Using CPF savings for a first home in Singapore: limits and HPS

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Kooky

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For a first-time buyer in Singapore, the money already sitting in a Central Provident Fund (CPF) Ordinary Account is part of the budget from the start. It can pay a downpayment, service a loan month after month and settle the stamp duty and the lawyer's bill. It is also retirement money, and the CPF Board, the statutory body that runs the fund, attaches conditions to every dollar that leaves the account for a home. Its own explanation of those conditions, in an article published on 4 August 2025 and updated on 26 May 2026, is that they keep "a prudent balance between purchasing a home and retirement planning."

This guide sets those conditions out in the order a buyer meets them: what the Ordinary Account may and may not pay for, the ceilings on how much can be used, the test that compares the property's lease with the buyer's age, the retirement sum that unlocks the higher ceiling, the S$20,000 a buyer may hold back, and the insurance that comes with paying a flat loan from CPF. It ends with the interest that builds on the sums withdrawn. Everything comes from the CPF Board's own pages and from its terms and conditions for the CPF Housing Scheme, last updated on 7 September 2026. The housing grants, the loan limits set by lenders and the refund made on a sale are separate subjects and are not repeated here.

CPF Board pages on using CPF for a home and the CPF Housing Scheme terms and conditions, as last updated between February 2025 and September 2026.

What the Ordinary Account may pay for

The CPF Board's page on using CPF to buy a home, last updated on 6 July 2026, starts with the kind of property. Ordinary Account savings can be used to buy a flat from the Housing and Development Board (HDB), and to buy or build private residential property in Singapore. The page sends buyers to HDB for the eligibility rules on flats and to the Urban Redevelopment Authority for private residential property.

Within a purchase, the page lists the following uses:

• the downpayment;
• the housing loan taken for the purchase, and the loan taken to construct a house;
• stamp duty and legal fees;
• the purchase of vacant land, for private property only;
• premiums for the Home Protection Scheme, for HDB flats only.

Loan repayment covers three things on the same page: the monthly instalment, a full or partial repayment of the loan, and instalments that have fallen overdue. For a loan from HDB, the page says payments are submitted through HDB's own online services.

Nothing obliges a buyer to use the account. The CPF Board's page says cash can be used for the housing loan instead, and that Ordinary Account savings left untouched remain part of the member's retirement fund.

What it may not pay for

The list of exclusions is in the terms and conditions, in the part on HDB flats and again in the part on private property. CPF savings cannot pay:

• booking fees, option fees or deposits;
• the HDB resale levy;
• construction, renovation or repairs;
• service and conservancy charges, and taxes;
• loans that are not housing loans, penalties, and insurance charges;
• the part of a resale price that is above the lower of the purchase price and the valuation.

The last item matters most to a buyer of a resale flat. Where the agreed price is higher than the valuation, the difference is outside CPF altogether and has to be found in cash.

The terms add a rule on timing. Before the CPF Board releases any savings, the buyer must have paid in cash the balance of the purchase price, meaning the price less the housing loan and less the amount of CPF approved.

The two ceilings on how much can be used

A buyer who reads about CPF and housing will meet the terms Valuation Limit and Withdrawal Limit. The CPF Board pages read for this guide do not use either label. They describe two ceilings in plain words, and the description is what counts.

The first ceiling is the lower of two figures: the purchase price, and the valuation of the property at the time of purchase. According to the Board's May 2026 article, a buyer whose property passes the lease test described below can use Ordinary Account savings up to that figure. If a flat is bought for S$600,000 and valued at S$580,000, the first ceiling is S$580,000. If it is valued at S$620,000, the ceiling is the S$600,000 price.

The second ceiling exists only for some purchases, and only for buyers who have set aside the Basic Retirement Sum. For a home financed with a bank loan it is, in the Board's words, "up to 120% of the lower of the purchase price and the valuation price". The terms and conditions state the same thing as an extra 20% of that amount, available for a resale HDB flat bought with a bank loan and for private property bought from 1 September 2002.

What happens after the first ceiling therefore depends on the property and on who lends. The Board's article gives three cases.

A worked example for the third row, with assumed figures. A private apartment is bought for S$1,000,000 with a bank loan, and valued at the same S$1,000,000. The first ceiling is S$1,000,000. The second is 120% of it, or S$1,200,000. The buyers' combined CPF use, counting what goes into the downpayment and every instalment afterwards, can reach S$1,000,000 without any condition on their retirement savings. Between S$1,000,000 and S$1,200,000 each of them needs the Basic Retirement Sum set aside. At S$1,200,000 the use of CPF for that home stops, and the rest of the loan is serviced in cash.

Not every withdrawal counts towards these ceilings. The Board's question-and-answer page on the subject, last updated on 18 September 2026, says that CPF savings used for stamp duty, legal fees and upgrading costs are not included in the CPF housing limit. For an exact figure the Board points to its housing usage calculator, which asks for the co-owners' dates of birth, the purchase date, the valuation and the lease.

