Insights

The Resale Condo Purchase Planner, Explained

1% to hold it, 4% to exercise, then stamp duty, then the balance on completion. A resale condo is paid in a fixed order from a specific pocket each time — and this planner maps every dollar from OTP to keys.

By TRIBE Editorial · 28 June 2026 · 3 min read

The hardest part of buying a resale condo isn't the total — it's the timing of the cash. The duties and the first 5% are due long before your loan disburses, and they come out of cash before CPF can step in. The Resale Condo Purchase Planner takes your price and your funds and maps the 1% option, the 4% exercise, BSD and ABSD, the downpayment and the balance on completion — and, crucially, the order every dollar leaves your pocket.

1% + 4%

Option then exercise

this is your 5% minimum cash

cash first

How BSD & ABSD are paid

CPF reimburses after completion

~10–12 wks

OTP to completion

when the 95% balance falls due

The order every dollar leaves

A resale condo is paid in four moves. First, the option fee — 1% of the price, cash, the day the OTP is granted. Second, exercising the option — a further 4%, cash, within 14 days. That 1% + 4% is your 5% minimum cash component; it can't come from CPF. Third, Buyer's Stamp Duty and any ABSD, due within 14 days of exercising — and these are paid cash first, with CPF OA reimbursing you through your lawyer after completion. Fourth, completion at roughly 10–12 weeks, when the remaining 95% is settled in the order CPF OA, then loan, then a cash top-up if needed.

The planner shows each of these as a dated step with the exact cash, CPF and loan drawn — so the early cash crunch (5% plus duties, weeks before any loan money arrives) is visible up front rather than discovered late.

Why ABSD changes the whole picture

Set your buyer profile — citizenship and how many residential properties you already own — and the planner applies the right ABSD rate. For a citizen's second property that's 20% of the price, paid in that cash-first duties step; it can dwarf every other line and is the single number that most often decides whether a purchase is viable. If you're buying a second property, this is the figure to confront before falling for a unit. (We break the duty itself down in the Buyer's Stamp Duty guide.)

The loan cap

The planner caps the loan at 75% of the price for a first home loan; a second concurrent loan drops to 45% and a third to 35%, which raises the equity you must find. It clamps the loan to the cap even if you enter a larger loan-eligible figure, so the downpayment it shows is the real one — not an optimistic one.

How to read it

Open the Resale Condo Purchase Planner, enter the price, your ABSD profile, your loan-eligible amount, cash and CPF OA, and read the timeline. Watch the cash demanded in the first two steps plus duties — that front-loaded cash, not the completion balance, is what trips up buyers who budgeted only for the downpayment.

It maps the cash and timing; to size the loan itself, start with the Affordability Assessment.

Plan your purchase at tribesg.com/planner/resale-condo.

Sources: TRIBE Resale Condo Purchase Planner; option/exercise convention, BSD/ABSD and the 75% LTV cap per IRAS and MAS rules, as at June 2026. Informational only; not 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.