Insights

The Affordability Assessment, Explained

Before you fall for a unit, find out what the bank will actually lend you. The Affordability Assessment runs the same TDSR and MSR grid a banker uses — at the 4% stress rate, across private, EC and HDB — so you shop with a real number.

By TRIBE Editorial · 28 June 2026 · 4 min read

The most expensive mistake in property is falling in love with a unit before you know what the bank will lend you. The Affordability Assessment runs the same capacity grid a mortgage banker runs: it takes your income, subtracts your existing debts, applies the regulatory caps at a stressed interest rate, and prints a maximum loan, a maximum price, and the downpayment — across private, EC and HDB at once. It's the number you should know before the first viewing, not after the option fee.

55%

TDSR cap on total debt

of gross monthly income

30%

MSR cap for HDB & EC

on the home loan alone

Stress rate the loan is sized at

not today's actual rate

The two caps that decide everything

Singapore sizes a home loan against two limits. The Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) says all your monthly debt repayments — home loan, car loan, credit-card minimums, everything — can't exceed 55% of your gross monthly income. The Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) is stricter and applies only to HDB flats and executive condos: the home loan alone can't exceed 30% of gross income. For an HDB or EC purchase the binding limit is whichever bites first — usually the 30% MSR. For private property, only the 55% TDSR applies. The tool computes both and shows you the result for each property type side by side.

Why your loan is sized at 4%, not 1.6%

Here's the part that surprises people. Even though floating packages in mid-2026 sit near 1.6%, the bank doesn't size your loan at the rate you'll actually pay. It uses a medium-term stress rate of 4% — a regulatory floor designed to check you can still afford the loan if rates rise. So your maximum loan is the amount whose monthly repayment, calculated at 4% over your tenure, fits inside the 55%/30% cap. This is exactly why lower headline rates don't increase how much you can borrow: the capacity is fixed at the 4% floor regardless of where SORA sits. The tool lets you set the stress rate, but it defaults to the 4% the banks use.

The details the tool gets right

A good affordability number lives in the details, and this is where most back-of-envelope sums go wrong:

Variable income — bonus, commission, rental — is haircut by 30% before it counts, because lenders don't give full credit to income that isn't guaranteed. So $1,000 a month of commission supports a loan as if it were $700.

Tenure is capped and age-aware. Standard tenure runs to 30 years for private and EC, 25 for HDB, and must end by age 65; the tool also models the extended-tenure path (up to 35 years private/EC, 30 HDB, ending by 75) — which buys a longer runway but, crucially, drops your loan-to-value. Where two buyers apply, it blends ages by income weight, so the higher earner's age carries more of the tenure.

The loan-to-value ladder depends on how many home loans you already hold. Your first loan funds up to 75% of the price (so 25% down); a second drops to 45%, and a third or more to just 35%. On the extended-tenure path those LTVs fall further (55% / 25% / 15%). The tool turns the max loan into a max price using the right LTV for your situation, and shows the downpayment that implies.

How to read it

Open the Affordability Assessment, enter up to two applicants' ages and incomes, your monthly debts and how many home loans you hold, and read three things per property type: max loan, max price, downpayment — in two columns, standard tenure and the extended-tenure/lower-LTV alternative. The estimated monthly instalment is shown at your real package rate, so you see both the regulator's stressed number and your likely actual payment.

One honest caveat: this is a capacity estimate, not an approval. A bank's final offer depends on your credit file, the specific property's valuation, and the exact package — and your real budget should sit comfortably below the maximum, not at it. The point of the tool isn't to find the biggest loan you can get; it's to walk into viewings knowing the ceiling, so you never fall for something the maths was always going to rule out.

Find your number at tribesg.com/tools/affordability.

Sources: TRIBE Affordability Assessment; caps and constants per MAS TDSR/MSR rules (55% TDSR, 30% MSR, 4% medium-term stress rate) and MAS LTV limits, as at June 2026. Estimates are not a loan approval or financial advice.

Silas Tan is a District Director at Huttons Asia and co-founder of TRIBE. This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. CEA Registration R000303I.