Singapore's 55% TDSR Cap: How Documents and a Broker Free Loan Headroom

By KAPVOY Advisory·15 September 2026

TDSR caps your monthly debt repayments, including the mortgage you're applying for, at a maximum of 55% of your gross monthly income for most property loans. The catch is that Singapore banks don't stress-test your instalment against your actual interest rate. They apply a higher medium-term rate floor set by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, so your real borrowing limit is usually lower than what any repayment calculator shows. If your TDSR runs over the threshold, you'll need to shrink the loan, pay down other debts, or qualify under an exceptional-case process with your lender, as defined by MAS rules.

TL;DR:

Most property loans must keep total debt payments below 55% of gross monthly income, calculated using a stressed interest rate floor of at least 4%.

All existing debts, including car, personal, student, and revolving credit, are counted in the TDSR calculation, which can reduce permissible loan amounts.

Variable income such as commissions and rental earnings face at least a 30% haircut and require proper documentation, like stamped tenancy agreements or 12 months of bank statements.

Exemptions exist for refinancing your primary residence and certain property sales, provided appropriate paperwork is submitted to demonstrate the transaction.

Shopping around through multiple lenders or a broker like Kapvoy can improve approval chances, as different institutions apply varying rate floors and risk buffers.

What Is TDSR in Singapore and When Does It Apply?
How Is TDSR Calculated? The Formula and Stress-Test Rules
What Counts as Monthly Debt Obligations?
What Counts as Gross Monthly Income for TDSR?
Exemptions and Documentation for TDSR Exclusions
How TDSR Changes Your Maximum Loan Amount
Worked Examples: How TDSR Plays Out in Real Scenarios
How to Improve Your TDSR Outcome Before You Apply
Where the TDSR Rules Actually Come From
A Practitioner's View on TDSR in Singapore
How Kapvoy Helps When TDSR Gets in the Way
Sources
FAQ

What Is TDSR in Singapore and When Does It Apply?

TDSR, or Total Debt Servicing Ratio, is the rule that stops Singapore borrowers from taking on property loans that would eat up too much of their income. MAS introduced it to protect both the financial system and individual households from over-leveraging during a property upswing, and it has stayed the anchor of local mortgage underwriting ever since. For any Option to Purchase granted from December 16, 2021 onward, the TDSR threshold sits at 55% of gross monthly income.

The rule applies broadly. It covers:

Loans used to purchase residential and non-residential property
Any loan secured against a property you already own
Most refinancing of existing property loans

MAS also spells out who exactly falls under TDSR: individuals and certain company structures buying or refinancing property in Singapore. Every bank and finance company regulated by MAS must run this calculation before approving a property loan, which is why the math looks nearly identical no matter which lender you approach.

How Is TDSR Calculated? The Formula and Stress-Test Rules

The formula itself is simple: divide your monthly total debt obligations by your gross monthly income, then multiply by 100 to get a percentage. What complicates things is how banks calculate the numerator for the loan you're actually applying for.

Here's the process MAS requires lenders to follow:

Take your proposed loan amount and tenure.
Calculate the monthly instalment using a medium-term interest rate floor rather than the promotional or current rate the bank is offering you. This floor has historically sat at a minimum of 4% for residential property loans under MAS Notice 645.
Add that stressed instalment to every other existing debt obligation you carry.
Divide the total by your gross monthly income and compare against the 55% ceiling.

This is why two borrowers with identical income and identical nominal debt can end up with different approved loan amounts. If one applies for a 25-year tenure and another for a 30-year tenure, the stressed instalments differ, which shifts the numerator and changes what clears the threshold. Some FIs also apply floors more conservative than the MAS minimum, which is one reason your bank-approved figure often lands below a generic online estimate. MAS also permits FIs to layer on their own risk buffers, so shopping around genuinely changes your outcome, not just your rate.

What Counts as Monthly Debt Obligations?

