TDSR & MSR Explained: Singapore Property Loan Limits

TDSR and MSR are two of the rules that decide how much someone can borrow to buy property in Singapore. They confuse a lot of people — and they show up in RES Paper 2 — so here's the plain-English version.

TDSR — Total Debt Servicing Ratio

TDSR caps your total monthly debt repayments — home loan, car loan, personal loans, credit-card minimums, everything — at 55% of your gross monthly income. The idea is to stop borrowers over-extending across all their debts, not just the mortgage.

MSR — Mortgage Servicing Ratio

MSR is narrower and applies only to HDB flats and Executive Condominiums (ECs). It limits the housing loan repayment alone to 30% of gross monthly income.

How they work together

• For private property, only TDSR (55%) applies.
• For HDB/EC, both apply — and the lower cap governs (MSR usually bites first).
• Banks also assess loans against a stress-test interest rate, so the amount you actually qualify for can be lower than a simple calculation suggests.

See it in numbers

The fastest way to understand TDSR/MSR is to play with your own figures. Try our free TDSR / MSR affordability calculator — enter your income and debts to see your maximum monthly repayment and estimated loan.

Rules and limits can change with cooling measures — confirm current figures with MAS / your bank. For the exam, knowing which ratio applies to which property type and the headline percentages (55% and 30%) covers most of what Paper 2 asks.