A Median 4-Room Flat In Geylang Needs $183,040 Before The Loan — And Five Years Of Holding Costs $111,831

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.

A flat at the median price looks like a single number. Behind it sit a stamp duty bill, a loan ceiling, a cash requirement and several years of holding costs, and each one depends on who is buying. We ran one stated profile through the engine to see how those pieces stack up for a 4-room flat in Geylang. The result is a worked example, not a typical household. Change the age, the income or the citizenship, and most of the figures below change with it. That is the tension we wanted to look at: the price is fixed, but the bill is not.

According to data.gov.sg HDB resale records, the median 4-room flat in Geylang sold for $673,000 in 2Q2026, across 55 sales. That is -3.9% y-o-y against $700,008 a year earlier. Our illustrative buyer is a 35-year-old Singapore citizen, first home, owner-occupier, with a household income of $10,000 a month and an HDB loan over 25 years. For that profile, the engine puts the total before the loan at $183,040. Holding the home for five years costs $111,831 in all. Every figure is indicative, drawn from recorded transactions and from the rules recorded as in force, and none is a formal valuation.

The median 4-room flat in Geylang sat below its level of a year earlier in 2Q2026

We start with the sales behind the median, because the whole example rests on them. In 2Q2026 Geylang recorded 55 sales of 4-room flats, and the median price was $673,000. The median size was 93 sqm and the median price per area was $6,989 psm. A year earlier the median stood at $700,008, so the quarter shows -3.9% y-o-y. That is a modest count for one town and one flat type. A few unusually high or low sales can move a median on that base. The figures also do not show the age, storey or remaining lease of each flat, so a change in mix could sit inside the -3.9%.

The median is the price we then use as the purchase price. It is a mid-point of recorded transactions, not an appraisal of any particular flat, and no single home in Geylang need have traded at exactly that level. This suggests the example is best read as a reference point for the quarter rather than a quote for one unit. The sections that follow take that price as given and let the engine apply the tax and financing rules recorded as in force. Nothing in them tries to say whether the price is high or low. They show what a purchase at that level involves for one stated profile.

Stamp duty is a small line for a first-time citizen, but the cash needed before the loan is larger

Buyer's stamp duty on that price is $14,790. Additional buyer's stamp duty is $0, since a Singapore citizen buying a first home pays 0%. The loan limit is $504,750, which is 75.0% of the price. That leaves $168,250 payable in CPF or cash, and no minimum cash applies to this profile. Add the stamp duty and the total before the loan comes to $183,040. The table below sets out each line in order: the price, the duty, the loan, and then the part of the price the loan does not cover. Here's what stood out to us: the duty is a small line beside the share the loan leaves uncovered.

Stamp duty is the smaller part of the upfront sum here. The larger part is the share of the price the loan does not cover, shown as CPF or cash. That points to the loan limit carrying more weight in the entry sum than the tax does for this profile. The figures do not show how a household would split the CPF or cash portion between the two. They also keep fees out of this table. The hold-cost table later in the piece counts them under costs going in.

The loan-to-value limit, not income, sets the loan ceiling for this buyer

Three tests cap the loan. The loan-to-value limit allows $504,750. The total debt servicing test allows $1,159,820, and the mortgage servicing test allows $632,629. The lowest of the three binds. Here that is the loan-to-value limit, set at 75% for an HDB loan over 25 years. Both income-based limits sit well above it. This suggests that, for a household earning $10,000 a month, income is not what holds the loan back at this price. Here's how we read it: the policy limit is tighter than the household's own capacity. The table below also lists the loan type, the tenure and each cap in turn.

The monthly instalment is $2,394 at 3%, which is 23.9% of the stated income. The stress rate used for the servicing test is also 3%, so the instalment is the same at both rates. The figures rest on the single stated income and say nothing about other commitments a household might carry. They also hold the rate at 3% for the whole 25 years, so they do not show what the instalment would be at any other rate. What they give is the arithmetic for one stated profile, set against the rules in force.

Interest is the largest part of what five years of holding costs

Over five years the hold costs $111,831 in all. Interest is $70,454 of that. Property tax and maintenance come to $5,376. Costs going in are $18,060 and costs coming out are $17,941. Interest is the largest single line by a wide margin, and property tax and maintenance is the smallest. The costs going in and coming out are close to each other in size. The engine works out the interest from a standard amortisation schedule at 3% on the maximum loan. The table below lists each component and the total.

The model rests on stated assumptions. The home changes hands after five years at today's indicative mid value. Sale costs are 2% commission and $3,000 in legal fees, plus 9% GST. Property tax is charged on an assumed annual value of $16,380. Under those terms the price would need to rise 17.0% over the five years to cover the total. That 17.0% is a break-even measure, not a statement about where prices go. No rent is counted, so the figures leave out any value from living in the home. They count costs only.

The same price carries very different stamp duty for different buyer profiles

The base duty is the same for everyone at this price. What changes is the additional buyer's stamp duty. A Singapore citizen buying a second home pays 20% and a total of $149,390. A permanent resident buying a first home pays 5% and a total of $48,440. A foreigner pays 60%, which gives a total of $418,590. The first-time citizen in our example pays 0%. The last column of the table below adds the loan-to-value cap. It is 75.0% for three of the profiles and 45.0% for the second-home citizen, so the loan limit moves as well as the duty.

This table covers stamp duty and the loan cap only. It does not rerun the income tests, the cash needed or the hold cost for each profile. Rates are versioned data, checked against IRAS and MAS publications, and the newest version applied here took effect 2025-07-04. Rules change from one round of measures to the next. A table like this describes the rules as recorded, not as they must stay.

The figures leave several things open. One quarter's median from 55 sales is a thin base, and we cannot see how the mix of flats shifted against a year earlier. The example also holds one profile, one rate and one holding period fixed. In the 3Q2026 data, we will look at whether the median and the sales count move together, and whether any change to the tax or financing rules alters the stamp duty and loan lines. Until then, the numbers here describe one set of assumptions and nothing wider.

A single headline figure is rarely enough on its own. A median price tells you where the market sat in one quarter, and a worked example tells you what that price involves for one household. The value lies in how the two fit the broader direction of the market over time, and we will keep reading them side by side as each new quarter of recorded transactions arrives.

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. The stated household income is S$10,000 a month, with no other debt. The loan is 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. The rule versions used are 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$504,750 (75% of the price), the maximum available. Property tax on an assumed annual value of S$16,380 (35% 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.