Setting aside the Basic Retirement Sum

The Basic Retirement Sum, or BRS, is the gate between the first ceiling and whatever lies beyond it. The Board's September 2026 page defines it by reference to a larger figure, the Full Retirement Sum (FRS): the BRS is half the FRS. Which FRS applies depends on age. For a member below 55, the BRS is half of the FRS prevailing in the current year, so the amount to be set aside moves as the FRS is revised. For a member aged 55 or above, the FRS is the one fixed by the year the member turned 55, and the Board says that BRS then stays the same for life.

For a first-time buyer in the early years of a loan, the BRS is not a hurdle to the purchase itself. The first ceiling carries no retirement condition on the pages read. The BRS becomes relevant years later, when the total drawn for the home approaches the lower of the price and the valuation, and it decides whether CPF instalments may continue. For a resale flat on an HDB loan, the Board says savings can still be used for the remaining housing loan once the BRS is set aside. For a bank loan, they can be used up to the 120% ceiling.

The pages read do not give the BRS or the FRS in dollars, and no amount is quoted here.

One further rule concerns older buyers. A member aged 55 or above who is buying an HDB flat of three rooms or fewer may also use Retirement Account savings above the prevailing BRS, according to the May 2026 article.

The lease test: covering the youngest buyer to age 95

Every ceiling above assumes that the property passes a test of time. In the Board's words, the remaining lease should cover the youngest buyer who is using CPF until that buyer reaches 95. The terms and conditions apply the test to purchases made from 10 May 2019.

The arithmetic is simple subtraction. A buyer aged 30 needs a remaining lease of at least 95 less 30, or 65 years. A buyer aged 40 needs 55 years. An older resale flat may fall short, and the younger the buyer, the longer the lease has to be.

It is the youngest buyer using CPF who sets the bar, not the oldest or an average. When two people buy together, one aged 28 and one aged 35, the lease is measured against the 28-year-old and has to run 67 years. The Board's question-and-answer page on short leases, last updated on 6 July 2026, adds what happens if the household changes: when the youngest co-owner gives up ownership, the limit is recalculated on the age of the next youngest.

Short leases: pro-rating and the 20-year floor

A lease that falls short of age 95 does not shut CPF out. It scales the ceiling down. The May 2026 article says the buyer and any co-owners can each use their own Ordinary Account savings up to a percentage of the lower of the purchase price and the valuation.

The Board publishes no formula on the pages read. What the terms and conditions give is a table they call a rough guide. A remaining lease of 70 years or more gives 100% at every age shown, from 25 to 55. The chart below shows how the percentage falls for a youngest owner aged 25.

Age changes the picture quickly. For a youngest owner aged 35, the same guide keeps a 60-year lease at the full ceiling, and gives 75% for 50 years and 50% for 40 years. At 45, only the 40-year lease is reduced, to 67%. At 55, all four lease lengths in the guide stand at the full ceiling.

The Board supplies two examples of its own. In the terms and conditions, a resale flat with a 50-year lease and a lower-of-price-and-valuation figure of S$500,000, bought by owners of whom the youngest is 35, has a cap of 75% of S$500,000, or S$375,000. On the question-and-answer page, two buyers aged 25 purchase a flat with 65 years of lease left for S$550,000. They can use up to S$495,000, which the page describes as 90% of the price, because the lease lasts only until they are 90.

The pro-rated ceiling is harder than the ordinary one in one respect. The May 2026 article states that once the total CPF used by all the owners reaches it, no further Ordinary Account savings can be used for the property, even by an owner who has set aside the BRS. There is no second step to 120%.

A buyer looking at a flat near that line has two official wordings to reconcile, and the Board's calculator is the place it points to for the figure on a given property.

Keeping S$20,000 in the Ordinary Account

A buyer does not have to empty the account. The Board's page on using CPF to buy a home says a member can keep S$20,000 in the Ordinary Account at the point of purchase, and gives the purpose: paying the monthly instalments in times of need.

Its page of considerations for buyers, last updated on 6 August 2025, turns the permission into a recommendation. It advises keeping S$20,000 in the account as an emergency fund for loan instalments when a housing loan is taken. The reasoning is that an interruption in income does not then mean a missed instalment straight away, because the instalment can go on being drawn from the account.

The same page points out that the money is not idle. It says the sum can earn risk-free interest of up to 3.5%, and explains in a footnote where the top of that range comes from: members earn an extra 1% a year on the first S$60,000 of their combined CPF balances, with the Ordinary Account's share of that S$60,000 capped at S$20,000. The extra interest earned on Ordinary Account balances is credited to the Special Account, not to the Ordinary Account. The page adds that Ordinary Account savings left unused can raise future retirement payouts.

The Home Protection Scheme: who must join, what it covers

Paying a flat loan from CPF brings an insurance policy with it. The CPF Board describes the Home Protection Scheme (HPS), on a page last updated on 18 March 2026, as mortgage-reducing insurance. It protects members and their families from losing an HDB flat if the insured member dies, becomes terminally ill or becomes totally and permanently disabled.

