Standard Chartered Home Loan

Whether you’re considering getting a private residential property or an executive condominium, Standard Chartered offers both floating and fixed housing loan rates for these properties. 

Standard Chartered’s SORA-pegged vs floating-rate packages

Standard Chartered’s SORA-pegged packages are based on the SORA rate which is known as the volume-weighted average rate of borrowing transactions in the unsecured overnight interbank SGD cash market. As the 3-month (3M) SORA rate is calculated and updated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) every 3 months, your Standard Chartered SORA-pegged package and interest rate will be updated every 3 months as well. 

Note that Standard Chartered also charges a mark-up, which is called a “spread”, on top of the 3-month SORA rate. Together, these 2 components form the total interest rate which determines your monthly payments.

Although both Standard Chartered’s 36M FDR rate and the SORA rate are validated by MAS, the 36M FDR rate is a board rate, which is still entirely determined by Standard Chartered and is subject to changes anytime.

Here’s an example to illustrate.

You and your partner plan to buy a landed property costing $1,500,000, and the total monthly income for both of you add up to $15,000. Assuming that you’ve picked the 2-year FDR (36 FDR* + 0.68% p.a.) package with an interest rate of 1.40% p.a. 

After Standard Chartered assesses your loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, which is your maximum borrowing capacity (75% of the property price), you’re eligible for your preferred 2-year FDR (36 FDR* + 0.68% p.a.) package with a loan amount of $1,125,000 and a tenure of 25 years. The estimated math will be as follows with the help of MoneySmart’s Mortgage Calculator.

Your downpayment:

$300,000 by CPF + $75,000 in Cash = $375,000

(at least 5% of the property price to be paid in cash which comprise of the option fee & option exercise fee, and 20% to be paid in CPF)

Your estimated monthly instalment:

It’ll be $4,446.62  

(based on the 36 FDR 0.72% + 0.68% p.a. interest rate which may fluctuate over time) 

Your estimated total interest payable over 25 years:

It’ll be $208,985.47

Other one-time payments*:

$45,000 (buyer’s stamp duties) + $3,000 (legal fee) + $400 (valuation fee) = $48,400

Estimated total payment over 25 years:

$1,500,000 + $48,400 = $1,548,400 

*Buyer’s stamp duties fee is usually about 3% to 4% of the purchase price of the private property - a form of tax payable to the government for registration of purchase of the property. Legal fees are often paid to property lawyers for the processing of the private property’s home loan. Banks will usually have their own panel of licensed valuers and the valuation fee for a private property can range from $200-$400 due to the valuation report required. 

If you’re thinking of getting a HDB home loan, Standard Chartered has 5 types of packages including the 3-Month (3M) Compounded SORA loan, 36M FDR loan, 2-Year Fixed rate loan, 3-Year Fixed rate loan, and the 3-Month (3M) Compounded SIBOR HDB Bridging loan, which are alternatives to the HDB loan.

For example, you are keen on taking up a $300,000 SORA-pegged loan with Standard Chartered (2 years lock-in period) for a resale HDB flat and the tenure is over 20 years.

The 3-month Compounded (3M) SORA rate is 0.1313% (as of August 2021), the same rate that all banks in Singapore follow for any SORA-pegged home loan packages. Also, you’ll need to include Standard Chartered’s “spread” to the 3-month SORA rate (both will form the total interest rate, and determine your monthly instalment amount).

Your downpayment:

$60,000 by CPF + $15,000 in Cash = $75,000

(20% of the total loan among paid with your CPF and a minimum 5% of the total loan amount paid in cash)

Your estimated interest to pay for the first month:

Standard Chartered’s spread = 1.20%

3-month Compounded SORA = 0.1313%

0.1313% (3M Compounded SORA) + 1.20% (bank’s spread) = approx. 1.34%

1.34% x $300,000 = $1425.67 

$1425.67 ÷ 12 months = $119 

(based on the 3-month Compounded SORA rate which will fluctuate over time)

Other one-time payments:

$1,000 + $4,000 (option fee + option exercise fee) = $5,000

(this $5,000 is considered a deposit which forms part of the downpayment paid in cash i.e. $15,000)

Estimated total payment over 20 years:

$300,000 (principal amount) + $42,159.92 (in interest) = $342,159.92

*All above calculations are estimated using MoneySmart’s Mortgage Calculator.

Besides the SORA-pegged package, other floating-rate packages include the SIBOR-linked loan which you can have a look at below. If you’re more risk-averse, you may want to consider Standard Chartered’s fixed-rate loan packages instead of floating-rate ones.

When should you refinance or reprice your home loan?

The best time to consider refinancing or repricing your home loan is when your existing home loan is nearing the end of its minimum lock-in period. If your mortgage charges you more than 1.30% interest, you’re likely to save by switching to a more competitive package.

So is refinancing or repricing better for you? This depends on how much you’re currently paying for your housing loan. 

Repricing is less troublesome as it involves switching to a new home loan package offered by the same bank that you’re currently financing your home with. This may incur a repricing fee of about $1,000, but it is relatively straightforward.

However, if other banks are offering much lower interest rates that your bank can’t match, refinancing your housing loan with another bank may help reduce your monthly repayment amount. This does incur legal fees and can cost $2,000 or more, unless the new bank is willing to subsidise your fees.

Refinancing your housing loan with Standard Chartered may help you reduce your monthly repayment amount by switching to a lower interest rate. Find out more about these rates and how you can go about refinancing your home loan at our Standard Chartered Home Loans Refinancing page.