Plain-English guides built on real public data and verified Singapore tax and loan rules (July 2026). Free, no sign-up.
Stamp duty is the tax you pay IRAS when you buy or sell a home in Singapore. For most buyers the big one is Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD), which applies to every residential property — HDB flat, condo, or landed. On top of BSD you may owe Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD), and sellers can owe Seller's Stamp Duty (SSD). This page shows the exact BSD tiers, walks through S$1M / S$1.5M / S$2M examples step by step, and summarises ABSD and SSD. To skip the maths, ask FindHomeLah something like "stamp duty on a 1.5m condo" and get an instant answer.
Additional Buyer Stamp Duty (ABSD) is an extra tax on top of normal Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD), payable when you buy residential property in Singapore. ABSD is layered — how much you pay depends on who you are (Singapore Citizen, SPR, foreigner, or entity) and how many homes you already own. The rates below have applied since 27 April 2023. FindHomeLah works out your ABSD and BSD in seconds from plain English — no spreadsheets needed.
The national 4-room HDB resale median sits at roughly S$667,000 over the last 12 months, but the spread between towns is huge: the cheapest 4-room flats sell for about S$551,000 in Jurong West, while the priciest, in the Central Area, pass S$1 million. This page shows the real latest 4-room HDB price by town and explains what drives the gap — so you know whether a listing is a fair deal before you commit.
The median HDB whole-unit in Singapore rents for about S$3,207 per month, but the gap between the cheapest and priciest towns is wide — roughly S$750/month between Yishun (S$2,916) and the Central Area (S$3,672). Below are the real rents for the last 12 months, broken down by town, plus how whole-unit, common-room and master-room rentals differ, and what is usually included. You can ask FindHomeLah any rent question in plain English on the map.
Rental yield tells you how much a property earns each year as a percentage of its price. In Singapore, a typical HDB flat earns a NET yield of about 4-6% after real costs. That headline number hides a long list of deductions that the average listing sites leave out. Here is a plain-English breakdown of gross vs net yield, the costs to subtract, and a worked example so you can do the maths yourself.
There is no universal answer to "should I buy or rent in Singapore" — the right choice depends on how long you will stay, how fast prices rise, your mortgage rate, and what else you could do with your cash. This guide lays out the real costs on both sides and gives you a framework to find your personal break-even point using FindHomeLah.
Affordability for an HDB flat comes down to three rules from MAS: how big a loan you can take (LTV), how much of your income can go to all debt (TDSR), and how much can go to your home loan specifically (MSR). Add your CPF Ordinary Account (OA) savings for the downpayment and any CPF grants, and you have a realistic budget. Below we break down each rule in plain English and work through a S$8,000/month example. For a precise figure based on your own income, debts, and age, use the free tool at FindHomeLah.