CPF Housing Withdrawal Limits: How Much CPF You Can Use on a Home, and Where Loans Take Over

CPF's own explanation: "These limits ensure a prudent balance between purchasing a home and retirement planning. It prevents you from using all your CPF savings for housing, which could otherwise compromise your retirement" (CPF). What sets your limit: "Remaining lease of the property · Type of property · Loan type · Whether it’s your first or subsequent property" (CPF).

The limit for a first home whose lease lasts the youngest buyer to 95 (as of 2026, verify on CPF):

Source: CPF (CPF) and its Housing Scheme terms (CPF).

People still call the two thresholds the Valuation Limit (the lower of price and valuation) and the Withdrawal Limit (120% of it). Some costs sit outside the limit: "CPF savings used to pay for stamp duty, legal fees and upgrading costs are not included in the CPF housing limit" (CPF). And when the allowed CPF runs out, HDB's rule is plain: "you need to pay for the balance purchase price and/ or the monthly mortgage instalments in cash" (HDB).

For the day-to-day side, see using CPF OA to pay your mortgage and how much cash you need for the downpayment.

The limit is set once, at purchase, by the lower of price and valuation.

PropKaki worked it through for two buyers who pay the downpayment (bar the minimum cash) and every instalment from CPF. That is the earliest the limit can arrive: pay part of each instalment in cash and it comes later.

PropKaki illustration: a 75% loan at PropKaki's planner rates as of May 2026 (HDB loan 2.6%, 25 years; bank loan 4.0%, 30 years), valuation equal to the price, lease lasting to 95. The condo is the national median price of a private condo, apartment or EC. Your own limit, and how much you have used, are in your Home ownership dashboard.

Three readings:

• The limit arrives well before the loan ends. Both buyers reach the price after roughly 18 years. A 30-year bank loan at 75% has to end by 65, so its borrower is 35 or younger (MAS); at 35, they pass the price at about 54.
• After that, it depends on your retirement savings. Past the price, CPF keeps paying only once you have set aside your Basic Retirement Sum. The bar is the year's sum, not a fixed one: "For members below 55, your BRS is half of the prevailing FRS in the year" (CPF), and the sums rise each year ($110,200 for those turning 55 in 2026). Without it, CPF stops at the price: $170,577 of instalments is cash on the HDB flat, $919,360 on the condo.
• A bank loan on a dear home runs out of CPF altogether. At 120% of the price, CPF stops for good: here, the last $543,360 of a 30-year loan is cash.

To see your own figures, check section 5 of your dashboard; the CPF property withdrawal statement explains how to read it.

The Housing Scheme lets members "use their CPF Ordinary Account savings" for a home (CPF), and only up to the limit above. Within that, CPF's rule: "Members who take an HDB housing loan have the option of retaining up to $20,000 in their Ordinary Account (OA), with the remainder going towards their housing payment. Members taking a bank loan can choose to retain any amount in their OA, and we recommend you retain at least $20,000" (CPF). For an HDB loan, "You must decide how much (up to $20,000) to retain in your OA at the point of purchase."

The buffer matters more with age. CPF's own figures, at the end of 2025 (CPF):

CPF Board statistics, as at 31 December 2025.

CPF's advice for a next home: "If possible, keep your monthly instalments within your monthly CPF contribution amount to your OA" (CPF). Using less CPF now also means a smaller refund later.

CPF's rule: if the lease can't cover "the youngest buyer using CPF until age 95", you can use your savings "up to a percentage of the lower of the purchase price or the valuation price", and "When the total CPF usage for all owners reaches this pro-rated limit, you will not be able to use further OA savings for the property, regardless of whether you have set aside your Basic Retirement Sum" (CPF).

CPF's rough guide, from its Housing Scheme terms (CPF):

"No CPF savings can be used if the remaining lease of the HDB flat or DBSS flat is 20 years or less at the time of purchase." CPF's calculator gives the exact percentage for your ages and lease.

On an older flat, the buyer's age moves the limit as much as the lease does.

CPF's rule for "your second or subsequent property": "You can only use your OA savings after setting aside the BRS or FRS ... up to the CPF housing limit of your property", the BRS if "Buyer has at least one property that can last him till age 95", the FRS if not (CPF).

It applies to upgraders who buy first: "This will be considered as buying your second or subsequent property", and "The CPF savings tied to your current home will also not be available until the sale is completed and the housing refund is credited to your CPF accounts" (CPF). That, with ABSD on a second home, is why buying before selling needs cash or a bridging loan.

The 2026 sums (CPF): Basic $110,200, Full $220,400, Enhanced $440,800. The BRS "is half of your Full Retirement Sum (FRS) which depends on the year you turn 55"; "For members below 55, your BRS is half of the prevailing FRS in the year" (CPF).

What you can take out from 55 to 64 (CPF): with the FRS set aside "fully in cash or with a mixture of property and cash", "any amount from your Ordinary Account (OA)"; without it, "$5,000 from your OA". A homeowner whose lease lasts to 95 can also withdraw Retirement Account savings above the BRS: see the CPF property pledge at 55.

The daily cap: "the default Daily Withdrawal Limit (DWL) for online withdrawal is set at $2,000", you can raise it up to "the maximum online DWL of $50,000", and "The DWL is not applicable to withdrawals made in-person at our CPF Service Centres" (CPF).

