How much CPF can I use for housing? In most cases, you can use your Ordinary Account (OA) savings up to the purchase price or the valuation of the home, whichever is lower. You can go beyond that only if you have set aside your Basic Retirement Sum, and only if the lease lasts until the youngest buyer turns 95.
Three things decide your own figure: the type of property, the type of loan and the remaining lease. This guide takes each in turn.
What Your OA Can Pay For
Only OA savings can be used for a home. Your Special Account and MediSave cannot.
According to CPF Board, OA savings can pay for:
- The downpayment and the purchase price.
- Monthly housing loan instalments, including the interest portion.
- Buyer’s Stamp Duty and Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty. You usually pay IRAS in cash within 14 days and claim it back from your OA later.
- Legal fees, and Singapore Land Authority lodgement fees.
- Home Protection Scheme premiums, for HDB flats.
OA savings cannot pay any cash over valuation, monthly service and conservancy charges or property tax. Budget cash for the option fee and for renovation as well.
CPF Board states that CPF used for stamp duty, legal fees and upgrading costs is not counted in the housing limit.
How Much CPF You Can Use for Housing, by Loan Type
CPF Board uses two caps. The Valuation Limit is the lower of the purchase price or the valuation when you buy. The Withdrawal Limit is 120% of the Valuation Limit.
Which cap applies depends on the property and the loan:
| What you buy | Loan | OA savings you can use |
|---|---|---|
| New flat bought from HDB | HDB loan | The full purchase price, including the housing loan |
| Resale HDB flat | HDB loan | Up to the Valuation Limit. Beyond it, you can keep paying the remaining loan if you have set aside your Basic Retirement Sum |
| HDB flat or private property | Bank loan | Up to the Valuation Limit. Beyond it, up to 120% of that limit if you have set aside your Basic Retirement Sum |
The table assumes the lease lasts until the youngest buyer is 95. The next section covers what happens when it does not.
The Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) is S$110,200 in 2026. For members below 55, it is half the current Full Retirement Sum. Savings in your Special Account and OA count towards it. Our guide to the 2026 and 2027 retirement sums has the figures.
A Worked Example
Take an illustrative couple buying a resale flat for $600,000 with a bank loan. The valuation is also $600,000.
- Their Valuation Limit is $600,000. Their Withdrawal Limit is $720,000.
- They pay $120,000 of the downpayment from their OAs, then $2,400 a month in instalments from CPF.
- After about 200 months, close to 17 years, their CPF use reaches $600,000.
- From then on, each can keep using CPF only if he or she has set aside the BRS, and only until their total reaches $720,000. After that, the instalments must be paid in cash.
A long loan with a large CPF share is what brings buyers up against these limits. A shorter loan, or part-payment in cash, keeps you clear of them.
This is an illustration only. It assumes a constant instalment and no change in rules.
The Remaining-Lease Rule
CPF can be used only for a property with at least 20 years of lease left.
Above that, the test is whether the remaining lease covers the youngest buyer using CPF until age 95.
- If it does, the limits in the table apply in full.
- If it does not, the amount is pro-rated. Once the owners’ total CPF use hits the pro-rated cap, no more OA savings can go to that property, even if the BRS has been set aside.
CPF Board gives this example. Two buyers aged 25 purchase a flat with 65 years of lease left for $550,000. The lease runs out when they are 90, five years short. They can use up to $495,000 of CPF, which is 90% of the price.
Older buyers pass the test more easily. A buyer aged 45 needs 50 years of lease to reach 95. A buyer aged 30 needs 65.
The same lease test affects CPF housing grants and the size of an HDB loan. The CPF housing usage calculator on the CPF website works out the pro-rated figure for your ages and lease.
Buying a Second Property
The rules tighten for a second or later property. CPF Board says you can use OA savings only after setting aside a retirement sum:
- The BRS, if you already own a property with a lease that lasts until you are 95.
- The Full Retirement Sum, if you do not.
Savings in your Special or Retirement Account and your OA count towards this.
The short version: You can usually use OA savings up to the purchase price or valuation, whichever is lower. Going beyond needs your Basic Retirement Sum set aside, and a lease that covers the youngest buyer to age 95.
What Using CPF Costs You Later
CPF used for a home is not gone, but it is not free either.
When you sell, you must return the principal you used, plus the interest it would have earned in your OA. This goes back into your own CPF account, not to anyone else. Our article on accrued interest when you sell explains how it reduces your cash proceeds.
Money taken out of the OA also stops earning OA interest for your retirement. CPF Board puts this at up to 3.5% a year once extra interest is counted.
So the question is not only how much CPF you can use. It is also how much you want to.
What To Do Next
- Log in to the Home ownership dashboard on the CPF website to see your available OA savings and any existing CPF use.
- Run the CPF housing usage calculator with the flat’s remaining lease and each buyer’s age before you commit to an older property.
- Use our home affordability calculator and mortgage repayment calculator to test the monthly instalment in CPF and in cash.
- Estimate what you would owe your CPF at sale with the accrued interest calculator.
- Decide on the loan before the CPF. See HDB loan or bank loan when using CPF.
