Primary — Before You Get Emotionally Attached To A Unit
Get Your Real Funds-Gap Number, Not The Advertised One

Written bank quotes against your actual income, checked against downpayment, BSD, and legal costs at the loan size you'll genuinely be approved for. James runs this before you shortlist anything.

WhatsApp James Directly →

You've seen the number on every flyer and every bank's website: up to 75% LTV. That's not what your bank will lend you. It's the theoretical ceiling anyone could borrow under, and the gap between that ceiling and your actual written quote is where offers fall apart days before signing.

Direct answer: The funds-gap reality check compares your actual bank-quoted loan amount, not the advertised maximum, against everything due before completion: downpayment, Buyer's Stamp Duty, legal fees, and any staged payments. Run this before you shortlist a unit. A written quote can land meaningfully below the advertised ceiling for reasons a flyer never mentions.

What The Advertised Ceiling Is Telling You

MAS sets 75% as the maximum loan-to-value for a first residential property loan with a tenure of 30 years or less, where the borrower is under 65 at loan maturity, and that's the number every bank leads with in its marketing. It's a real ceiling, and for a straightforward first-time buyer with no other obligations, it's often the number they'll actually get.

What The Advertised Ceiling Doesn't Tell You

Move 2 — What The Market Isn't Telling You Two Things Quietly Cut Your Number Below 75%+ Read → − Collapse

Two mechanisms routinely pull a buyer's actual approved loan below the advertised 75% ceiling, and neither shows up until a bank runs the numbers.

The first is TDSR. MAS caps your Total Debt Servicing Ratio at 55% of gross monthly income across every debt obligation you carry: car loan, credit card minimums, an existing mortgage, a personal loan. Consider a household earning $12,000 a month combined with an existing car loan repayment of $900. That single obligation can reduce the loan quantum a bank is willing to approve well below what the 75% LTV ceiling alone would suggest, because TDSR is checked independently and the tighter of the two limits always wins.

The second is age and loan tenure. MAS reduces the maximum LTV to 55% once a loan's tenure would extend past age 65, and to 45% for a second housing loan. A 58-year-old buyer taking a 25-year loan is already past that tenure ceiling on paper, so the advertised 75% never applied to them in the first place, and a flyer has no way of knowing that.

Neither of these is a rejection. They're both real, quantifiable numbers a bank can quote you in writing before you make an offer, which is the entire point of running the check early.

What James Thinks You Should Do

Get written quotes from at least two or three banks against your actual income and existing obligations before you shortlist a unit, not after. Once you have a real approved quantum, stack it against downpayment, Buyer's Stamp Duty, and legal fees at that purchase price, not the flyer's advertised price, before your Option to Purchase deadline, not during it. A funds-gap that surfaces after OTP is a forfeited deposit; the same gap caught two weeks earlier is just a smaller shortlist.

Secondary — Want Your Own Number In Writing?

WhatsApp James your income, existing obligations, and target purchase price. He'll walk you through what a real bank quote looks like against that number before you view a single unit.

WhatsApp James Directly →

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is a funds-gap check?+−
It's the comparison between your actual bank-quoted loan amount and everything you need to pay before completion: downpayment, Buyer's Stamp Duty, legal fees, and any staged payments, run against your real purchase price, not the advertised flyer price.
Why would my bank quote less than the advertised 75% LTV?+−
Two common reasons: TDSR, which caps total debt obligations at 55% of gross income and can bind before LTV does, and loan tenure, which MAS reduces to 55% LTV once a loan would extend past age 65. Both are checkable in writing before you make an offer.
When should I run this check, before or after I shortlist a project?+−
Before. Your real approved quantum should set the purchase price ceiling you shortlist against, not the other way around. Shortlisting first on a flyer price and checking affordability afterward is the exact sequence that produces last-minute funds-gap surprises.
Does CPF count toward closing the funds-gap?+−
Yes, CPF Ordinary Account funds can be used for the downpayment and monthly instalments within CPF Board's usage rules, but Buyer's Stamp Duty and legal fees typically still require cash. A proper funds-gap check separates what CPF can cover from what has to be cash.
Is this different from a bank's own affordability calculator?+−
A calculator gives you an estimate based on generic assumptions. A written bank quote against your actual income, obligations, and the specific purchase price is a real, checkable number, and the two can differ by a meaningful margin, which is exactly the gap this check exists to close.
Sources + Show all 5 →
1. Monetary Authority of Singapore, Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework, mas.gov.sg
2. Monetary Authority of Singapore, Loan-to-Value limits and loan tenure rules for residential property, mas.gov.sg
3. Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, Buyer's Stamp Duty rates and computation, iras.gov.sg
4. Central Provident Fund Board, use of CPF Ordinary Account for property purchase, cpf.gov.sg
5. Council for Estate Agencies, Estate Agents Act & Practice Guidelines for real estate salespersons, cea.gov.sg

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Property investments involve risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should seek independent advice from licensed professionals before making any property or financial decision. James Ong is a licensed real estate salesperson (CEA Reg No. R008385F) with PropNex Realty Pte Ltd and is not a licensed financial adviser.

James Ong | CEA Reg No. R008385F | PropNex Realty Pte Ltd