Buying In District 23 At The Q2 2026 Median Of S$1,368,000: What It Costs

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.

Stamp duty, loan limits and cash at purchase shape the cost of a home before any keys change hands. This example sets those figures against one real data point: the Q2 2026 median price in District 23 (Bukit Panjang, Hillview, Choa Chu Kang).

In this article, we look at the sales behind the median, the cash needed and the loan, the cost of holding the home for five years, and how stamp duty differs by buyer profile.

The buyer is a Singapore citizen aged 35, buying a first home to live in, with a household income of S$18,000 a month. The price is S$1,368,000, the median of 84 sales, based on private home caveats from the URA Data Service. The loan is a bank loan over 25 years. All the sums come from this site's own engine.

What Sales Sit Behind The Median?

The price in this example is the median of 84 sales of 60 to 99 sqm units in District 23 in Q2 2026. The table below sets out the sales behind it.

The table shows a median of S$1,546 psf and a median size of 926 sqft. A year earlier the median price was S$1,319,000, and the change is +3.7%. Note that these are recorded transactions, so every figure is indicative and not a valuation of any home.

What Does The Purchase Cost, And How Big Is The Loan?

The two tables below follow the purchase from price to loan. The first covers stamp duty and cash. The second covers the loan limits and the monthly instalment.

Stamp duty on this price is S$39,320. All of it is buyer's stamp duty, and additional buyer's stamp duty is S$0 at 0%. The loan limit is S$1,023,043, which is 74.8% of the price. Cash needed at purchase is at least S$68,400, with a further S$276,557 payable in CPF or cash. With stamp duty, that is S$384,277 before the loan.

The loan table shows three limits. The loan-to-value cap allows S$1,026,000 and the TDSR allows S$1,875,580. The mortgage servicing ratio allows S$1,023,043, so it is the binding limit. The monthly instalment is S$4,851 at 3%, which is 27.0% of the stated income. At the 4% stress rate used for the TDSR test, it is S$5,400.

What Does Holding The Home For Five Years Cost?

The table below adds up the costs of owning this home for five years. It covers costs going in, interest, property tax and maintenance, and costs coming out.

The total comes to S$244,064. Interest is the largest part at S$142,798. Costs going in are S$42,590 and costs coming out are S$33,092. Property tax and maintenance add S$25,584. On these figures, the price would need to rise 18.2% over the five years to cover the total.

Note how the sum is built. The sale is set at today's indicative mid value after five years. The seller pays a 2% commission and S$3,000 in legal fees, plus 9% GST. Interest comes from a standard amortisation schedule at 3%.

How Does Stamp Duty Differ By Buyer Profile?

Stamp duty depends on who is buying and whether it is a first home. The table below shows the same S$1,368,000 price under four buyer profiles, using the rates recorded as in force for this example.

Buyer's stamp duty is S$39,320 for every profile. The difference comes from the additional buyer's stamp duty. It is S$0 for a citizen's first home and S$273,600 at 20% for a citizen's second home. A permanent resident pays S$68,400 at 5%, and a foreigner pays S$820,800 at 60%.

The totals are S$39,320, S$312,920, S$107,720 and S$860,120 in that order. The loan-to-value cap also differs. It is 45.0% for a citizen's second home and 75.0% for the other three profiles.

Summary

At Q2 2026's median of S$1,368,000, up 3.7% on the same quarter a year earlier, a citizen buying a first home faces S$39,320 in stamp duty. Cash and CPF or cash, with stamp duty, come to S$384,277 before the loan. Holding the home for five years costs S$244,064 in this example.

These figures come from recorded URA Data Service transactions and the rules recorded as in force. They are indicative, and they describe one buyer profile at one price. They do not show what any single home would fetch, or how rates and prices move after Q2 2026.

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$18,000 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. An executive condominium within its five-year minimum occupation period, so the 30% mortgage servicing ratio applies as well as TDSR. Loan of S$1,023,043 (75% of the price), the maximum available. Property tax on an assumed annual value of S$36,720 (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.