New launch payment schedule: why the stage you buy at matters

When you book a home at a new launch, you do not pay for it all at once. You pay a booking fee for the option to purchase, then instalments that the sale and purchase agreement ties to dates and to stages of construction, including a progress payment that falls due when the Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) is issued.

That sequence is why the stage you buy at matters. Booking at a fresh launch spreads the payments across the construction years. Buying in a project that is already built is likely to compress them into weeks (our inference).

What we could and could not verify. On 4 October 2026, and again on 17 October 2026, we read URA’s pages and circulars and CPF’s pages, listed at the end. They confirm the booking fee for the option, the option’s terms and a progress payment due on TOP, but give no percentage for the booking fee or any stage: those sit in the Housing Developers Rules on Singapore Statutes Online and in URA’s Home Buyer’s Guide PDFs, which our network blocked on both dates. Every percentage in the stage list below is therefore unverified, and every S$ figure is invented or our arithmetic. Your own option and sale and purchase agreement set the terms that bind you.

The stages, in order

URA’s buying-property page (updated 29 June 2026) says only that once the TOP is issued and you have paid “the progress payment due upon TOP”, the developer will explain how to collect your key. A Controller of Housing circular of 3 March 1997, archived and written for the forms then in use, says the standard agreements “provide for the payment of instalments to the developer at various stages of completion of work”, and defines the foundation stage as the piles and pile caps (or the footing or raft) and the reinforced concrete framework as the columns and beams. Neither gives a percentage.

The list below is therefore an unverified working schedule. Its stage names and percentages come from no page we read and the current rules may differ, so use it only to follow the examples and check every line against your own agreement.

1. Booking fee, when the option to purchase is granted: 5% (unverified; your option states the fee)
2. The rest of the first 20% (15% if the fee is 5%), no later than eight weeks from the option date
3. 10% on completion of the foundation
4. 10% on completion of the reinforced concrete framework
5. 5% on completion of the partition walls
6. 5% on completion of the roofing and ceiling
7. 5% on completion of door and window frames, electrical wiring, internal plastering and plumbing
8. 5% on completion of the car park, roads and drains
9. 25% when the Temporary Occupation Permit is issued
10. 15% on the Certificate of Statutory Completion (confirm how this is split and timed)

On a fictional S$1.6 million home, the unverified percentages give S$320,000 for the first two steps, S$640,000 for the six construction stages and S$640,000 for the final two (our arithmetic: 20%, 40% and 40%).

What happens in the first eight weeks?

The developer grants the option to purchase when you pay the booking fee. URA says the developer must first give you its mandatory information, and that you then “pay a booking fee for the issue of an Option to Purchase (OTP)”. It gives no percentage, so this guide assumes an invented 5%: S$80,000 on the fictional price.

A URA circular of 15 January 2008 says the standard option requires the developer to deliver the sale and purchase agreement and the title deeds to the purchaser within two weeks of the option date. A circular of 28 September 2020 says the option expires three weeks after the agreement and copies of the title deeds are delivered, that you exercise it by signing and returning the agreement, and that otherwise “25% of the booking fee may be forfeited by the developer”: S$20,000 on the invented fee. Both are archived and the two current URA pages we read do not repeat them, so check your own option.

The rest of the first 20% has its own deadline. A URA circular of 31 July 2002, also archived, refers to “the remainder of the first 20% of the Purchase Price (after the payment of the Booking Fee)” and to deferring part of it “to a date not later than 8 weeks from the date of the Option To Purchase”. Our inference: the standard schedule collects the first 20% within eight weeks of the option date, so the second payment is 15% if the fee is 5%. The circular is 24 years old and gives no fee percentage.

Stamp duty has a separate deadline, explained in our stamp duty guide. URA’s guidance on buying property is the official starting point; your lawyer will map the actual dates for your purchase.

Where do the loan and CPF come in?

CPF’s Housing Scheme terms (updated 7 September 2026) say CPF savings cannot pay option fees to developers, so on our reading the booking fee is a cash payment. For a private property under construction, they say CPF savings can meet the progressive payments to the developer when due, and that you must pay in cash the balance left after the housing loan and the approved CPF amount before CPF savings are released. CPF’s FAQ on the down payment (updated 10 November 2025) lists a minimum 5% cash down payment of the lower of the purchase price or valuation, and points to MAS’s website for the specifics.

CPF’s page on what to consider (updated 6 August 2025) lists a bank loan’s maximum as “Up to 75% of purchase price, subject to terms and conditions”, says to check eligibility with the bank, and suggests keeping your total debt servicing ratio within 55%, and your monthly housing instalment within 25%, of gross monthly income. We could not open MAS’s website, so ask your bank for your loan limit, minimum cash payment and debt-servicing threshold.

CPF’s home ownership page (updated 6 July 2026) adds that Ordinary Account savings can also pay stamp and legal fees and the housing loan, within limits, and that when you sell, the CPF savings used, plus accrued interest, must be returned to your CPF account.

Our inference, not stated on any page we read: the bank loan usually starts paying out with the construction stages, once your own share of the down payment is paid, so instalments start small and rise as construction advances, because interest runs only on the amount disbursed. Ask your bank for a projected disbursement and instalment schedule rather than a single monthly figure.

Launch, mid-construction or completed: how the timing changes

Take the same fictional S$1.6 million home and an assumed 75% loan at three points. These cases are our own arithmetic and inference on the unverified schedule; no page we read describes them.

• At launch, before construction: S$320,000 of your own funds within eight weeks and the rest of your 25% share at the foundation stage; the loan draws down over the construction years, and the keys are handed over once the Temporary Occupation Permit is issued and the instalment due on it is paid.
• After the roofing stage: the same S$320,000, plus S$480,000 for the four stages already completed, falls due soon after purchase, so the loan is drawn much earlier and the wait for keys is shorter.
• After the Temporary Occupation Permit: most of the price falls due soon after purchase, on the dates your agreement sets, but you can inspect the finished home and neighbourhood before committing and move in far sooner.

In this example your own contribution is 25% of the price in each case, because we assumed a 75% loan. What changes is how long you carry two sets of housing costs, how quickly loan instalments reach their full level and how much you can see before you commit. Neither timing is cheaper by default; compare the exact units’ prices.

A comparison sheet for projects at different stages

When one project on your list is a fresh launch and another is nearly finished, compare them on the same rows:

• Price and scheme: the exact unit’s total price and the payment scheme it is sold under.
• Cash in the first eight weeks: booking fee, the rest of the first 20% and stamp duty.
• Stages already reached: which instalments would fall due immediately.
• Expected keys: the developer’s stated date for vacant possession, and your plan if it moves.
• Overlap costs: rent or your current mortgage while you wait.

If a developer offers more than one payment scheme, ask for the total price under each in writing. Our project comparison guide shows how to keep evidence, preferences and unknowns in separate columns, and our household brief guide helps you decide how long you can wait for keys.

Common questions