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Madison HengSingapore Property Insights
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What Is TDSR? Total Debt Servicing Ratio, Explained Simply

TDSR caps your total monthly debt repayments at a set share of your gross monthly income. It is usually the reason a loan comes back smaller than expected.

Madison Heng
Madison Heng

Singapore Real Estate Advisor

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Last updated
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2 min read

TDSR limits the total of your monthly debt repayments to a fixed percentage of your gross monthly income. If the new loan would push you past that limit, the loan is reduced until it fits.

It is the most common reason a bank offers less than a borrower expected.

What counts as debt

More than people assume:

  • Existing property loans
  • Car loans
  • Personal loans and renovation loans
  • Student loans
  • Minimum monthly payments on credit cards
  • Guarantor obligations on someone else's loan

The last two surprise people regularly.

How income is counted

Not all income counts equally. Fixed salary counts in full. Variable income — commission, bonus, rental, self-employed earnings — is discounted before entering the calculation.

This is why a self-employed borrower and a salaried borrower with identical annual income can receive materially different loan offers.

Fact

Banks also assess your ability to service the loan at a stress-test interest rate set above the rate you are actually offered. The instalment used in the TDSR calculation is therefore higher than the one you would pay today.

TDSR and MSR together

MSR applies to HDB flats and to executive condominiums bought from a developer. It caps the housing loan portion alone at a share of gross monthly income, and it is stricter than TDSR in practice for those purchases.

Where both apply, you must pass both. Where only TDSR applies — private resale property, for example — you have somewhat more room.

Check the current figures

The TDSR and MSR thresholds are policy settings and have been adjusted. MAS publishes the current rules. Confirm them with your banker at the point of applying.

What you can actually do about it

Clear small recurring debts. A modest car loan or personal loan can consume a disproportionate share of your TDSR headroom.

Understand your income mix. If a large share of your income is variable, know that going in rather than discovering it at the application.

Check your loan tenure assumptions. Tenure affects the monthly instalment, and therefore the calculation. It is also constrained by age and by loan-to-value rules.

Get an in-principle approval early. Not as a formality — as a diagnostic. It tells you your real ceiling before you start viewing.

Last updated 5 September 2026Based on publicly available Singapore property data

Sources & where to verify

Rules, rates and published figures change. Check the current position on the official source before you act on anything here.

Frequently asked questions

What counts towards TDSR?

All monthly debt obligations, not just the new home loan — existing property loans, car loans, personal loans, student loans, and the minimum monthly payment on credit card balances. Clearing a small recurring loan before applying can sometimes meaningfully change what you can borrow.

How is bonus or commission income treated?

Variable income — commission, bonus, rental income, self-employed income — is discounted before it counts towards the calculation. Two households with the same annual income can therefore have very different borrowing capacity depending on how that income is structured.

What is the difference between TDSR and MSR?

TDSR covers all debt and applies broadly. MSR applies only to HDB flats and executive condominiums bought from a developer, and caps the housing loan portion alone at a share of gross income. Where both apply, you must satisfy both.

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