Rental Yield in Singapore: Your Questions Answered
These are the questions people ask most often about rental yield. Each answer is short; follow the links for the full detail.
What does a rental yield calculation tell me?
Measures the return from rent before and after costs such as property tax, maintenance fees and agent fees.
What is the formula?
Gross yield = annual rent ÷ price; net yield = (annual rent − annual costs) ÷ price.
What do I need to enter?
Property price (S$), Monthly rent (S$), Annual costs (S$).
Should I rely on this before signing?
Use it to plan, then confirm the figures with your banker, lawyer or the IRAS stamp duty calculator before you exercise an option to purchase.
Can you show an example?
For example, with these inputs:
- Property price (S$): 1,100,000
- Monthly rent (S$): 3,800
- Annual costs (S$): 9,000
the calculator returns:
- Gross rental yield: 4.15%
- Net rental yield: 3.33%
- Net annual income: S$36,600.00
Any tips?
- Banks test your TDSR at a stress-test rate, not the advertised rate, so your borrowing limit is lower than you might expect.
- Budget for legal fees, valuation, renovation and moving costs on top of the downpayment and stamp duties.
- HDB loans are capped at 25 years and must be fully repaid by age 65.
Background
Singapore's property market is shaped by cooling measures introduced since 2009, including Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty, loan-to-value limits and debt servicing ratios. These rules are adjusted when the market runs hot, so the numbers you see today may differ from what friends paid a few years ago.
Stamp duties are paid upfront. Buyer's Stamp Duty applies to every purchase at tiered rates up to 6%, while ABSD depends on the buyer's residency status and how many residential properties they already own. Sellers who dispose of a property within the holding period pay Seller's Stamp Duty.
Most Singaporeans live in HDB flats, which can be financed with an HDB concessionary loan at 0.1% above the CPF Ordinary Account rate or with a bank loan. Private property must be financed with a bank loan, and banks offer fixed, floating and SORA-pegged packages.
Related calculations
- Property Affordability Calculator: Estimates the biggest loan and property price your income supports under TDSR, using the stress-test rate banks apply.
- Home Loan Refinancing Calculator: Compares your current mortgage with a new rate to show the monthly saving and how long switching costs take to recover.
- Property Downpayment Calculator: Splits the downpayment into cash and CPF and shows the remaining loan.
- Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) Calculator: Calculates Buyer's Stamp Duty on a Singapore residential property using the tiered rates from 1% to 6%.
Try it yourself with the Rental Yield Calculator.
Run your own numbers: Rental Yield Calculator