What S$1,320,000 Buys In District 1: The Q2 2026 Median Unit, Costed Line By Line

This is an illustrative example built on the quarter's median price and a stated buyer profile. It is not a real purchase, not a valuation of any home, and not advice on whether or how to buy. Every figure in it is computed from recorded transactions and the tax and financing rules recorded as in force.

Most price reports stop at the headline number. What a buyer actually deals with is a stack of separate figures: stamp duty, the loan the rules allow, the cash that must be cash rather than CPF, and the running cost of holding the home for a few years.

In this article, we look at one worked example built on the median price of 60 to 99 sqm private homes sold in District 1 (Raffles Place, Marina, Cecil) in Q2 2026 — the middle price of the quarter's sales, with half above and half below. We cover the stamp duty, the loan limits, the cash needed at purchase, the five-year hold cost, and how the stamp duty changes across buyer profiles.

The median for the quarter was S$1,320,000 across 23 sales, based on caveat data from the URA Data Service, with the cost lines computed by this site's position engine using the tax and financing rules recorded as in force.

What The Purchase Looks Like At S$1,320,000

The profile used here is a Singapore citizen buying a first home to live in, aged 35, with a household income of S$18,000 a month, taking a bank loan over 25 years. The unit is the median size for the band, about 753 sqft (square feet, the area measure used for private homes).

The table below sets out the price and the amounts due before the loan is drawn.

The table shows buyer's stamp duty of S$37,400 and additional buyer's stamp duty of S$0, since the additional rate for a citizen's first home is 0%. The maximum loan is S$990,000, or 75.0% of the price. Of the remainder, at least S$66,000 must be paid in cash, with a further S$264,000 payable from CPF or cash. Adding the stamp duty, S$367,400 is needed before the loan.

How Much Can Be Borrowed, And What It Costs Monthly

Two separate caps sit on a bank loan. The loan-to-value limit, or LTV, caps the loan as a share of the price. The total debt servicing ratio, or TDSR, caps it by what the stated income can service at a stress rate — a higher test rate used to check affordability rather than the rate actually charged.

The table below shows both limits and the resulting instalments.

Note that the LTV limit of S$990,000 binds here, well below the S$1,875,580 the TDSR test would allow. The monthly instalment works out to S$4,695 at 3%, which is 26.1% of the stated monthly income, and S$5,226 at the 4% stress rate. The mortgage servicing ratio, or MSR, does not apply because it is a rule for HDB flats and executive condominiums rather than private resale homes.

The Cost Of Holding The Home For Five Years

Holding a home has costs beyond the instalment: interest, property tax, maintenance, and the fees paid when entering and leaving. The engine sets these out on stated assumptions, including a sale at today's indicative mid value after five years, seller's commission of 2% plus S$3,000 legal fees with 9% GST, interest from a standard amortisation schedule at 3% on the full S$990,000 loan, and property tax on an assumed annual value of S$45,900.

The table below gives the five-year total.

Across the five years the total comes to S$235,072, made up of S$138,186 of interest, S$24,170 of property tax and maintenance, S$40,670 of costs going in and S$32,046 coming out. On those assumptions, the price would need to rise 18.2% over the five years for the sale to cover the cost of the hold. That percentage is arithmetic on the stated cost assumptions, not a statement about what prices are expected to do.

How Stamp Duty Changes With The Buyer Profile

The price is the same in every row below; only the buyer's residency and the number of homes owned differ. Buyer's stamp duty does not change with profile, but additional buyer's stamp duty does.

The table below compares four profiles at S$1,320,000.

As the table shows, a citizen buying a first home pays S$37,400 in total, while a citizen buying a second home pays S$301,400, with additional buyer's stamp duty of 20% adding S$264,000 and the LTV cap dropping to 45.0%. A permanent resident buying a first home pays S$103,400 at a 5% additional rate, and a foreigner pays S$829,400 at 60%. These rates are versioned data in the site's configuration, checked against IRAS and MAS publications on 18 September 2026, with the most recent version applied here taking effect on 4 July 2025.

The Sales Behind The Median

The median is only as informative as the transactions behind it. District 1 covers Raffles Place, Marina and Cecil, and the band here is 60 to 99 sqm (square metres).

The table below summarises the quarter's sales for that band.

There were 23 such sales in Q2 2026, at a median of S$1,320,000, a median of S$1,793 psf (per square foot) and a median size of 753 sqft. The median a year earlier was S$1,740,000, a change of -24.1%. With 23 sales in the quarter, a shift in which projects or unit sizes transacted can move a median on its own, so the year-on-year change describes the middle of a small set of deals rather than the path of any one home.

Summary

At the Q2 2026 median of S$1,320,000 for a 60 to 99 sqm private home in District 1, the worked example gives stamp duty of S$37,400 for a citizen first-home buyer, a maximum loan of S$990,000 under the 75% loan-to-value cap, and S$367,400 due before the loan, of which at least S$66,000 must be in cash. The instalment is S$4,695 a month at 3%, or 26.1% of the stated S$18,000 monthly income, rising to S$5,226 at the 4% stress rate. Over five years the hold costs S$235,072 in total on the stated assumptions.

These figures are indicative and drawn from recorded transactions and the rules as recorded, not a valuation of any home. They describe one price point, one buyer profile, one loan tenure and one interest rate; a different size, project, profile or rate produces different numbers. The median itself rests on 23 sales, so it describes the middle of a small set of caveats rather than any particular unit.

Method: an illustrative example, not a real purchase. The price is the median of the quarter's recorded sales named; the buyer is a Singapore citizen first-time owner-occupier aged 35 with a stated household income of S$18,000 a month and no other debt, borrowing the maximum over 25 years at 3%. Stamp duty, loan limits, instalments and the five-year hold cost are computed by this site's position engine under the rules recorded as in force for the quarter (bsd 2023-02-15, absd 2023-04-27, ssd 2025-07-04, ltv 2024-08-20, tdsr 2022-09-30, property_tax 2025-01-01, costs 2020-01-01). Further assumptions: sale at today's indicative mid value after 5 years; seller pays 2% commission and S$3,000 legal fees, plus 9% GST; mortgage interest from a standard amortisation schedule at the given rate; loan of S$990,000 (75% of the price), the maximum available; property tax on an assumed annual value of S$45,900 (85% of market rent); maintenance at the configured norm. Rates are versioned data in config/rules.yaml, checked against IRAS and MAS publications on 2026-09-18; the newest version applied here took effect 2025-07-04. Rules change with each cooling-measure round. Private figures are from URA Data Service caveats, HDB figures from data.gov.sg resale records, both loaded weekly by this site's ingest. Medians are of the non-excluded transactions in the period named; sales flagged by the hygiene rules (related-party transfers, bulk deals, outliers) are left out. Every figure is indicative and drawn from recorded transactions, not a formal valuation.