The numerator in your TDSR calculation isn't limited to the mortgage you're applying for. MAS requires banks to count every debt obligation you're servicing, including:

The new property loan under application (at the stressed instalment)
Any other outstanding property loans
Car loans
Personal loans and lines of credit
Renovation loans
Student loans
Credit card balances, calculated on the minimum payment or a set percentage of the outstanding balance
Other secured or unsecured revolving credit facilities

Guarantees you've extended for someone else's loan can also be pulled into your TDSR if the bank has reason to treat you as a co-obligor. For joint applications, MAS Notice 831 lets banks apportion shared obligations in proportion to each applicant's gross monthly income, rather than splitting everything evenly. To verify all this, banks pull your credit bureau report, request bank statements, and cross-check against your CPF and IRAS records before finalizing any number.

What Counts as Gross Monthly Income for TDSR?

Gross monthly income for TDSR purposes means your base pay and other verified, recurring income streams. It does not include your employer's CPF contributions. Where things get less generous is variable pay: MAS mandates a minimum 30% haircut on variable income and rental income, and banks average variable pay over the preceding 12 months rather than counting your best month.

Rental income needs a stamped tenancy agreement with at least six months remaining to even qualify, which trips up plenty of owner-occupiers hoping to count a room they're renting out.

| Income Type | Treatment Under TDSR | |---|---| | Base salary | Counted in full, verified via payslips/CPF statements | | Commission or bonus | Minimum 30% haircut, averaged over 12 months | | Rental income | Minimum 30% haircut, requires stamped tenancy agreement | | Eligible financial assets (stocks, unit trusts, fixed deposits) | Converted to an income stream after haircuts, amortized over 48 months |

That last row matters more than most buyers realize. If your income alone doesn't clear the threshold, pledging eligible financial assets can supplement your qualifying income, spread over a 48-month amortization schedule, but only after MAS-mandated haircuts are applied.

Exemptions and Documentation for TDSR Exclusions

Not every property loan gets stress-tested against the full 55% cap, and knowing which exclusions apply to your situation can change your entire application strategy.

The most common concession is for owner-occupiers refinancing their existing home loan. In many cases, MAS lets banks exclude the borrower's existing instalment from the TDSR calculation if the refinancing is on the property the borrower actually lives in, provided the loan doesn't increase beyond the outstanding balance.

Selling an existing property before or shortly after taking a new loan can also trigger an exclusion, but only with paperwork. According to MAS's own guidance, acceptable evidence includes:

A signed sale and purchase agreement for the property being sold
IRAS stamp duty proof confirming the transaction
HDB approval letters for resale or ethnic quota clearance, where applicable
A signed undertaking or declaration committing to discharge the existing loan by a set date

TDSR rules also don't apply in a handful of specific scenarios: mortgage equity withdrawal loans where the aggregated loan-to-value ratio stays under 50%, and bridging loans that get repaid within six months.

How TDSR Changes Your Maximum Loan Amount

Here's where the gap between expectation and reality usually shows up. Punch your numbers into a generic mortgage calculator and you'll get a repayment figure based on today's actual interest rate. Your bank runs a completely different calculation, using the medium-term rate floor, which almost always produces a smaller approved amount.

TDSR doesn't work in isolation, either. It interacts directly with the Loan-to-Value limits that cap how much of the property's price or valuation a bank will lend against. A few points worth internalizing:

LTV caps limit the loan as a percentage of property value; TDSR caps it as a percentage of your income. Whichever produces the smaller loan amount wins.
Extending your loan tenure lowers the monthly instalment, which can bring your TDSR back under 55%, but a longer tenure isn't always available depending on your age and the property type.
For refinancing, TDSR generally still applies unless you qualify for the owner-occupier concession described above.
If your TDSR comes in above threshold with no applicable exclusion, banks can treat the application as an exceptional case, which typically requires a documented debt-reduction plan and gets reported to MAS.

Worked Examples: How TDSR Plays Out in Real Scenarios

Numbers make this concrete faster than formulas do. Here are three scenarios that reflect common borrower profiles.

Single-income first-time buyer. Gross monthly income of $8,000, no existing debt, applying for a $1 million loan over 25 years. At the MAS medium-term floor, the stressed instalment comes to roughly $4,000. TDSR: $4,000 ÷ $8,000 = 50%, comfortably under the 55% ceiling.
Commission-based earner with rental income. Base salary of $5,000, plus $3,000 average commission and $2,000 rental income. After the mandatory 30% haircut, commission and rental income are reduced, lowering qualifying income significantly compared to the gross figure. That haircut alone can shrink the approvable loan amount noticeably.
Owner-occupier refinancing with a pending sale. Existing instalment of $2,800 gets excluded entirely once the borrower provides a signed sale agreement and IRAS stamp duty proof, freeing up TDSR headroom for the new loan.

