Your first new launch. What actually happens.
A new launch compresses the biggest financial decision of most people’s lives into about twenty minutes in a crowded room. That is not an accident — it is the format. Understanding the sequence before you walk in is the difference between choosing a unit and being allocated one.
Farhan Adenan · 7 Aug 2026 · 9 min read
- At preview week the developer takes a booking cheque of $10,000–$20,000 (sometimes blank). It is not extra — it goes toward the 5%, and is returned if you walk.
- Launch day is a ballot for the right to choose, in queue order, from what is left.
- You pay 5% booking fee to secure the unit, then 15% within about 8 weeks when you exercise the Sale & Purchase Agreement. That is 20% before construction has meaningfully begun.
- The rest is progressive — drawn down against construction milestones, so your loan and interest build up gradually rather than all at once.
- The decisions that determine your resale price — stack, facing, floor, layout efficiency — are all made in that first twenty minutes.
General process guidance for Singapore private new launch purchases by Singapore Citizens using bank financing. Stamp duty, ABSD, loan limits and progressive payment schedules are set by regulation and change — confirm current figures with your banker and conveyancing lawyer.
The sequence, start to finish
A ballot for the right to choose, in queue order, from what is left.
Step 3 is where the money is made or lost, and it lasts minutes. By the time your queue number is called, the good stacks may be gone. Everything after that step is administration; everything before it is preparation. Buyers who do well decide their first, second and third choice unit — with prices — before launch day, and are willing to walk away if all three go.
About that cheque, because nobody explains it properly. At preview week the developer collects a booking cheque — typically $10,000 to $20,000, and sometimes a blank cheque with the amount left open. It is not an extra cost and it is not a deposit on top of the price: if you proceed it is absorbed into the 5% booking fee on launch day, and if you walk away it is returned.
What it really is, is a filter. Writing a cheque converts casual interest into a queue position, which is exactly what the developer needs before setting release prices and stack pricing. Handing over a blank cheque feels alarming and is common practice — but you are entitled to write in a figure rather than leave it open, and to ask for the return terms in writing before you hand anything over.
Step 6 is the one that surprises people. The 5% feels manageable. Then another 15% plus stamp duty falls due roughly eight weeks later. For a $2M unit that is $300,000 plus duties, in cash and CPF, inside two months of a decision made in a crowded showflat.
What the cheques actually look like
Twenty per cent before construction has meaningfully begun.
Exhibit 1. Twenty per cent of the price leaves your account inside roughly ten weeks, before construction has meaningfully begun — and Buyer’s Stamp Duty is due on top, within 14 days of exercising. The remaining 80% is drawn progressively against construction milestones. Source: IRAS Buyer’s Stamp Duty and Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty rates. POV analysis.
Exhibit 2. A first housing loan is capped at 75% loan-to-value with at least 5% of the price in cash; the other 20% may come from CPF. Buyer’s Stamp Duty on $1.5 million is $44,600, charged in bands of 1%, 2%, 3% and 4%. If this is a second property, add 20% ABSD — another $300,000. Source: IRAS Buyer’s Stamp Duty and Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty rates. POV analysis.
Illustrative for a Singapore Citizen buying a first residential property with bank financing, so no ABSD. A second property adds 20% ABSD — $400,000 on this example. Legal fees excluded.
Note what happens if this is not your first property. The same $2M unit attracts $400,000 of ABSD on top — see our piece on what that really costs. It is the single largest variable in the whole table, and it is decided by your existing holdings, not by the unit.
The progressive structure is genuinely buyer-friendly, and that is the risk. Because your loan draws down in stages, interest during construction is far lower than on a completed purchase. It also means your true monthly cost only arrives at TOP — three years after you committed, on an income you are forecasting rather than earning. Stress-test the post-TOP instalment, not the one you pay in year one.
The progressive payment schedule
The schedule is comfortable early and expensive at TOP.
| Construction milestone | Share of price | |
|---|---|---|
| Booking + exercise | 20% | Before construction |
| Foundation works | 10% | |
| Reinforced concrete framework | 10% | |
| Partition walls / roofing / plumbing etc. | Staged, in increments | |
| Car park, roads, drains | Staged | |
| Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) | Substantial balance falls due | |
| Certificate of Statutory Completion | Final retention released |
Indicative structure of the standard progressive payment scheme. Exact percentages and milestone definitions are set by regulation — confirm the schedule in your S&P.
Two things follow from this that matter more than they sound. First, your interest cost ramps up gradually, so the early years are comfortable and the year of TOP is not. Second, a retention sum is held back to the CSC stage — which is your leverage on defects, and the reason the defects inspection at handover deserves real attention rather than a walk-through.
Deferred and staggered schemes appear from time to time. They change the cash-flow shape and usually the price. If one is offered, work out what the alternative structure actually costs over the full period before deciding the easier cash flow is the better deal.
Choosing the unit, in the minutes you have
Stack, facing, floor, layout. All of it, in about twenty minutes.
Stack and facing. In a development of near-identical units, orientation is most of what separates yours from the one six floors down at resale. West-facing afternoon sun, a view straight into the opposite block, or a position over the carpark ramp are permanent conditions, not quirks.
