Loans are bigger than ever, yet buyers are borrowing a smaller share of the price. Mortgagee sales are still climbing because they come from purchases made years ago, when money was cheap.
Singapore home buyers are putting more of their own cash and CPF into their purchases, even though prices and loan sizes have risen sharply. At OCBC, new launch prices rose 49% between 2021 and the first half of 2026, while median mortgage sizes rose only 35%. Fewer buyers are borrowing the maximum 75% of the price.
Two headlines from the same Straits Times report on 19 October seem to point in opposite directions. Buyers are borrowing more than ever, but they're relying on those loans less. At the same time, more homes are being sold by banks after owners fall behind on payments. Both are true, and the gap between them says a lot about who is under pressure in this market.
In dollar terms, yes. Prices have risen a lot over five years, and loans have grown with them. OCBC, which financed more than a third of private property transactions in 2025, said nearly eight in ten borrowers buying new launches took loans of S$1 million or more in the first half of 2026, up from four in ten in 2021.
UOB's Jacquelyn Tan said the bank's average private home loan grew by an average of 8% from 2023 to the first half of 2026, to more than S$1 million. The share of UOB buyers taking loans of S$1 million or more rose by 15 percentage points between 2023 and 2025.
Because loans have grown more slowly than prices. Here's what OCBC's figures show for 2021 to the first half of 2026:
| Property type | Purchase price | Median mortgage |
|---|---|---|
| New private launches | +49% | +35% |
| Private resale | +36% | +32% |
| HDB resale | +32% | +32% |
When the price rises faster than the loan, the buyer covers the difference with cash or CPF. OCBC's group head of consumer secured lending, Tok Geok Peng, said OCBC borrowers' incomes have grown faster than property prices. With a median borrower age of about 38, many have also built up enough savings and CPF to take a smaller loan than they qualify for.
A simple illustration. Take a S$1.5 million new launch in 2021 bought with a S$1.05 million loan, which is 70% of the price. Apply OCBC's growth rates and the same purchase today costs about S$2.24 million with a loan of about S$1.42 million, which is only 63% of the price. The cash and CPF needed rises from S$450,000 to about S$820,000. These are median figures, not one buyer's journey, but they show why down payments have grown so much.
The banks' loan-to-value data points the same way. Under LTV rules, a borrower can usually get up to 75% of the price for a first bank home loan. Among OCBC customers buying new launches, the share using the full 75% fell from 67% in 2021 to 52% in the first half of 2026. For private resale it dipped from 66% to 61%. DBS's Chelsea Ling said its average loan-to-value ratio for private home loans is lower than a year ago. OCBC and UOB both said repayment levels have stayed broadly stable despite larger loans, and DBS said delinquencies remain extremely low.
Real estate consultancy ETC recorded 292 auction listings from January to June 2026, the highest half-yearly total since the first half of 2021. Of these, 216, or 74%, were mortgagee sales, meaning the bank is selling the property after the owner defaulted on the loan. Residential properties made up 144 listings, about half the total. The rest were industrial and retail.
ETC's head of auction and sales, Joy Tan, explained that these figures lag behind what borrowers are going through. Banks don't repossess a property after one missed payment. Owners usually get time to restructure, refinance or sell privately first. So a mortgagee sale today usually reflects pressure that built up over several years, not a sudden turn for the worse.
She described two main groups. The first is highly leveraged investors who bought between 2020 and 2022. The second is owners of investment or rental properties whose rental income no longer covers their loan instalments, maintenance fees and property tax.
They bought into a fast-rising market with very cheap loans. Private home prices rose 2.2% in 2020, 10.6% in 2021 and 8.6% in 2022. Three-year fixed mortgage rates were around 1.15% in late 2021. By November 2022, fixed packages at the three local banks had jumped to between 4.25% and 4.5%.
| Year | Private price growth |
|---|---|
| 2020 | +2.2% |
| 2021 | +10.6% |
| 2022 | +8.6% |
| 2023 | +6.8% |
| 2024 | +3.9% |
| 2025 | +3.3% |
| H1 2026 | +1.4% |
On a S$1 million, 25-year loan, that rise took the monthly instalment from about S$3,840 at 1.15% to about S$5,420 at 4.25%. That's roughly S$1,580 more a month. Meanwhile, price growth has slowed every year since 2021, so investors who were counting on fast gains to cover thin rental margins have been squeezed from both sides. Rates have eased since then, but as I covered in this piece on loan rates, they are rising again.
Tan expects auction activity to stay active in the second half of 2026, with residential and industrial properties featuring prominently, though the pace could slow. She said the number of mortgagee sales will depend on interest rates, the job market, business performance and how willing banks are to give struggling borrowers more time.
Thinking of buying at auction? Mortgagee sales can be priced attractively, but the rules are different from a normal purchase. A successful bid at auction is binding. There's no option period to change your mind, you usually pay a deposit on the day, and properties are sold as they are. Have your financing approved and inspect the unit before you bid. I looked at how auction prices compare with market value in this earlier piece on the 2026 auctions.
The TDSR and MSR calculator shows the maximum loan the banks are likely to approve for you. Then test a smaller loan and see what it does to your monthly instalment. Most buyers are no longer taking the maximum.
Open the TDSR / MSR calculator →The overall picture is healthy. Most buyers today are putting in more of their own money, borrowing less than the banks would lend them, and keeping up with repayments. The mortgagee sales come mostly from a specific group: people who stretched to buy investment properties at the 2021–2022 peak, assuming cheap money and rising rents would cover the costs.
If you're buying now, the lesson is simple. Just because the bank will lend you 75% doesn't mean you should borrow that much. Test your budget at a higher interest rate than today's and against a few months with no rental income. Do that before you sign, not after.
If you own an investment property that no longer pays for itself, act early. Every option is cheaper before you fall behind than after: refinancing, adjusting the rent, or selling on your own terms. A private sale almost always gets a better price than a mortgagee sale, and you keep control of the timing.
Worried an investment property is no longer covering its costs, or working out how much to borrow for your next purchase? Let's go through your numbers.
WhatsApp Bryan → More guides →Sources: The Straits Times, 19 October 2026, "Home buyers using more cash and CPF savings to fund down payments" by Joyce Lim, citing OCBC, UOB and DBS lending data and ETC (Realion Group) auction data. Bank figures refer to each bank's own customers. The S$1.5m purchase illustration and instalment figures are my own calculations from the published percentages and rates. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
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