HDB Home Loan Singapore: Compare 16 Banks (2026)

You can fund an HDB flat in Singapore one of two ways: a bank loan from one of the 16 retail banks Nexus partners with, or the HDB concessionary loan at a fixed 2.6% p.a. The right choice depends on your income, CPF balance, cash on hand, and how much rate-cycle risk you can stomach. Below is the framework we use with every HDB buyer who comes through.

HDB bank loan vs HDB concessionary loan

The HDB concessionary loan is pegged at 0.1% above the prevailing CPF Ordinary Account rate, currently 2.6% p.a. It allows up to 80% LTV, has no income-document gating beyond the standard HDB eligibility, and is granted directly by HDB. Eligibility requires at least one Singaporean buyer, a household income ceiling of S$14,000 (S$21,000 for extended families), and you must not own — or have disposed of within the last 30 months — any private property.

A bank loan is capped at 75% LTV, but in May 2026 the rate gap is meaningful. Our partner banks are quoting 2-year fixed from 1.40% p.a. and SORA-pegged packages from 0.97% p.a. (3-Month Compounded SORA at 1.06% + a thin spread). On a S$500,000 loan over 25 years, 1.40% versus 2.6% is roughly S$300/month of difference — close to S$36,000 across the first lock-in period alone.

Current 2026 rates at a glance

Rates move. Visit our live rates page for the daily SORA fix and the latest fixed/floating tiers, or get a packaged comparison via our free personalised mortgage report.

The MAS rules that actually cap your loan

For HDB and EC purchases, two ratios decide the loan you can take, regardless of rate:

• MSR — Mortgage Servicing Ratio: your HDB or EC mortgage repayment cannot exceed 30% of gross monthly income.
• TDSR — Total Debt Servicing Ratio: your total monthly debt obligations (mortgage, car loan, credit cards, personal loans) cannot exceed 55% of gross monthly income.

Both are computed using the MAS 4% stress-test floor under Notice 645 — not the contractual 1.40% you'll actually pay. That's the single most common reason HDB buyers get a smaller loan than they expected. We walk through the maths in our explainer on TDSR & MSR for Singapore home buyers and the deeper note on how the MAS 4% stress test changes your borrowing power.

The 25% downpayment, broken down

With a 75% LTV bank loan, the 25% downpayment is split: at least 5% in cash and the remaining 20% in cash or CPF Ordinary Account. On a S$600,000 HDB flat, that's S$30,000 minimum cash and S$120,000 from CPF or cash. Stamp duty (BSD ~S$12,600 on the same flat) and legal fees sit on top. The HDB concessionary loan permits 80% LTV, so the equivalent downpayment is 20% — and can come fully from CPF OA if your balance allows.

How Nexus compares 16 banks in one go

You give us the basics — purchase price, age, income, employment type, CPF balance, existing commitments. We run the same profile across all 16 partner banks, then send back three options: lowest absolute rate, best fixed-rate stability, and best lock-in flexibility. We pre-empt rejections (recent job change, variable bonus heavy, foreign income) before they hit a bank's credit team. If you're comparing first-purchase strategy generally, our first-time buyer loan guide walks through the same framework in narrative form.

We hand-hold the In-Principle Approval (IPA), Letter of Offer, valuation, and completion paperwork. Everything is via email and WhatsApp. Average IPA turnaround is 3–5 business days. There is no fee to you — banks pay our referral when you draw down.