price — and estimated additional rental-income tax), less the mortgage payment: the same signed Year 1 cash flow used by the Year 1 waterfall and Direct Comparison. Property-agent commissions (one month's rent every 2 years) and periodic refurbishment (3% of property value every 7 years) are not incurred in modelled Year 1, so they are correctly excluded here; both remain fully included in their actual scheduled years within the full multi-year property model, together with selling costs at exit.
This waterfall re-expresses figures already computed elsewhere, adding no new assumption. The Year 1 view uses the monthly planning figures from the "What Reduces the Rent" breakdown above. Property-agent commissions and periodic refurbishment are shown as $0 in Year 1 because they are applied only in their scheduled modelled years. Their full effect appears in the Full holding period view. The Full holding period view instead uses the same full-period totals as the property outcome below: gross rent without vacancy = effective rent×12÷11; vacancy = gross rent − effective rent (removed once, not subtracted again downstream); each deduction (routine in-unit repairs allowance, periodic refurbishment, property-agent commissions, rental-income tax, property tax, MCST) is that cost's own full-period total, applied in its actual modelled year rather than smoothed monthly. In both views the final remainder is rent before vacancy minus all seven deductions in sequence. Mortgage principal, mortgage interest, selling costs, stamp duties and property capital appreciation are deliberately excluded from this rent-only waterfall itself; the mortgage and the resulting owner-funded surplus or shortfall are shown separately in the equation immediately below the waterfall, and the mortgage also appears in the Section 2 equation above. The selected view is a display choice only, is not saved with the scenario, and always starts at Year 1 on initial load, Reset and Upload.
For properties purchased on or after 4 July 2025: holding Year 1 — 16%; Year 2 — 12%; Year 3 — 8%; Year 4 — 4%; Year 5 onward — 0%. Because this calculator uses integer-year horizons, an exact N-year holding period maps directly to the Year-N rate above (capped at Year 5+ = 0%).
The Same-Budget Investment starts with the property's own full upfront requirement (downpayment + BSD + legal estimate) invested at the same starting point as the property purchase. Each subsequent year, the running balance compounds at the selected nominal investment return and then receives that year's signed property cash flow: F(y) > 0 (the property owner had to add money) becomes an investment contribution; F(y) < 0 (the property produced cash for the owner) becomes an equal withdrawal from the investment balance. Formula: balance₀ = upfront; for each year y, balance = balance×(1+r) + F(y). Negative property cash flows are never floored to zero, and the resulting investment balance is never floored to zero either — a negative balance is a genuine shortfall and is displayed as such, not hidden. The model compounds annually and applies each year's cash flow at year-end (an end-of-year timing approximation, not a claim of identical intra-year timing). No fees or taxes are deducted from the investment side in this illustration, and no insurance product, premium or benefit is modelled or implied.
Figures of $100,000 or more are displayed to the nearest $100; figures below $100,000 are displayed to the nearest $10. Full precision is retained internally and in all calculations; rounding is applied only at the point of display. Displayed equations are computed from the already-rounded displayed components, so they reconcile exactly as shown.
MAS — Macroprudential Policies in Singapore: mas.gov.sg
IRAS — Seller's Stamp Duty for Residential Property: iras.gov.sg
IRAS — Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty: iras.gov.sg
IRAS — Property Tax Rates: iras.gov.sg
IRAS — Income from Property Rented Out: iras.gov.sg
HDB — August 2024 HDB Resale Market Measures (subsidised first-hand pricing context for the BTO comparison above): hdb.gov.sg
HDB — Standard, Plus and Prime Housing Framework: hdb.gov.sg
MND — Removal of the 15-Month Wait-out Period: mnd.gov.sg
URA/SingStat via data.gov.sg — Private Residential Property Price Index: data.gov.sg
This is a planning illustration only, not investment, tax or legal advice. Past index performance is not a guarantee of future results. Reconfirm all property-policy figures (ABSD, LTV, TDSR, SSD) against the original MAS/IRAS/HDB source before advising a client, as rules change over time.