Condo maintenance fee in Singapore: a worked monthly cost

A condo maintenance fee in Singapore is one line in the monthly cost of owning a new condo, which is the loan instalment plus contributions to the management fund (commonly called the maintenance or service charge) and the sinking fund, plus property tax. On an illustrative S$1.6 million home, with an invented S$450 a month for the two funds and an invented Annual Value of S$60,000, those extras add S$677 a month to a S$5,389 loan instalment, S$6,066 in all.

IRAS publishes the property tax rates and describes what the two funds are for; no official page we read says what any particular project charges, so that figure has to come from the developer’s own documents. All S$ amounts in the worked example are illustrative, and this is general information, not financial or tax advice.

What does the maintenance fee pay for?

IRAS’s e-Tax guide on management fund and sinking fund contributions explains that owners of strata-titled homes collectively own the common property, such as lifts, staircases, the car park, playground, clubhouse, swimming pool and tennis court, and pay contributions into two funds to maintain it:

• Management fund (MF): commonly known as the maintenance or service charge, and intended for the regular day-to-day upkeep of the common property. IRAS’s review of management corporations’ accounts found that most MF spending goes on cleaning, utilities, security services, refuse disposal, pest control and similar services.
• Sinking fund (SF): normally set aside for future major works such as painting, roof repair and lift replacement. IRAS found that more than 99% of SF spending went on major repairs, renewal and upgrading. The guide does not date that review.

IRAS adds that the purposes and use of both funds are governed by the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act. We could not read the Act itself, so this guide states no rule from it. Our inference, not IRAS’s: a project with more shared facilities has more to maintain, so read a fee quote next to the facility list.

How much will the monthly fee be?

No official page we read gives a typical figure. Our inference: projects differ in size and facilities, so one project’s fee is a poor guide to another’s. Ask the developer’s sales team for the monthly contribution to both funds quoted for your unit, in writing and with the date, and whether the quote combines MF and SF.

For the worked example below we assume S$450 a month for MF and SF combined. That number is invented to show the arithmetic; it is not a typical, recommended or quoted figure. Replace it with the figure you are quoted.

How is property tax worked out on a new condo?

IRAS’s formula is annual property tax = Annual Value (AV) × the tax rate that applies to you. AV is not the price. It is IRAS’s estimate of the gross annual rent the property could fetch if let, based on market rents of similar or comparable properties, not on any rent actually received. For strata-titled homes, IRAS’s e-Tax guide says that in determining AV it includes sinking fund contributions and excludes management fund contributions; the guide gives no figure for what that adds to any unit’s AV.

For a home you live in, IRAS’s owner-occupier rates effective from 1 January 2025 are progressive, each rate applying only to the slice of AV in its band:

• 0% on the first S$12,000 of AV
• 4% on the next S$28,000 (to S$40,000)
• 6% on the next S$10,000 (to S$50,000)
• 10% on the next S$25,000 (to S$75,000)
• 14% on the next S$10,000 (to S$85,000)
• 20% on the next S$15,000 (to S$100,000)
• 26% on the next S$40,000 (to S$140,000)
• 32% above S$140,000

On an illustrative AV of S$60,000, the tax is S$0 + S$1,120 + S$600 + S$1,000 = S$2,720 a year, or about S$227 a month. By the same arithmetic an AV of S$40,000 gives S$1,120 a year (S$93 a month) and an AV of S$84,000 gives S$5,480 (S$457 a month). These AVs are invented; IRAS sets the real one. To try other AVs, use our companion property tax calculator and check the result against IRAS’s tables.

Owner-occupier rates are for a home you live in, and IRAS’s rates page says they are granted to only one property you own and occupy. A second property is taxed at the non-owner-occupier residential rates, which run from 12% to 36% (effective 1 January 2024) and come to S$10,800 a year on the same S$60,000 AV, against S$2,720. Our guides to renting out a new launch and the first property tax bill on a new condo cover how IRAS applies each set of rates.

Timing matters for a new launch. IRAS says property tax is payable yearly in advance, with the bill for the following year sent at the end of each year, and its sample valuation notice for a newly completed home shows tax running from the TOP date (13 September 2025 in the sample). Ask the developer when TOP is expected (our TOP guide explains the permit) and ask your lawyer when to expect IRAS’s first valuation notice.

The Ministry of Finance and IRAS announced on 28 November 2025 a one-off rebate for 2026: 15% for owner-occupied HDB flats and 10%, capped at S$500, for owner-occupied private residential property, offset automatically against any property tax payable in the 2026 bill, which IRAS sent from December 2025. The release does not say how it treats a unit first taxed during 2026, so our inference is that a buyer whose project completes after 2026 will not see it. If it applied to the S$2,720 example, 10% would be S$272, leaving S$2,448. The monthly bill below leaves it out, and no later rebate should be assumed unless IRAS announces one.

What does a whole month cost? A worked example

Take the illustrative S$1.6 million home with a S$1.2 million loan over 30 years at an invented 3.5%, which gives the S$5,389 instalment explained in our home loan guide. The loan is 75% of the price (our arithmetic), the figure CPF’s page on what to consider lists as a bank loan’s maximum (“Up to 75% of purchase price, subject to terms and conditions”; it names no property type and gives no conditions), so read it as an upper case; CPF says to check eligibility with your bank. Then add:

• Loan instalment: S$5,389
• Maintenance fee, MF and SF together (invented): S$450
• Property tax at an AV of S$60,000: S$227
• Total: S$6,066 a month

Lines are rounded to the dollar and the total is their sum. The two extras come to S$677, about 12.6% on top of the instalment. Each S$1 change in the monthly fee moves the total by S$1: S$5,916 at S$300 a month, S$6,216 at S$600. Moving only the AV, at S$450 for the fee, gives S$5,932 at an AV of S$40,000 and S$6,296 at an AV of S$84,000.

This leaves out utilities, home insurance, renovation, parking and any cost specific to your project, which our maintenance budget guide sets out as separate lines, and it ignores the one-off stamp duty and fees covered in our stamp duty guide. CPF’s page on buying property (last updated 6 August 2025) says to keep your monthly housing instalment within 25% of your gross monthly income; S$5,389 is 25% of S$21,556 (our arithmetic). The page does not say whether fund contributions and property tax count towards that share, so budget them as separate lines.

What to ask before you book

• The monthly MF and SF contribution for your unit, the date it was quoted, and whether the quote combines both funds.
• Who set the figure and when it will next be reviewed.
• The full list of shared facilities, since each has to be maintained.
• The developer’s expected TOP date, and so when IRAS tax is likely to start.
• Your own monthly row: instalment plus fund contributions plus property tax, with the date of each figure.
• Any unit-specific cost the sales team mentions, noted with who said it and when.
• IRAS’s property tax rates page, rechecked before you budget; the version we read was last updated on 11 August 2026.

Our questions beyond the showflat guide has more to ask at the sales gallery, and the new launch glossary defines the terms above. For similar comparisons, see Compare carefully.

Common questions