Who must join is answered in two lines by the Board's question-and-answer page of 18 June 2026. A member who uses CPF savings to pay the monthly housing instalments on a flat must apply for HPS. A member who pays in cash is strongly encouraged to apply. The terms and conditions make the first line a condition: HPS insurance is required if CPF services the loan.

The scheme belongs to HDB flats only. The Board says private properties are not covered, and names executive condominiums and privatised HUDC flats among them; members with a loan on a private home are advised to look at private insurance.

Cover runs until the member reaches 65 or until the housing loan is fully paid. Where a loan will run beyond 65, the page suggests considering private insurance for the years after HPS ends. On a claim, the scheme settles the outstanding housing loan up to the insured sum, and the money goes directly to HDB or to the lender holding the mortgage. The family keeps the flat and is relieved of that share of the debt; no payout passes through their hands.

Acceptance is not automatic. Eligibility is subject to approval and to good health, a medical examination may be required, and the Board may ask the member's doctor for a report. A member turned down because of a serious pre-existing medical condition may still use CPF savings to pay the instalments, according to the June 2026 page.

The way to apply depends on the lender. With an HDB loan serviced from CPF, the application for HPS is made together with the application, through HDB, to withdraw CPF for the instalments. With a bank loan, or where CPF is not used for the instalments, the member submits an online application to the CPF Board.

Share of cover, premiums and exemption

Co-owners choose how the cover is divided between them. The Board sets three limits. Each owner's share should be at least the proportion of the monthly instalment that the owner pays, in CPF, cash or both. The shares of the household must add up to at least 100%. And each owner may insure for up to 100%. Two owners paying half each may therefore take 50% each, which meets the minimum, or 100% each, which means the whole outstanding loan is cleared on a claim by either. A higher share brings a higher annual premium, and the Board asks members to weigh their retirement needs when choosing.

Premiums are annual and are deducted from the Ordinary Account in the month of the policy's anniversary. If the balance is too low, the Board notifies the member to top up. A family member who co-owns the flat, being a spouse, parent, child or sibling, can authorise the use of their own Ordinary Account for the shortfall. If premiums fall behind, cover may lapse, and getting it back means a fresh application judged on the member's health at that time. The pages read give no premium amounts; the Board refers members to its HPS premium calculator.

A member with enough life insurance of their own may ask to be exempted. The Board's exemption page, last updated on 11 February 2025, requires qualifying policies that cover the outstanding loan to the end of its term or to age 65, whichever comes first. Whole life, term life and endowment policies qualify, as do life riders attached to a basic policy and mortgage-reducing term assurance or decreasing term riders. The page lists what does not: policies assigned or pledged as collateral, policies held under section 73 of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act or under an irrevocable nomination or trust, policies with loans attached, non-life policies such as personal accident, fire and home contents cover, policies in foreign currencies, policies from insurers not licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and group policies that are not portable.

The request goes through the insurer, which submits it to the Board with details of the loan in documents dated within six months of the application. If it arrives within one month of the HPS cover being issued, the full premium is refunded to the Ordinary Account; later than that, the refund is pro-rated.

Accrued interest and the CPF charge, in brief

Savings taken out for a home are expected back. The Board's page on using CPF to buy a home says that when the property is sold or transferred, the member must refund the CPF amount used together with the interest accrued on it. The terms and conditions apply the same refund on a sale, transfer or disposal. The money returns to the member's own CPF account.

Two points are worth knowing at the time of purchase. First, the terms provide for a CPF Charge on the property, imposed when the savings are released, which stays in place until the CPF monies and the accrued interest have been refunded. Second, the refund can be reduced in advance: the Board says a voluntary housing refund made early earns the member more interest and lowers the amount due on a sale. Where a property sold at market value does not raise enough, after the loan, to cover the refund, the terms do not require the difference in cash.

The pages read for this guide do not state the rate at which the interest accrues, and none is given here.

What the pages do not say

Some of what a buyer may look for is absent from the sources read. The labels Valuation Limit and Withdrawal Limit are not used on them. The Basic and Full Retirement Sums are defined but not given in dollars. The pro-rating of a short lease is shown by a rough-guide table and two examples, without a formula, and the treatment of a lease of exactly 20 years differs between two of the Board's pages. HPS premiums are not quoted, and the rules for a second or later property, which add a retirement sum to be set aside before any CPF is used, are outside this guide.

For each of these the Board refers members to its own tools: the housing usage calculator for the ceiling on a given property, the HPS premium calculator, and the home ownership dashboard, which its considerations page says shows a member's existing CPF usage and the room remaining. The exact figure for any purchase depends on the buyers' ages, the lease, the valuation and the loan, and is the Board's to confirm.

The ceiling on CPF for a home is not one number. It is set by the price, the valuation, the lender and the years left on the lease, measured against the youngest buyer.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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