Looking to buy private property but not sure how much you can afford? This article is to help you make informed property decisions and beyond, especially when buying Tembusu Grand.

When it comes to buying Tembusu Grand, it pays to be mindful when working out how much you can borrow, so you don’t end up with a very expensive mistake.

Eligibility versus affordability

Eligibility is not to be confused with affordability. In the property-buying context, it is important to note that one’s eligibility to take up a home loan is not the same as one’s ability to afford a property.

How do you afford Tembusu Grand? Some financial experts say that your monthly mortgage repayment, including principal and interest, should not exceed 30% of your gross monthly income.

This is the same as the Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) for HDB flats and new ECs. Others say that such requirements are too stringent.

While opinions on what constitutes a golden mortgage-to-income ratio may differ, what’s important to note is that financial sustainability should always be a key focus when making big-ticket purchases like property. This is so you don’t end up starved of cash for your other goals (or having to eat instant noodle and bread every day).

How much do you need to earn to buy Tembusu Grand?

To make life easier for property seekers in Singapore, we’ve crunched the numbers to provide the approximate income that you need to be earning to afford a Tembusu Grand. This will depend on the type of unit you’re buying (bigger units are generally more expensive) and its location.

These estimates are made based on the ability to service mortgage repayments with the following assumptions in mind:

• You’re a Singapore Citizen without any other residential properties here, and hence don’t have to pay 17% Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD)
• You’re paying a 25% down payment, maximising the 75% loan-to-value (LTV) limit and taking up a 30-year loan tenure
• A medium-term interest rate of 4% is applied, as advised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore
• You don’t have any other loans to service, including property, car loans, personal loans and student loans
• Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework, which dictates that the total loans you need to service in a month should not exceed 55% of your gross monthly income

For this article, we’re looking at 2-bedroom condo units. Average prices are derived from 99.co’s Researcher, based on sales transactions that occurred in Q4 of 2022. We also used 99.co’s mortgage calculator to calculate estimated monthly mortgage repayments

 The estimated monthly income you need to buy Tembusu Grand

If you meet the minimum income requirements, here are some new launch condos with 2-bedder units that hover quite comfortably within the average price ranges in the respective market segments:

Core Central Region (CCR): 

• Pullman Residences Newton
• Leedon Green

Median salary in Singapore: Can I afford a Tembusu Grand?

Now that you’re caught up with how much both new and resale condos cost in Singapore, you might be asking the million-dollar question (literally): Can I really afford to buy a Tembusu Grand?

We’ll look at the income numbers published by the Ministry of Manpower’s Research and Statistics Department.