Upgrade planner
BetaMove from one home to another — hdb flat to condo / private apartment — with the cash flows laid bare: what your sale frees up, and what selling first vs buying first each costs once ABSD, LTV, CPF and MOP are in.
Selling: your current home
Not sure? Get our estimate →
Selling costs
Buying: your next home
Your money & profile
Your timeline
Until MOP you can't sell or buy private. Use the wait to build cash and watch your value on Fairhome.
What selling frees up
$234,000
cash proceeds
$180,000
CPF back to OA — reusable, not cash
$16,000
selling costs (agent + legal)
Sell first, then buy
Feasible- No ABSD — you own nothing when you buy your next home.
- Full 75% first-loan LTV applies.
- You'll need interim housing between selling and buying (a temporary extension of stay of up to 3 months can sometimes be negotiated).
Buy first, sell later
Short $989,600- 20% ABSD is paid upfront but refundable if you sell the old home within 6 months of buying (SC married couples).
- Second housing loan: LTV capped at 45%, with at least 25% of the price in cash.
- Your existing mortgage counts against TDSR while you hold both homes.
- No interim housing needed — you move once.
How this is calculated
Sale proceeds = value − outstanding loan − selling costs (agent %, legal, any SSD) − CPF refund (principal + accrued interest, back to your OA and reusable). For owners aged 55+, the refund first tops up the Retirement Account to the Full Retirement Sum, so only the remainder is reusable — enter that top-up to see it.
Each route's max loan is stress-tested at 4% under TDSR 55% (plus MSR 30% for an HDB or new-EC target), then capped by LTV: 75% selling first (a first property), 45% buying first (a second concurrent loan, ≥25% cash), or 75% for a new EC (whose flat must be disposed within 6 months of TOP, so it isn't treated as a second loan). ABSD is 0/5/60% (SC/PR/foreigner) selling first as a first property, or 20/30/60% buying first as a second — refundable for SC married couples who sell within 6 months. A subsidised owner buying a new HDB/EC also pays the resale levy ($15k–$55k).
Rules: IRAS (BSD, ABSD, remission), MAS (TDSR/MSR/LTV, 4% floor), HDB (MOP, resale levy, EC disposal; new-rules ECs from GLS sites tendered on/after 8 May 2026 carry a 10-year MOP). Mid-2026. A planning aid, not financial advice.
Upgrading questions, answered straight
Sell first or buy first — which is cheaper?
Almost always sell first. Buying first stacks three penalties: a second concurrent loan is capped at 45% LTV (so 55% down, ≥25% in cash), ABSD is payable upfront (20% for a Singapore Citizen's second home), and your existing mortgage still counts against TDSR. Selling first makes the purchase a first property — 0% ABSD for a citizen and full 75% LTV. The price of selling first is needing interim housing; the price of buying first is a six-figure cash stack.
What happens to the CPF I used for my current home?
On sale, every CPF dollar you used plus the accrued interest it would have earned returns to your CPF Ordinary Account — not your bank account. It's reusable for the next home but can't pay the cash portion of a downpayment. And if you're 55 or older, that refund first tops up your Retirement Account to the Full Retirement Sum; only what's left is reusable, so the cash-and-CPF you can actually deploy is often lower than expected.
Do I really get the ABSD back if I sell within 6 months?
Only married couples with at least one Singapore Citizen, and only if the old home is sold within 6 months of buying the second (for a completed property) or of its TOP (uncompleted). Miss the window and the ABSD is gone. Singles and non-married co-buyers get no remission — for them, buy-first ABSD is a permanent cost, which usually makes selling first the only sensible route.
Why does a new EC skip ABSD but a resale condo doesn't?
A new EC from the developer legally requires you to dispose of your flat within 6 months of TOP, so IRAS doesn't collect ABSD upfront. The trade-offs: the resale levy on your subsidised flat ($15k–$55k), MSR 30% on the loan, income and eligibility caps, and — for new-rules ECs from GLS sites tendered on/after 8 May 2026 — a longer 10-year MOP and privatisation only after 15 years.
Can I buy an HDB flat while still owning my current home?
Generally no. To buy an HDB flat you must dispose of any other property (in Singapore or overseas) within 6 months, and you can't hold two HDB flats. So an HDB target is inherently a sell-first move — which is why the planner hides the buy-first card when you pick HDB.
Should I wait out my MOP before planning?
Plan now, transact later. Your MOP date fixes the earliest sale; use the wait to watch your home's value on our estimate page, stack cash for the downpayment, and track whether your target's prices are outrunning your savings. The household that reaches MOP with numbers ready transacts months faster than the one that starts researching that day.