Before 55: if you still need Ordinary Account savings for a home, "reserve the amount you need in your Ordinary Account so that it is not transferred to your Retirement Account when you turn 55" (CPF), applying "six months before turning 55 years old" (CPF).

CPF's rule: "If you are above 55, your housing refunds will be first used to top up your Retirement Account (RA) to meet your required retirement sum and the balance refunds will remain in your OA" (CPF). The refund is "the CPF principal amount you withdrew (P) and the accrued interest (I)", plus "the pledged amount" if you pledged the home.

For a smaller flat next: RA savings above the BRS can go into "a 3-room or smaller HDB flat" if "You purchase the flat within 3 years after selling this property", "The new flat costs less than what you sold this property for", and "You have not been issued with a CPF LIFE plan" (CPF).

And if the sale can't cover it all: "you will only need to refund the selling price less the outstanding housing loan to your CPF account", as long as the home is sold at market value. To see your refund today, open "What happens if" in your dashboard; see the CPF property withdrawal statement.

CPF's Housing Scheme terms list what CPF savings "cannot be used for" (CPF). Here is each gap and what fills it:

What CPF can pay beyond the home itself: stamp duty and legal fees, HDB upgrading costs, and the yearly premium for the Home Protection Scheme, which is required if CPF pays your HDB flat's instalments (CPF).

CPF buys the home; almost everything around it is cash or a separate loan.

CPF's Housing Scheme aims to let members "buy or build private residential properties in Singapore", and for private homes CPF can repay "the housing loan taken for the purchase of your property, land and/or for construction of a house on that land" (CPF). The conditions:

• You fund the build first. "CPF savings cannot be used to pay the land and/or the construction cost of the house directly. You would have to use your own funds (and seek for reimbursement later) and/or a loan to meet the said payments first."
• After the TOP, once. Reimbursement must be requested "within six months from the issue of the Temporary Occupation Permit", as "a one-time payment", and "Monthly withdrawals are not allowed", so the build period is cash. The application goes in "after the TOP has been issued", with a licensed valuer's report, the contractors' cost breakdown, the lender's letter of offer for the "land/construction loan(s)", and "Grant of written permission from Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for the proposed ‘reconstruction’ or ‘erection’ of the new property" (CPF).
• Capped by the finished home. "the total CPF savings allowed for both the construction loan and any existing loan taken to buy the property cannot exceed the value of the completed property" (CPF).
• A second home needs the retirement sum. If you already own a CPF-bought home, you use only the OA left after setting aside the BRS (if a home lasts you to 95) or the FRS.
• Not extensions. "Adding rooms or extensions to an existing property are considered renovation or refurbishment. CPF cannot be used for such modifications" (CPF).

CPF is for homes only: it pays to "buy HDB or DBSS flats" and "buy or build private residential properties", so a commercial or industrial building is financed without CPF. PropKaki doesn't track construction-loan terms, so this page doesn't say how much a bank will lend for a build; CPF's cap is the finished home's value.

CPF's statistics (CPF; CPF):

CPF Board statistics. "The cumulative amount withdrawn refers to members who withdrew and still own a property as at end of the period"; CPF notes it "may not tally with the net amount withdrawn within period, due to difference in definition".

Separately, in 2025 CPF members made net housing withdrawals of $11.1 billion ($7,143.2 million for HDB flats and $3,996.8 million for private homes), and 819,000 home owners were paying their instalments with CPF.

When a home is sold, the CPF used goes back with interest, up to what the sale leaves after the loan: "you will only need to refund the selling price less the outstanding housing loan" on a sale at market value (CPF). In 2025, 99% of the 45,000 properties disposed of refunded in full, up from 91% in 2021 (CPF). The CPF property withdrawal statement shows how that refund builds.

Official rules and figures. The CPF housing limits, the lease test, the second-property rule, the $20,000 retention, the build-your-own-house rules and what CPF can't pay for are CPF Board's: its housing-limit FAQ (updated 18 September 2026), its Housing Scheme terms (7 September 2026), its guides on using CPF for a home (26 May 2026) and a next home (1 September 2026), its retention page (25 March 2026) and its FAQs; HDB's page on financing a flat (20 August 2026); and MAS's loan tenure and LTV rules. The retirement sums, withdrawals and refunds are CPF's retirement-sum article, age-55 pages and refund page. The statistics are CPF's (to 2026 Q2 and end-2025). All read on 26 September 2026.

Proprietary figures. The limit-timing table is PropKaki's arithmetic: PropKaki's national median 4-room HDB resale price for 2026 H1 ($630,000) with a 75% HDB loan at 2.6% over 25 years, and PropKaki's 12-month national median price of a private condo, apartment or EC ($1,880,000) with a 75% bank loan at 4% over 30 years (the Property Financial Planner's rates as of May 2026), paying everything CPF allows (the earliest case), with valuation equal to price; the no-BRS column stops CPF at the price. How we work: PropKaki methodology.

What we have not claimed: your own limit (your Home ownership dashboard shows it), what your home will be valued at, or how much CPF you should use. This is a practical explainer, not financial advice. Check your figures with CPF Board.