Property Finance
Can I Use CPF To Buy A Condo?
Yes — for part of the downpayment, the monthly instalments and some of the fees. The limits are where people get caught, and so is the fact that CPF is not cash.
5 min read
Author profile
Madison Heng
Singapore Real Estate Advisor
I am a Singapore real estate advisor. Most of my work is with homeowners who are somewhere in the middle of a decision — an HDB flat approaching or past MOP, an EC that has just become sellable, or a condo that has quietly built up more equity than the owners realised.
I started writing because the same questions kept coming up, and because the answers people were finding online were either too generic to be useful or written to sell something. The gap was not information. The gap was someone willing to sit down and go through the numbers for a specific household.
So that is what this site is: the explanations I would give you in a first conversation, written down properly, with the reasoning shown rather than the conclusion asserted.
- Based in
- Singapore
- CEA registration
- R0000000X
- Writes about
- Singapore residential property
Areas of expertise
- HDB and EC upgrading pathways
- Sell-first versus buy-first sequencing
- CPF usage, accrued interest and cash proceeds
- Loan affordability under TDSR and MSR
- ABSD exposure and decoupling considerations
- New launch versus resale comparisons
- Rental yield and holding cost analysis
Property philosophy
- 01Start with the client's current position, not with a property.
- 02A property decision is a cash-flow decision first and a lifestyle decision second.
- 03If the numbers only work in the best case, the plan is not ready.
- 04Say what is fact, what is analysis and what is opinion — and never blur the three.
- 05The right answer is sometimes 'do nothing for now'. That answer is allowed.
How I handle facts and opinions
Articles on this site distinguish between documented fact, my analysis of it, and my personal opinion — and they say which is which. Where a rule, rate or figure matters, the official source is named so you can check it yourself. I do not publish invented statistics, transaction prices or forecasts, and where something is time-sensitive, the date it was last reviewed is shown.
Writing
Recent articles by Madison Heng
Property Explainers
What Is The Progressive Payment Scheme? Explained Simply
When you buy a property still under construction, you pay in stages tied to construction milestones rather than all at once. Your loan is drawn down the same way.
2 min read
Investing
Rental Yield: What Actually Counts, And What Gets Left Out
Gross yield is a headline. Net yield — after maintenance, property tax, agent fees, vacancy and income tax — is the number that decides whether a property carries itself.
3 min read
Property Explainers
What Is SSD? Seller's Stamp Duty, Explained Simply
SSD is a stamp duty payable when you sell a residential property within a defined holding period after buying it. It is designed to discourage rapid resale.
2 min read
Buying
How Do I Know If I'm Overpaying For A Condo?
You compare against what similar units have actually transacted for, adjust for the differences that matter, and separate 'expensive' from 'overpriced'. They are not the same thing.
4 min read
HDB & EC
Your EC Just Reached MOP. What Are The Actual Options?
Four paths open up the moment your EC becomes sellable — sell and upgrade, sell and right-size, hold and stay, or restructure towards a second property. Here is how to tell them apart.
4 min read