Singapore's main floating home loan benchmark had already been climbing before the US Federal Reserve moved, and banks have since raised some fixed-rate packages as well. The Fed raised its target range by 0.25 percentage point to 3.75% to 4.00% on 16 September, US time, its first hike since July 2023.
Floating-rate home loans in Singapore are priced off the Singapore Overnight Rate Average, or SORA. Data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore show the one-month compounded SORA at 1.2479% and the three-month compounded SORA at 1.2007% for 16 September, the last reading before the hike. For 1 October, published on 2 October, the figures were 1.2492% and 1.2337%. Since the hike, the one-month rate has been almost flat, up 0.0013 percentage point, and the three-month rate is up 0.033 percentage point. Three-month compounded SORA is a trailing average, so it is still catching up with earlier increases. A Straits Times report republished by The Business Times on 2 October said both compounded rates bottomed out at around 1% in the second quarter of 2026, which means most of the climb to about 1.2% came before the Fed acted. The same report said floating-rate mortgages have risen along with SORA, even though the margins banks add on top of SORA have not changed.
Fixed rates have moved since the hike. According to the same report, OCBC's head of home loans, Maryanne Phua, said the bank adjusted its home loan rates in the week of 21 September and raised its fixed rates by around 0.2 percentage point. She linked the change to Singapore dollar overnight indexed swap rates, which she said rose by nearly 0.3 percentage point in September. Banks use these swap rates, plus a margin, to price one-year to three-year fixed loans. The report put OCBC's three-year fixed package at 2.08%, citing mortgage broker Mortgage Master's website, for a S$500,000 loan on new private properties and HDB flats. Standard Chartered raised its one-year and two-year fixed packages by 0.2 percentage point to 2% on 1 October, the report said.
One bank moved before the Fed's decision. UOB told The Straits Times that it adjusted the rates of selected home loan packages ahead of the Fed's September meeting, following a review in August. DBS told the paper that it is reviewing its fixed-rate home loan packages. The report did not give new rates for either UOB or DBS, and Realtopedia has not been able to confirm any.
The two fixed-rate increases the report dates, OCBC's in the week of 21 September and Standard Chartered's on 1 October, both came after the hike. OCBC's and Standard Chartered's public home loan pages did not show fixed-rate figures when Realtopedia checked them on 3 October, so those bank rates are as reported by The Straits Times.
Sources
Sources read 3 October 2026.
- Federal Reserve, "Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement", 16 September 2026
- Federal Reserve, "Open Market Operations", policy rate change history
- Monetary Authority of Singapore, Domestic Interest Rates statistics, one-month and three-month compounded SORA
- Association of Banks in Singapore, Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee and Steering Committee for SOR Transition to SORA, "SIBOR reform and the future landscape for SGD interest rate benchmarks", 29 July 2020, on compounded SORA as a backward-looking average
- The Straits Times, Chor Khieng Yuit, "S'pore mortgage rates rise following Fed hike: What home owners should look out for", 2 October 2026 (subscriber article)
- The Business Times, Chor Khieng Yuit (The Straits Times), "Singapore mortgage rates rise after Fed hike: What homeowners should look out for", 2 October 2026
- OCBC, new purchase home loan page, checked for published fixed rates (none shown)
- OCBC, refinancing home loan page, checked for published fixed rates (none shown)
- Standard Chartered Singapore, mortgages page, checked for published fixed rates (none shown)
- Standard Chartered Singapore, loan repricing page, checked for published fixed rates (none shown)
- Mortgage Master, homepage, checked for the OCBC 2.08% figure (not shown)