Should we decouple?
If you own a private home together, one of you can sell their share to the other. The one who leaves then buys the next home as a first-time buyer and avoids the 20% or more in extra stamp duty on a second home. Slide the numbers below to see what the transfer costs, what it saves, and the price at which it starts to pay off.
Fees: typical figures (change if your quotes differ)
Who should stay, who should buy
Spouse A keeps this home; Spouse B buys the next one.
- The other way round doesn’t work. Spouse B’s income can’t carry the home loan alone: repayments would use 61% of income, over the bank’s 55% limit.
- The other way round doesn’t work. Spouse B would be $81,100 short of the cash or CPF needed to buy the share.
| Spouse A keeps the home | Spouse B keeps the home | |
|---|---|---|
| Net saving | $268,900 | $268,900 |
| ABSD on the share | $0 | $0 |
| ABSD on the next home | $0 | $0 |
| Home loan: years · share of income | 23 yrs · 43% | 25 yrs · 61% |
| Next-home loan: years · share of income | 25 yrs · 39% | 23 yrs · 22% |
| Works for both? | ✓ Yes | ✕ 2 problems |
Net saving from decoupling
$268,900
ABSD avoided $300,000 − cost of decoupling $31,100
On these numbers, decoupling saves you well over what it costs.
The saving comes from the spouse who leaves buying the next home as a first-time buyer. Before you commit, confirm two things: the value of the share, and that the spouse who stays can hold the loan alone.
Which route costs less
Duty and costs on the next home, each way
| Buy without decoupling | $300,000 |
|---|---|
| Decouple, then buy | $31,100 |
Without decoupling, the next home is a second property: ABSD of 20%. After decoupling, Spouse B buys as a first-time buyer: 0%. Buyer’s stamp duty on the next home is the same either way, so it is left out.
When it pays off
ABSD saved against the cost, by next-home price
| $0 | $0 |
|---|---|
| $520,000 | $104,000 |
| $1,040,000 | $208,000 |
| $1,560,000 | $312,000 |
| $2,080,000 | $416,000 |
| $2,600,000 | $520,000 |
| $3,120,000 | $624,000 |
Decoupling pays off once the next home costs more than $155,500. Your next home at $1,500,000 is above that.
What decoupling costs
$31,100, made up of
- Buyer’s stamp duty on the share$24,60079%
- Lawyer’s fees (transfer + refinancing)$6,00019%
- Valuation$5002%
Spouse A stays
Can they hold the home loan alone?
Comfortably within the bank’s limit on this income alone.
- New loan, whole home
- $1,150,000
- Loan tenure their age allows
- 23 years
- Monthly repayment at 2.5%
- $5,483
- As the bank tests it, at 4%
- $6,380
- Income the bank would want
- $11,599/mo
- Cash or CPF to put in
- $281,100
The bank lends up to 75% of the share’s value on top of the part of the loan they already carry; the rest, plus stamp duty and fees, comes from cash or CPF (at least 5% of the share in cash).
Spouse B leaves
What they take to the next home
From the share, worth $1,000,000:
- Their part of the loan repaid$400,000
- Cash in hand$600,000
- Cash in hand
- $600,000
- CPF back in their account
- $0
- Plus their savings: total to spend
- $800,000
The next home at $1,500,000
- Stamp duty and lawyer
- $47,600
- Loan needed, over 25 years
- $747,600
- Monthly repayment
- $3,354
Comfortably within the bank’s limit on this income alone.
Before you decide. IRAS can disregard an arrangement made mainly to avoid stamp duty (Stamp Duties Act s33A). The share must be sold at market value and the money genuinely paid to the spouse who leaves. Decoupling is done through a conveyancing lawyer, and the bank must approve both loans. HDB flats cannot be decoupled this way: a share transfer between spouses is allowed only in limited cases approved by HDB.
An estimate to help you plan, not tax or legal advice. Loan tenures assume the longest a bank allows for each age (the full 75% loan ends by 65; after that, 55% and repaid by about 75). Repayments assume 2.5% interest. Stamp duty and loan rules verified 2026-10-10; fees are typical quotes. Rules last fully reviewed 2026-07-29.
What we add to this
- A valuation check on your home, so the share is priced at market value
- A lawyer and bank refinancing lined up for the transfer
- Homes within the cash and CPF the leaving spouse will have
On these numbers, decoupling saves you well over what it costs.
The saving comes from the spouse who leaves buying the next home as a first-time buyer. Before you commit, confirm two things: the value of the share, and that the spouse who stays can hold the loan alone.
Check our decoupling numbers with real figures.
We’ll check what your home would value at, confirm the stamp duty and loan with a lawyer and a bank, and redo this calculation with those figures, so you know whether decoupling is worth it before you spend anything.
Official rules: buyer’s stamp duty, ABSD, seller’s stamp duty, TDSR.
Questions couples ask about decoupling
Can we decouple an HDB flat?
Not in the same way. HDB flats cannot be decoupled this way: a share transfer between spouses is allowed only in limited cases approved by HDB. This calculator is for private homes and executive condominiums past their occupation period.
Can we transfer just 1% instead of half?
IRAS can disregard an arrangement made mainly to avoid stamp duty (Stamp Duties Act s33A). The share must be sold at market value and the money genuinely paid to the spouse who leaves. A small share also leaves the spouse who leaves with very little money for the next home. Speak to a conveyancing lawyer before choosing a split.
What happens to the CPF the leaving spouse used?
It goes back to their CPF Ordinary Account from the share money, together with the interest it would have earned. They can use it again for the next home.
How long does decoupling take?
Usually two to three months: a valuation, the lawyer drafting the transfer, the bank approving the new loan in one name, then completion. The next home should be bought only after the transfer completes, or ABSD applies.
Does the spouse who stays pay ABSD on the share?
Not if they are a Singapore Citizen and this stays their only home. A Permanent Resident pays ABSD at the first-home rate on the share. The calculator includes this.
Terms on this page, in plain English
- Decoupling
- Transferring one owner’s share of a jointly owned home to the other, so the freed owner can buy the next home as a first-time buyer.
- BSD
- Buyer’s Stamp Duty — the tax paid on every home purchase, in steps from 1% to 6% of the price.
- ABSD
- Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty — an extra tax when you buy a home while still owning another (20% of the price for a Singapore Citizen’s second home).
- SSD
- Seller’s Stamp Duty — a tax for selling within a few years of buying; the rate falls each year and stops after the holding period.
- TDSR
- Total Debt Servicing Ratio — the bank’s limit on all your monthly loan repayments, 55% of your gross income.
- LTV
- Loan-to-value — the largest loan as a share of the price; 75% for a first housing loan, less for a second.
- Stress-tested
- Banks check your repayments at a higher interest rate than you will actually pay (4% for bank loans, 3% for HDB loans), to be sure you could still cope if rates rose.
- Tenure
- How many years the loan runs. Longer tenures cut the monthly payment but must end by age 65 to keep the full loan limit.
- CPF OA
- Your CPF Ordinary Account — the CPF savings you can use for a home.
- Accrued interest
- The interest your CPF savings would have earned had they stayed in CPF. It is refunded along with the CPF you used when you sell.
- Valuation
- A licensed valuer’s or HDB’s assessment of a home’s value, used by banks and CPF. Different from an agent’s price opinion.