How to Improve Your TDSR Outcome Before You Apply

Small moves before you submit an application can shift your TDSR meaningfully. Clearing or paying down car loans, personal loans, and credit card balances reduces your numerator directly, and it's the fastest lever most borrowers have. If you earn commission or rental income, gather 12 months of statements and a stamped tenancy agreement well ahead of time, since incomplete documentation is one of the most common reasons banks apply a stricter haircut than necessary.

Consolidating multiple small debts into a single lower repayment can also help, particularly if you're carrying several revolving credit lines. And because FIs apply different medium-term rate floors and risk buffers, the same borrower profile can pass at one bank and fail at another. That's where submitting to multiple lenders in parallel through a broker like Kapvoy tends to matter most, since underwriting assumptions genuinely differ across institutions.

Pro Tip: Request your credit bureau report before you apply, not after a rejection. Clearing a small forgotten balance a week ahead of your application can shift your TDSR by several percentage points.

Where the TDSR Rules Actually Come From

Every rule in this guide traces back to MAS's own explainers and formal notices, not industry convention. Reading the primary notices before you apply helps you anticipate exactly what documentation your bank will ask for.

A Practitioner's View on TDSR in Singapore

Most borrowers treat TDSR as a single number to hit, when it's really a documentation exercise wearing a formula's clothing. The households that get the loan size they expect are rarely the ones with the highest income. They're the ones who showed up with tenancy agreements, sale contracts, and 12 months of clean bank statements already in hand.

Three things matter most right now: pull your credit report and clear small revolving balances first, document any variable or rental income for a full year before applying, and consider a brokered multi-lender submission if your income structure is anything but a plain salary. Direct bank applications work fine for straightforward W2-style profiles. Once commission, rental income, or a pending property sale enters the picture, the value of comparing how different lenders treat your file goes up considerably.

— Viknesh

How Kapvoy Helps When TDSR Gets in the Way

Kapvoy is the alternative to walking into a single bank branch and hoping their underwriting assumptions happen to fit your income profile. Because TDSR floors and risk buffers genuinely vary across lenders, submitting your file to Kapvoy's panel of 30+ banks and finance companies at once means you're not betting your approval on one institution's conservative rate floor.

Kapvoy

This matters most if your income includes commission, rental receipts, or you're refinancing while a sale is still pending. A broker preparing your documentation, matching you against lenders whose criteria fit your actual numbers, and only charging a success fee after financing is disbursed can help. There's no upfront cost and no consultation charge to find out where you stand.

If you've already been turned down once, that doesn't mean every bank will say no. Start with a free eligibility check to see which lenders on Kapvoy's panel are likely to work with your specific TDSR profile.

FAQ

Is the Current TDSR Limit 55% or 60% in Singapore?

The current TDSR threshold is 55% of gross monthly income for property loans tied to an Option to Purchase granted on or after December 16, 2021. Older loans predating that change may be assessed under earlier thresholds, so check with your bank if your OTP predates that date.

How Is TDSR Calculated?

Divide your total monthly debt obligations, including the stressed instalment for the loan you're applying for, by your gross monthly income, then multiply by 100. Banks use a medium-term interest rate floor rather than your actual quoted rate when computing that instalment.

What Is the Maximum Loan-to-Value Ratio in Singapore?

LTV limits depend on the property type, the number of outstanding loans, and the lender, and they work alongside TDSR rather than replacing it. Whichever cap, LTV or TDSR, produces the smaller loan amount is the one that applies to your application.

What Is the Maximum Amount I Can Borrow With a Personal Loan in Singapore?

Personal loan limits depend on your income and the lender's own credit policy rather than a single fixed TDSR figure, since personal loans sit outside the property-specific TDSR framework. If you're weighing a personal loan against other financing needs, comparing options through Kapvoy's financing overview shows what's realistically available for your income profile.