Sarah Chen
If you bought a private property a few years ago, two things have probably happened at once: the value has risen, and you have paid down part of the loan. The gap between what your home is worth and what you still owe is equity, and most owners have more of it than they realise. What far fewer know is that you can turn part of that gap into cash without selling, and at a rate of a home loan rather than a personal loan.
Our new equity term loan estimator shows you the number. Enter your unit and your outstanding loan, and in seconds you see the cash you could draw, calculated the way a bank would calculate it. It is free, there is no sign-up, and we ask for no personal details to show you a result.
As you pay down your loan and prices rise, a gap opens between what your home is worth and what you still owe. An equity term loan turns part of that gap into cash you can use, without selling. It is a loan secured against the equity you have already built, which is why it prices like a mortgage rather than a credit line.
The key word is secured. Because the borrowing sits against your property, you keep the home, you keep living in it, and you keep any future price gains. You are not selling the asset, you are borrowing against it.
This is the part most people get wrong when they estimate their own equity, so it is worth being precise:
Start with the ceiling: banks lend up to 75% of the current valuation. On a home worth around $2M, that ceiling is roughly $1.5M.
Subtract what you still owe: your outstanding home loan comes off the top.
Subtract CPF used, plus accrued interest: any CPF savings you put towards the property, together with the interest that would have accrued, must be refunded to your CPF account when you eventually sell. Because that money is already spoken for, it counts against the ceiling too.
What remains is your withdrawable cash: the figure the estimator shows you.
That CPF step is the one people miss. Two owners with the same valuation and the same outstanding loan can have very different withdrawable cash depending on how much CPF they have used, which is exactly why a personal estimate beats a rule of thumb. The tool lets you toggle in your CPF principal and accrued interest to see your real number.
The flow takes seconds:
Enter your details: pop in your postal code, unit number, and your outstanding home loan. Add your CPF usage for a sharper figure, and your floor area for a sharper valuation.
We value and compute: we value the unit with Amicus, apply the 75% ceiling, and net off your loan and CPF.
See your headroom: the cash you could unlock, with the full breakdown of how the number is built.
No paperwork, no waiting, and no obligation.
Four things set an equity term loan apart from a personal loan or a credit line:
You keep your home: it is a loan against the property, not a sale. You stay, and you keep future appreciation.
At home-loan rates: because it is secured on property, the rate is a fraction of what unsecured borrowing costs.
A lump sum or a line: draw the cash as a term loan to reinvest, renovate, or consolidate higher-interest debt.
Capped at 75% LTV: total borrowing cannot exceed 75% of the valuation, with the existing loan and CPF used netted off, which keeps the structure conservative.
Some owners use unlocked equity to invest. The logic is straightforward: if you borrow at a home-loan rate and earn a higher return, the difference is income. The estimator lets you model this across a few rate scenarios so you can see the spread.
The honest part matters more than the appealing part. This is leverage, and leverage works in both directions. Investment returns are not guaranteed and your capital is at risk. If your return falls below your interest rate, you lose money on the spread, and you still owe the loan regardless of how the investment performs. The figures the tool shows are illustrative, not a forecast, and nothing here is financial advice. Whether borrowing to invest makes sense depends entirely on your circumstances and your tolerance for risk, which is a conversation worth having with a licensed advisor before you act.
The valuation your headroom is sized on is produced by Amicus, a Singapore data company operating since 1985, using the same automated valuation approach that banks rely on rather than a number we set ourselves. It is the same engine behind our home valuation and rent versus buy tools, drawing on close to three decades of transaction data and factoring in location, floor level, built-in area, and recent comparable transactions.
A few limits to keep in mind: the estimate is indicative, and the actual amount depends on the bank's own valuation, your age, your remaining loan tenure, and your Total Debt Servicing Ratio. Equity term loans also apply to private property only. HDB flats cannot be used to cash out equity this way.
If the headroom looks meaningful and you have a use for it, the next question is which bank offers it at the lowest rate. That is where we come in: a Cashew advisor can confirm your exact headroom against your age, tenure, and TDSR, and compare packages across all major banks and lenders to find the sharpest rate. Free, and with no obligation.
The cash in your home is easy to underestimate and easy to overestimate. Pop in your unit and your outstanding loan, and see your real headroom in seconds.
When choosing between a 2-year fix at 1.4% and a 3-year fix at 1.6% on a S$2 million loan, the decision comes down to whether two-year fixed rates in late 2028 will exceed 2.0%, which is the break-even point where total interest costs are equal across both paths. The 2-year fix is the more defensible default for borrowers without a strong view on rising rates, as it costs less upfront and preserves the option to reprice with better information in 2028. The 3-year fix only earns its premium if you genuinely expect rates to rise above 2.0% or if the added certainty is worth the extra cost to you.
Sarah Chen·20 Jul 2026
The HDB concessionary loan offers stability and flexibility, but if you plan to sell within a few years, a fixed bank loan at a lower rate can result in significant interest savings. The key is securing a package with a sale waiver clause that removes early redemption penalties when you sell, otherwise the penalty can wipe out those savings. Choose the HDB loan if your timeline is uncertain, and consider a bank loan only if you have a firm exit plan and the right package conditions.
Sarah Chen·14 Jun 2026© 2026 Cashew. All rights reserved.
