16 Feb 2024

SOURCE: CPF Board

A house is one of the most important and worthwhile purchases in your life. It’s also a long-term commitment, as your housing journey doesn’t end with just selecting a house and forking out the downpayment. You have to think about monthly repayments, remaining lease on your property, as well as renovation and maintenance costs. With many considerations to keep in mind, having some resources at hand to ease your expenses planning can be useful. With that in mind, here are 3 useful calculators to help you along your home ownership journey!

1) First home calculator

Your housing journey starts with buying your first home. Of course, there are many things to consider, from choosing between Build-To-Order (BTO) flats and resale flats, to the location of your new abode. More importantly, you have to choose a home within your budget, and ensure that you can pay off your housing loan at a comfortable pace. This allows you to have sufficient money to spend on essential expenses such as utility bills and healthcare, and other things that you want.

The first home calculator is a tool that helps you estimate the property price and the amount of housing loan you can afford based on your current financial situation. To use it, you will be required to provide information such as your gross monthly salary, monthly expenses and CPF balances, and it will tell you the amount of housing loan that you (and your co-owner, if any) can apply for. This will help you narrow down the price range of flats that best suits your budget!

2) CPF housing usage calculator

When funding your home purchase, a common source of funding is your Ordinary Account (OA) savings. While it can be used to pay for your housing mortgage, your OA savings also function as your retirement funds in the future. Therefore, it is better that we use it “prudently”.  It’s recommended that you use a combination of cash and CPF savings to pay for your home. The general tip is to keep at least $20,000 in your OA to serve as a safety net for emergencies.

The CPF housing usage calculator is a tool that helps you gauge how much OA savings you can use to fund your housing purchase. The amount of OA savings you can use to purchase a property depends on several factors such as the age of the youngest owner, property type and loan type, making it challenging to keep track of all these variables on your own. This is where CPF housing usage calculator can be helpful by assisting you with all the calculations.

The calculator allows you to specify up to three co-owners and their details such as date of birth, the property purchase date, valuation price and lease-related information, all of which would determine the final amount of OA savings that you and your co-owners may use for the property.

3. Home Protection Scheme premium calculator

Your housing journey extends beyond the initial purchase of your home. It involves safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against unforeseen circumstances. The Home Protection Scheme (HPS) is designed for this purpose.

HPS is a mortgage-reducing insurance that protects you and your loved ones from losing your HDB flat in the event of death, terminal illness or total permanent disability. If you are using CPF savings to pay your monthly housing instalments, HPS is required. If you are using cash, we strongly encourage you to apply for HPS cover as well. You will also need to be in good health at the point of application to be eligible for HPS cover. HPS insures you up to age 65, or until your housing loan is fully paid up, whichever is earlier.

The Home Protection Scheme premium calculator computes the annual premium for your new HPS application, helping you to plan ahead, which may include setting aside savings in your OA for this premium payment. You will need details of your loan amount, loan term and type of interest rate (HDB concessionary rate or market rate) to use the calculator.

Your home is one of the biggest purchases in your life, so it’s imperative that you make proper preparations instead of just jumping into it without a second thought. When you’ve sorted out how much you’ll have to pay and how much you’ll need to save for it, owning your new home will no longer be a distant dream, but rather a goal within your reach!

The information provided in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.