CPF Accrued Interest on Your HDB Flat: What You Owe When You Sell

By the HDB Calculator Team · Last reviewed 17 October 2026 · How we verify

Most HDB buyers know CPF money can pay for the flat. Far fewer know that CPF quietly keeps score: every dollar withdrawn for housing is treated as if it never left your Ordinary Account, earning the OA rate year after year. When you sell, that score has to be settled before you see a cent.

This guide sets out exactly how CPF accrued interest works in 2026, what CPF Board itself says about it, what it does to your sale proceeds, and how to estimate your number before you list your flat.

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What CPF Accrued Interest Actually Is

CPF is, first, a retirement scheme. When you use it for housing, CPF Board requires the money back with the interest it would have earned, so your retirement savings are made whole. The board's own words, on its Using your CPF to buy a home page:

"CPF is meant for your retirement needs. When you used your CPF savings for your property, your retirement savings is reduced. Hence, when you sell your property, you will need to refund the amount that you have used plus the interest accrued on this amount. This is to restore your retirement savings."

That single sentence is the whole mechanism. The "interest accrued on this amount" is what everyone calls accrued interest: the OA interest your withdrawn principal would have earned, from the date it was used for the property to the day you refund it, compounded annually.

What counts toward the principal

Every housing use of OA money joins the principal that accrues:

• The downpayment paid from CPF
• Monthly loan instalments paid from CPF
• Stamp duty and legal fees paid from CPF
• CPF housing grants credited to the purchase — they are CPF money once disbursed, and they accrue too

Which is why the accrual surprises people years later: it is not one withdrawal but the whole stream, each dollar from its own date.

The Rate: It Follows Your Ordinary Account

Accrued interest is charged at the CPF Ordinary Account interest rate, which the board reviews quarterly. The OA rate is at its floor of 2.5% per annum, and the register we maintain — every figure re-verified against its source — carries it at 2.5% for the current quarter, from CPF's own interest-rate release.

Two things make the rate look smaller than it feels:

• It is not a cost you pay out of pocket while you own the flat. Nothing is debited each year; the balance simply accumulates on CPF's books.
• It compounds against you at the sale. Interest accrues on the principal and on previously accrued interest, at annual rest, for as long as you hold the flat.

For context, the Special, MediSave and Retirement accounts earn 4% — which is the silent argument in every "should I use CPF or cash for my flat" debate: money left in CPF can grow faster than the interest you are charged on housing withdrawals.

Estimate Your Accrued Interest

The exact figure is on your CPF Home ownership dashboard (login required, under the "What Happens If" section). To see the shape of the number first, use the estimator below: it compounds your principal at the verified OA rate over your holding period.

Total CPF used for the flat (S$)

Years you will hold the flat

Estimate my refund

What the Refund Does to Your Sale Proceeds

When you sell, the sale proceeds first pay off the outstanding housing loan, then refund CPF its P + I, and only the remainder reaches you as cash. A worked illustration on a typical 4-room resale:

Worked example — computed here for illustration, not an official CPF or HDB table

Line	Amount
Sale price	$550,000
Outstanding HDB loan	− $120,000
CPF principal used (incl. grants)	− $200,000
CPF accrued interest after 20 yrs at the OA rate	− $127,700
Cash to you before sale costs	$102,300

Read that middle column again: the accrued interest line — $127,700 — is comparable to the loan you still owed. This is the line item that turns "my flat appreciated" into "where did my proceeds go", and it is why CPF tells you to check the dashboard before you list.

If the proceeds do not cover the refund

If you sold at market value and the price does not cover both the outstanding loan and the required refund, you refund only the selling price less the outstanding loan. CPF Board states that you do not need to top up the shortfall in cash, as long as the property is sold at market value. Any option money the buyer paid you in cash counts as part of the selling price and is refunded too.

Where the Refunded Money Goes

The refund restores the account the money came from — for housing withdrawals, the Ordinary Account. Buyers under 55 see the full P + I land back in OA, available (within the housing limits) for the next property. Members aged 55 and above have the refunded amount applied to their Retirement Account first, up to their retirement sum requirement, with any remainder returning to OA. If you pledged your property to make up your retirement sum, the pledged amount is refunded as part of the settlement too — CPF states this on its Using your CPF to buy a home page.

How the Housing Limits Interact With Accrued Interest

Accrued interest is the tail; the housing limits are the leash. CPF caps how much OA you may use for a property in the first place:

• The Valuation Limit (VL) — the lower of your purchase price and the valuation at purchase. Beyond it, you can keep drawing only under conditions.
• Beyond the VL — once the VL is reached, you may keep using OA for the rest of an HDB loan on a resale flat, or up to 120% of the VL on a bank loan, but only after setting aside the Basic Retirement Sum in your own accounts. A new flat bought from HDB with an HDB loan can be paid for in full from OA. The BRS for members turning 55 in 2026 is $110,200, rising to $114,100 for the 2027 cohort.
• Lease rules — full CPF usage needs the remaining lease to cover the youngest owner to age 95; otherwise usage is pro-rated, and pro-rated use needs a remaining lease of at least 20 years.

The limits matter here for one reason: the less CPF the limits let you use, the less accrued interest you will owe later. The full mechanics are in our CPF usage guide.

Five Ways to Keep the Accrued Interest Down

1. Pay more of the downpayment in cash. Cash does not accrue. Every CPF dollar swapped for a cash dollar saves 2.5% a year for the life of the holding.
2. Take a shorter or smaller loan. Monthly instalments paid from CPF join the principal. A smaller loan means a smaller CPF stream accruing.
3. Consider a voluntary housing refund. CPF's own page on voluntary housing refunds makes the point: refund earlier and less total interest has accrued by the sale date, leaving more cash proceeds for you.
4. Do not over-max CPF on grants-and-all "because it's free money". Grants are CPF too once disbursed; they refund with interest like everything else.
5. Check the dashboard before you list, not after you accept an offer. The "What Happens If" section shows the exact P + I against a hypothetical sale price, so no surprises at the lawyer's office.

Common Questions

Is accrued interest the same as my HDB loan interest?

No — they are two different debts. Your HDB loan charges its own interest (the HDB concessionary rate, 2.6% p.a. at the time of writing). CPF accrued interest is separate: it is the OA interest your withdrawn CPF would have earned, owed back to your own CPF, not to the lender.

Does accrued interest apply to an HDB loan and a bank loan equally?

Yes. The accrual follows the CPF money, not the loan type. Whether your instalments pay an HDB loan or a bank loan, any CPF portion accrues at the OA rate.

Do I refund the grant too?

CPF housing grants are credited into your OA for the purchase, so they form part of the principal refunded at sale, with accrued interest, in the same P + I settlement.

What if I never sell?

Then no refund falls due. Accrued interest keeps building on the CPF used for as long as you own the flat, even after the loan is repaid, and the P + I is refunded when you sell the flat or transfer or sell your share of it to someone else.

Your Next Step

Before you plan a sale, run the full picture: our HDB affordability calculator works backwards from your next purchase, the grant calculator shows what your next flat qualifies for, and the CPF usage guide covers the limits this page leans on. Log in to CPF's Home ownership dashboard for the exact P + I figure — then come back and plan the next move with real numbers.

For more questions, visit the HDB Calculator FAQ.