Enhanced CPF Housing Grant estimate.
Estimated EHG
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Your breakdown
Updates live as you type| Average gross monthly household income | EHG for a first-timer family |
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How the EHG tapers with income
The Enhanced CPF Housing Grant is the central subsidy for first-time HDB buyers, and it is means-tested on your average gross monthly household income. At the bottom, a first-timer family earning $1,500 or less gets the full $120,000. From there the grant steps down in $5,000 income bands, falling all the way to $5,000 of grant at the very top, and to nil only once income climbs above $9,000. This calculator reads your income against the official step table and returns the grant for a first-timer family. It is for couples and families planning a flat purchase who need a realistic sense of the cash CPF will inject before they commit to a price.
Reading the income bands
The grant is a staircase, not a smooth line, so it matters exactly which band you land in. Take the default of $5,000 average gross monthly household income. That falls in the band whose grant is $55,000. Earn a little less and you jump up a step; earn a little more and you drop one. Here are the steps around the default.
At exactly $9,000 the grant is still $5,000; it is only income above $9,000 that drops you to nothing. That boundary catches couples who assume a round $9,000 income disqualifies them. It does not, by a whisker.
Stacking the resale grants
The EHG is not the only grant on the table for resale buyers. On top of it, eligible first-timer families can receive the CPF Housing Grant, scaled by income, and the Proximity Housing Grant if they buy near or move in with parents or married children. Those can add tens of thousands more. This tool deliberately models only the EHG, because it is the one tied cleanly to income, so treat its figure as a floor for a resale purchase rather than your total subsidy. A common mistake is reading the EHG number as the whole grant package and under-budgeting the deposit you can assemble.
Where the grant actually lands
The money does not arrive as cash in your bank account. Housing grants are credited to your CPF Ordinary Account and applied toward the flat purchase, reducing the housing loan you need and the cash you must find. That is a useful feature, because it lowers the amount you finance, but it also means the grant cannot be spent on renovation or furniture. My practical tip is to size your budget around the loan and cash you genuinely need after the grant offsets the price, not around the grant as spare money. Note too that taking the grant comes with a minimum occupation period and resale conditions, so it is a commitment to live in the flat, not a quick subsidy to flip.
The minimum occupation period deserves a second look, because it shapes more than where you live. For most flats it runs five years from the date you collect the keys, measured by physical occupation rather than ownership on paper, and you cannot sell, sublet the whole flat, or buy a private residential property until it is served. Grants received also create an obligation: when you eventually sell, the grant amount plus the accrued CPF interest it would have earned is returned to your CPF Ordinary Account, not pocketed as profit. A common miscalculation is treating the EHG as a discount that boosts your eventual sale proceeds. It does not. It lowers your upfront cost today, but the accrued-interest refund means the grant is best understood as deferred CPF you are borrowing from your future self, which is exactly why it lands in your CPF rather than your wallet.
Is the income tested on gross or take-home pay?
It is average gross monthly household income, before CPF and tax, averaged over the relevant period and counting all working applicants and occupiers. Use your gross figures, not your take-home pay, or you will overstate the grant. Bonuses and allowances generally count toward the average.
Do I have to be married to get the EHG?
The full family grant amounts shown here apply to first-timer families, typically a married couple or a family nucleus. Singles buying under the relevant single schemes receive grants at half the family rate, so a single applicant should not read the family figures here as their own entitlement. Confirm your scheme and amounts directly with HDB.