Floor level, honestly weighed. Higher costs more per square foot. Whether the premium returns depends entirely on whether the view is protected — a high floor facing a site that will be built out in 2031 is a premium you pay now and lose later. Check what is zoned around you before paying for the view.
Layout efficiency. Two units of identical size are not identical. Long corridors, awkward bay windows and unusable corners cost you real living space you paid full price for. Efficient layouts resell faster because the next buyer notices too.
Unit type against the buyer pool. The exit market for a two-bedder is deep. For a large four-bedder in a suburban project it is much thinner. Buy the size the area actually transacts, unless you are certain you will live there long enough not to care.
And know your walk-away price before you queue. The room is engineered for urgency — that is the format, not a criticism. The only defence is having decided in advance what you will pay for which unit, and being genuinely willing to leave with nothing. There is always another launch.
What to do before launch day
Rank your choices and your walk-away price before you walk in.
0. Understand the preview cheque before you write one. $10,000–$20,000, returned if you do not proceed, credited toward the 5% if you do. Get the return terms in writing, and write in an amount rather than leaving it blank.
1. Get In-Principle Approval first. Know your actual loan quantum before you commit, not after. It is free, it takes days, and it converts a guess into a number.
2. Confirm your ABSD position in writing. If you own anything else, or recently disposed of something, or are buying with a spouse who does — get it confirmed by a conveyancing lawyer. This is the largest single variable in your purchase and the one people most often get wrong.
3. Rank your top three units, with prices, before launch day. Then a fourth and fifth for when the first three go. Decide the order while you are calm.
4. Check what is zoned and coming around the site. Future GLS parcels, upcoming completions, planned rail. It decides both your view and your competition at resale — and it is public information.
5. Stress-test the post-TOP instalment at a higher rate. Not today’s rate. The one you would be paying in three years if rates moved against you. If that number is uncomfortable, the unit is too expensive regardless of how the showflat feels.
Who this affects
The queue is the same for everyone. The exposure is not.
If you own
If this is your home, the twenty minutes matter more than the price
Stack, facing, floor and layout efficiency are chosen in the time it takes to order coffee, and they are what the next buyer will price. Rank your top five units and your walk-away number in writing before launch day, because you will not reason well in the room.
The progressive schedule is designed to feel manageable. Stress-test the instalment you will be paying in year three, when most of the loan has been drawn, not the one in year one.
If you invest
If this is a second property, the entry is a fifth larger than the price list
A second housing loan is capped at 45% loan-to-value while the first is outstanding, against 75% on a first, and the minimum cash portion rises from 5% to 25%. Add 20% ABSD for a Singapore citizen and the sum you must assemble before you own anything is a large multiple of what a first purchase required.
Then check the exit. Seller’s Stamp Duty on anything acquired from 4 July 2025 runs four years — 16%, 12%, 8%, 4% — and a new launch completing in roughly three years means the clock is still running when you get the keys.
Everything expensive is decided before you walk in.
- The money: 5% on the day, 20% plus stamp duty within about ten weeks, the rest progressively over roughly three years.
- The moment: your unit is chosen in minutes, in queue order, from what is left. Rank your choices and your walk-away price in advance.
- The trap: progressive payments make the early years comfortable and TOP expensive. Stress-test the instalment you will pay in year three, not year one.
Going to a launch soon?
The useful preparation is not the showflat visit — it is knowing which stacks are worth the premium, what is being built around the site, and what the nearby resale stock costs so you know whether the launch premium is defensible. We do that read before every launch. Tell us which one you are looking at and we will send you ours.
The 2.3× rule: developers price your condo years before it exists
44 launches, one formula — and what it already implies for Hougang, Bedok and Lentor.
“I gladly paid the ABSD because it is freehold landed.” Is that actually wise?
He paid 20% ABSD on a second property and said he was glad to, because it was freehold landed. We tested the argument properly.
How to check us: every number in this piece is computed from the primary record — URA caveats to 15 Jul 2026 — not from third-party estimates or hearsay. The links below are the official policy and news record behind the contextual claims.
- URA private residential transaction data (REALIS) — the caveat record every table in this article is computed from
Dataset — General process guidance for Singapore private new launch purchases by Singapore Citizens using bank financing. Stamp duty, ABSD, loan limits and progressive payment schedules are set by regulation and change — confirm current figures with your banker and conveyancing lawyer.
Methodology & honesty notes. General process guidance for private new launch purchases in Singapore by Singapore Citizens using bank financing. The illustrative cheque table assumes a first residential property and therefore no ABSD; Buyer’s Stamp Duty computed on the standard residential scale. Progressive payment milestones follow the standard scheme but exact percentages and definitions are set by regulation and stated in your Sale & Purchase Agreement. Loan quantum is subject to Total Debt Servicing Ratio and loan-to-value limits in force at the time. Confirm every figure with your banker and conveyancing lawyer; nothing here is financial or legal advice. POV Realty and Farhan Adenan are not the marketing agents for any project or listing referenced, and nothing here is financial advice — it's a starting point for your own due diligence, which is exactly how we'd use it.
Farhan Adenan · CEA Registration R068636D · Senior Associate Division Director, Huttons Asia Pte Ltd (Estate Agent Licence L3008899K).