HDB downpayment in 2026

By the HDB Calculator Team · Last reviewed 21 August 2026 · How we verify

A flat bought with an HDB housing loan needs a downpayment of 25% of the price, and HDB sets no minimum cash component — CPF Ordinary Account savings can cover all of it. A bank loan needs the same 25% at a 75% Loan-to-Value limit, but at least 5% must be cash.

How much is the downpayment on an HDB flat?

The downpayment is whatever the loan does not cover, so it follows directly from the Loan-to-Value (LTV) limit. Since 20 August 2024 the LTV limit for an HDB housing loan has been 75% of the purchase price, or of the resale price or valuation, whichever is lower. That leaves a downpayment of 25%. Before that date the HDB limit was 80% and the downpayment 20%; a great deal of advice still online has not caught up.

A loan from a bank or finance company carries the same 75% LTV limit, set by MAS rather than by HDB. The headline downpayment is therefore identical. The difference is not how much you pay but what you may pay it with, and for a buyer with CPF savings and thin cash reserves that difference decides which loan is possible at all.

The two loans side by side

These are the limits that apply to a buyer with no outstanding housing loan, at the standard tier.

HDB LTV and downpayment: HDB and MND press release of 19 August 2024. HDB tenure: HDB’s MyNiceHome loans guide. Bank LTV, cash minimum and tenure: MAS, Rules for New Housing Loans. Verified 21 August 2026 — see the sources at the foot of this page.

Can you pay the HDB downpayment entirely from CPF?

With an HDB housing loan, yes. HDB’s own wording is that the downpayment “can be paid in full using your CPF Ordinary Account (OA), with cash, or with a combination of both” and that no minimum cash payment is required. The only ceiling is the balance sitting in your Ordinary Account.

There is a condition attached to the HDB loan that catches people out, and it is the opposite of a cash requirement: HDB requires you to use your CPF savings on the flat before it will grant the loan. You may keep up to $20,000 per buyer in the Ordinary Account; the rest goes into the purchase, which shrinks the loan you need.

With a bank loan the position reverses. MAS requires 5% of the purchase price in cash where the LTV limit is 75%, and 10% where it is 55%. The balance of the downpayment may come from your CPF Ordinary Account. Banks impose no CPF-usage condition of the kind HDB does.

What the lower LTV tier costs you

The 55% limit is the one worth planning around, because it nearly doubles the downpayment. MAS applies it when the loan tenure exceeds 30 years — 25 years for an HDB flat — or when the loan period extends beyond the borrower’s age of 65. Neither trigger has anything to do with what you earn or with the flat you are buying.

For joint borrowers MAS assesses the age as an income-weighted average, so a younger, higher-earning co-borrower can pull the pair back under the threshold. The practical move is to shorten the tenure until the loan is repaid by 65, and to check that before committing to a flat rather than after.

A worked example: a $600,000 resale flat

The figures below apply the limits above to a purchase price of $600,000. They are arithmetic on the verified percentages, not published examples.

Arithmetic on the verified LTV and cash-minimum percentages above; HDB and MAS publish the percentages, not these amounts. Your own figures depend on the price or valuation HDB accepts, and on your grants. Run them through the HDB affordability calculator.

Two things stand out. The cash line is the whole argument for the HDB loan: the same flat needs $30,000 in cash through a bank and nothing in cash through HDB. And the lower tier is expensive — $120,000 more downpayment on the same flat, $30,000 of it in cash.

Housing grants land in your CPF Ordinary Account and are applied to the purchase price, so they reduce what you fund yourself. A first-timer family can receive up to $230,000 across the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant, the CPF Housing Grant and the Proximity Housing Grant — see every HDB grant amount in 2026.

Downpayment on a new flat from HDB, stage by stage

A resale flat is completed in one transaction, so the 25% falls due at completion. A new flat bought from HDB is different: it is paid for in stages across the build, and the figure most people mean by “the BTO downpayment” is the instalment due when you sign the Agreement for Lease.

HDB — Housing Loans for HDB Flat Buyers (MyNiceHome), verified 21 August 2026. These are single instalments in a staged purchase, not the whole downpayment; the balance of the 25% falls due at other stages.

What else you need on the day

The downpayment is the largest number but not the only one. Budget separately for the option fee and the deposit on exercising the Option to Purchase, for stamp duty, for legal and conveyancing fees, and — if you are a second-timer buying another subsidised flat — for the HDB resale levy, which runs from $15,000 to $55,000 depending on the first flat.

Your monthly repayment is capped separately from all of this. An HDB flat loan is held to a Mortgage Servicing Ratio of 30% of gross monthly income, and a bank loan additionally to a Total Debt Servicing Ratio of 55% across all your debts. A downpayment you can raise does not by itself mean a loan you can service.

Frequently asked questions

How much downpayment do I need for an HDB flat in 2026?

25% of the purchase price, because the Loan-to-Value limit is 75% for an HDB housing loan and for a bank loan alike. What differs is how you may pay it: HDB sets no minimum cash component, so CPF Ordinary Account savings can cover the whole 25%, while a bank loan requires at least 5% of the price in cash.

Can I pay the HDB downpayment entirely with CPF?

Yes, if you take an HDB housing loan. HDB states the downpayment can be paid in full using your CPF Ordinary Account, with cash, or with a combination of both, and that no minimum cash payment is required. The limit is simply how much you hold in your Ordinary Account.

How much of the downpayment must be cash with a bank loan?

At least 5% of the purchase price where the Loan-to-Value limit is 75%, and at least 10% where it is 55%. The rest of the downpayment may come from your CPF Ordinary Account. This is a MAS rule and applies to every bank and finance company.

When does the LTV limit drop to 55%?

When the loan tenure exceeds 30 years, or 25 years for an HDB flat, or when the loan period runs past the borrower’s age of 65. It is not triggered by your income or by the type of flat. At that tier the downpayment rises to 45% of the price, of which 10% must be cash.

Is the downpayment for a BTO flat paid all at once?

No. A new flat bought from HDB is paid for in stages. The instalment due at the signing of the Agreement for Lease is 10% of the purchase price with an HDB housing loan and 20% with a loan from a financial institution; the remainder of the 25% falls due at other stages.

Did the HDB downpayment used to be 20%?

It did, until 20 August 2024. HDB lowered the Loan-to-Value limit on its own loan from 80% to 75% that day, bringing it in line with loans from financial institutions, which raised the downpayment from 20% to 25%. It applies to resale applications received by HDB on or after that date and to BTO applications from the October 2024 exercise onwards.

Related pages

• HDB affordability calculator — your maximum loan, downpayment and monthly repayment from your own numbers.
• BTO affordability calculator — the same for a new flat bought from HDB.
• How to apply for an HDB loan — the HFE letter and what HDB assesses.
• Every HDB grant amount in 2026 — what lands in your CPF and cuts the price.
• HDB resale levy 2026 — what a second-timer owes on top.