How Much Will You Actually Get When You Sell Your Property in Singapore?

The number that matters is not the sale price — it is what is left after every claim on the sale is settled. Four things come out first:

There is a twist in that table. The $400,000 CPF refund is still yours — but it returns to your CPF Ordinary Account, not your bank account. So you pocket about $757,000 in cash, and separately get $400,000 back into CPF.

Work out your own proceeds — with your loan, CPF and holding period — on the Property Financial Planner.

Rates as of 2026 — verify with IRAS and CPF. Figures are illustrative, not personalised advice.

From the sale price, in order, come:

1. The outstanding loan. The bank is redeemed in full from the proceeds. If you are still in a lock-in period, an early-redemption penalty (often around 1.5% of the loan) may apply too.
2. The CPF refund. Everything you took from CPF for the purchase and its monthly instalments must be refunded to your CPF Ordinary Account — with accrued interest (see the next section).
3. Seller's Stamp Duty, if you are selling within the holding period.
4. Selling costs — agent commission (commonly around 2% plus GST) and conveyancing legal fees.

What remains is your cash in hand. For HDB sellers, a resale levy may also apply if you later buy another subsidised flat — see the HDB resale levy.

This is the part sellers most often forget. When you use CPF to buy a home, you are effectively borrowing from your own retirement savings — and CPF charges you the interest that money would have earned if you had left it in your Ordinary Account (2.5% a year).

So on a sale you must refund the CPF principal you used plus this accrued interest. On a home held for many years, the accrued-interest portion can be substantial — tens of thousands of dollars on top of the principal.

Two things follow:

• It reduces your cash proceeds, because it is settled from the sale before you see any money.
• It is not lost — it goes back into your CPF Ordinary Account, where it counts toward your next home or your retirement.

You can check your exact refund figure (principal and accrued interest) on your CPF statement. More on using CPF for property: using CPF OA for your mortgage.

Seller's Stamp Duty (SSD) is charged if you sell within the holding period after buying. For properties bought on or after 4 July 2025, the holding period is four years:

SSD is charged on the sale price or valuation, whichever is higher. So selling that $2m condo in year 2 would cost $240,000 in SSD — cutting the cash in hand from about $757,000 to around $517,000. Held past four years, SSD is zero. Full detail, including the older regime for earlier purchases: Seller's Stamp Duty in Singapore.

Put the pieces together for a $2,000,000 sale, with an $800,000 outstanding loan and $400,000 of CPF used (including accrued interest):

The single biggest swing is timing: selling one year too early costs $240,000 here. The CPF refund is constant either way — and remember it returns to your CPF, so your spendable cash is the bottom line, not the sale price. Model your own sale — loan, CPF, holding period and costs — on the Property Financial Planner.

Sometimes the sale price does not cover everything owed — for example, if prices fell or you sold early. There is a protection here worth knowing.

If you sell at market value and the proceeds cannot cover the outstanding loan plus the full CPF refund, you are not forced to top up the CPF shortfall in cash. After the loan is redeemed, you refund to CPF only what is left — the selling price minus the outstanding loan — and the balance of the CPF refund is waived.

This "negative sale" protection applies to a genuine market-value sale. It does not remove the loan itself — the bank is still redeemed first — but it means a shortfall does not leave you writing a cheque to your own CPF account. If you are selling into a soft market, model the numbers before committing.

No — and this is the most common misunderstanding about sale proceeds. The CPF refund is not cash you receive; it is money that returns to your CPF Ordinary Account.

It remains yours and stays useful:

• It can fund the downpayment on your next home.
• It continues to earn CPF interest (2.5% a year in the Ordinary Account).
• From age 55, subject to your retirement sum being met, part may become withdrawable.

So when you ask "how much will I get," separate two numbers: the cash that reaches your bank (the bottom line of the sums above), and the CPF that returns to your account. Only the first is spendable today. If your total housing grants received exceeded $30,000, note that part of the refund may be directed to other CPF accounts rather than the Ordinary Account.

Regulatory figures. Seller's Stamp Duty rates and the four-year holding period (for purchases from 4 July 2025) are from IRAS; the CPF refund rule (principal plus accrued interest at 2.5%) and the negative-sale protection are from the CPF Board; the resale levy is from HDB. All are current as of 2026 — verify the live figure on IRAS, CPF or HDB before you sell.

Worked examples. Cash proceeds are computed as sale price minus outstanding loan, CPF refund, SSD (on the higher of price or valuation), agent commission and legal fees — the same method as the PropKaki Property Financial Planner. Agent commission around 2% plus GST and legal fees are indicative and negotiable; figures use round illustrative amounts.

What we have not claimed: your exact CPF accrued interest (check your CPF statement); any gain figure net of financing costs; or that this is personalised advice. This is general information, not financial advice. For your own numbers, run the Property Financial Planner.