Every upgrader I sit down with asks me the same question, sooner or later: “Karen, should I buy first, or sell first?”
I never have a clean answer ready. Not because the question is hard - but because the right answer almost always depends on what the client has not told me yet.
So instead of giving you a rule, let me share the way I think through it with my clients.
There are usually three things on the table:
- How much liquidity you have without touching the sale proceeds.
- How comfortable you are carrying two properties, even briefly.
- How quickly your current home is likely to move at a fair price.
If you have the cash buffer, buying first gives you breathing room. You can wait for the right home rather than taking the first one available.
But be clear-eyed about the ABSD, because it is not simply a cost you carry. A Singapore Citizen couple buying a second home pays twenty per cent upfront, and you only get it back if you sell the first home within six months - six months from the purchase if the new home is already completed, or from its TOP if it is not. Miss that window and the refund is not deferred, it is gone. And the remission only exists for a married couple with at least one Singapore Citizen. If you are buying on your own, there is nothing to claim back.
So you are chasing a deadline either way. The question is whether it is one you can meet.
But if liquidity is tight, or if your current home is in a segment that moves slowly - selling first protects you from the one outcome no one wants: holding two properties under stress, and feeling forced to drop your asking price to escape it.
For my client who asked this question last month, the answer was sell first. Not because the math was clearer - but because she told me, quietly, that the thought of carrying two mortgages even for a few weeks would keep her awake at night.
That is not a financial input. But it is, in my view, the most important one.
Whatever you decide, decide with full information. Run the cash flow on both paths. Stress-test the timeline. Sit with how it feels - not just how it pencils.
Because the right upgrade is not just the one that grows your portfolio. It is the one that lets you sleep through the move.