Most people in Singapore buy their home partly with CPF, and most understand the first half of the arrangement: money comes out of your Ordinary Account towards the purchase. The second half, what has to go back when you sell, is where the surprises are.
Figures below are those published by the CPF Board and current as at August 2026. CPF housing rules change from time to time; check the current position on the CPF website or use the CPF housing usage calculator before relying on a number.
How much OA you can use
There is a limit, and it exists so that housing does not consume the savings you will need in retirement. What the limit is depends on the property, the loan, and the lease.
| Property and loan | How much OA you and your co-owners may use |
|---|---|
| New HDB flat bought from HDB, with an HDB loan | The full purchase price, including any housing loan |
| Resale HDB flat, with an HDB loan | Up to the lower of purchase price or valuation. Beyond that, you may continue for the remaining loan if each of you has set aside your Basic Retirement Sum |
| HDB flat or private property, with a bank loan | Up to the lower of purchase price or valuation. Beyond that, up to 120% of that figure if each of you has set aside your Basic Retirement Sum |
“The lower of purchase price or valuation at the time of purchase” is the figure everything turns on. If you pay above valuation, the difference comes out of cash, not CPF.
The lease has to outlast you
This is the rule that catches buyers of older properties, and it is worth understanding before you fall in love with a flat.
If the remaining lease can cover the youngest owner until age 95, CPF usage is capped at the lower of purchase price or valuation, as above.
If it cannot, the amount you may use is pro-rated. Once the owners’ total CPF usage reaches that pro-rated limit, no further OA savings can be used for the property regardless of whether you have set aside your Basic Retirement Sum. There is no unlocking it.
The practical consequence: an older flat can be perfectly affordable on paper and still require far more cash than you expected, because the CPF share is capped lower. Check this before making an offer, not after.
Keeping something in the account
Members taking an HDB loan may retain up to $20,000 in their OA, with the rest going towards the housing payment. Members taking a bank loan can retain any amount, and CPF recommends keeping at least $20,000.
Retaining something is usually sensible. It earns risk-free interest, it is a buffer if income stops, and it reduces the accrued interest that builds up against you.
Accrued interest: the part sellers forget
When you use OA savings for a property, you are not spending money so much as borrowing from your future self.
On a sale, you must refund to your CPF account the principal you withdrew, plus the interest that money would have earned had it stayed in your Ordinary Account. Any housing grants you received are refunded too, with their own accrued interest.
That interest compounds for as long as you own the property. Someone who bought twenty years ago and assumes the sale proceeds are theirs is frequently shocked at the completion statement: a substantial part of the price goes back into CPF, not into the bank.
It is not lost money. It is your money, in your CPF account, where it will earn interest and fund your retirement. But it is not cash in hand, and people plan their next purchase as though it were.
You can reduce it by making voluntary housing refunds while you still own the property.
If the sale does not cover everything
Where a property is sold at market value and the price is not enough to cover the outstanding housing loan and the required CPF refund, you refund the selling price less the outstanding loan, and you do not have to top up the shortfall in cash.
That protection depends on the sale being at market value. Selling below market value, including to a family member at a favourable price, is a different matter and needs advice first.
One trap worth knowing: option money you receive in cash from the buyer, the option fee and the option exercise fee, counts as part of the selling price and must be refunded to your CPF account before completion. Sellers routinely treat that cash as spent.
What CPF can and cannot cover
Beyond the purchase price and monthly instalments, OA savings can generally be applied to related costs including stamp duty and legal fees, subject to the Board’s rules and to what you have available. What CPF will not cover is the cash-over-valuation portion, or amounts beyond the limits set out above.
We confirm your CPF position early in a transaction, because it determines how much cash you need at each stage: at the option, on exercise, and at completion.
Where this fits
CPF interacts with almost every other decision in a purchase. See our notes on stamp duty when buying property and the Option to Purchase, and our residential conveyancing page for the transaction itself.
On death, CPF savings pass to your nominees outside your estate and outside your will. That surprises people too, and it is covered on our will writing page.