SORA, the Singapore Overnight Rate Average, is the benchmark behind floating-rate home loans in Singapore, and MAS also publishes it as 1-month, 3-month and 6-month compounded averages.
Reviewed by the Swee Homes data desk on 9 Oct 2026. Sources: MAS. Next check due 7 Jan 2027.
What SORA is, and who publishes it
This section sets out what SORA is and how MAS works it out.
The Singapore Overnight Rate Average (SORA) is the volume-weighted average rate of borrowing transactions in the unsecured overnight interbank SGD cash market in Singapore between 8am and 6.15pm.
MAS is the administrator of SORA. SORA is computed based on actual transactions and, per MAS, meets the standards of international best practice set out in the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks.
On each business day in Singapore, reporting banks provide data on all eligible transactions traded and booked between 8am and 6.15pm. MAS validates the data and computes SORA by taking the volume-weighted average rate of all eligible transactions.
SORA for a given business day in Singapore is published by 9am the next business day on the MAS website and through third party redistributors.
Compounded SORA: the 1-month, 3-month and 6-month rates
SORA itself is a single overnight reading. MAS also publishes averages of past SORA readings over longer periods.
MAS publishes alongside SORA each day: the SORA Index, and the 1-month, 3-month and 6-month Compounded SORA, plus aggregate volume, the highest and lowest transacted rates and the calculation method.
MAS's user guide says 1-month, 3-month and 6-month Compounded SORA provide reference rates compounded over the historical 1-month, 3-month and 6-month periods. Compounding over a period is a way to compute the average of overnight rates while reflecting the economic costs of borrowing overnight over that period.
Which tenor a particular loan uses is set by the bank in the offer documents for that loan. MAS's pages do not say which tenor home loans use.
How compounding in arrears is worked out
Compounded SORA looks backwards. It is built from daily rates already published, so the figure for a period is known only once the period has run. MAS sets out the building rules, and the rules shape the answer as much as the daily rates do.
Under MAS's convention, interest compounds only on a business day in Singapore. On any other day, simple interest applies at the SORA rate of the business day immediately before it. Over a typical weekend, the Friday SORA (published on the following Monday) is applied for three days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), multiplied by a day count of 3 and compounded once across the weekend. Holidays are treated like non-business days.
Interest is calculated using the actual number of calendar days, assuming a fixed 365-day year, aligned with the broader SGD market convention.
MAS also publishes a running index, so nobody has to multiply the daily rates by hand.
The SORA Index is a daily data series representing the returns from earning compounded interest each day at the daily SORA rate. It was set to 1.0000000000 on 3 January 2020. The change in the SORA Index between any two dates can be used to calculate compounded SORA over that period.
For the 1-month, 3-month and 6-month Compounded SORA, the start date of each period is the same numerical date exactly 1, 3 or 6 months before the publication date (for a publication date of 15 December 2020, the start dates are 15 November, 15 September and 15 June 2020). If that date does not exist in the month, the start date moves to the last calendar day of that month. If the start date falls on a non-business day, the SORA rate of the preceding business day is applied for the days up to the next business day. As a result, each tenor can cover a different number of days.
MAS works one full example in its user guide.
MAS's user guide works one example of a compounded rate for a loan drawn on Monday 6 January 2020 and repaid on Monday 13 January 2020. It multiplies together the growth from five business-day SORA rates, with Friday's rate applied for three calendar days, and shows that using the underlying daily rates and using the SORA Index give the same result.
The worked examples further down use our own made-up numbers instead.
How a floating home loan is priced: reference rate plus spread
A floating-rate loan has two parts. The first is a reference rate that moves with the market, such as SORA. The second is the spread, a margin set by the bank. The interest rate on the loan is the two added together.
MAS's TDSR explainer states that where a loan's interest rate is pegged to a floating reference rate, banks compute it using the value of the reference rate as of the date of loan application plus the spread. MAS's example is a rate made up of 3-Month SORA plus a spread, where the bank adds the latest published value of 3-Month SORA as of the application date to the spread.
The spread is the bank's own margin. It is not set by MAS and is not part of SORA. Two banks can use the same SORA and charge different spreads, and the spread is stated in the bank's own loan documents.
How the rate on a floating loan is reset
MAS's pages do not set out a reset schedule for home loans. How often the rate on a particular loan changes, which tenor it follows and how far ahead the rate is fixed all sit in the bank's offer documents. What MAS does publish is the convention behind the compounded figures, and one worked case of how it applies that convention to its own notes.
In MAS's worked example for its own SORA floating rate notes, interest on a note issued on 9 January 2020 and maturing on 29 January 2020 is computed from the SORA Index on 7 January 2020 and 24 January 2020, which are 2 business days before the issue date and before the maturity date respectively.
The timeline, in MAS's dates
The move from SOR and SIBOR to SORA happened in stages. These are the dates MAS gives, in order.
On 30 August 2019, the Association of Banks in Singapore and the Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee recommended SORA as the most suitable and robust benchmark to replace the SGD Swap Offer Rate (SOR) for SGD interest rate derivatives. MAS then set up the industry-led SC-STS to oversee the transition from SOR to SORA.
MAS said on 5 August 2020 that it would publish Compounded SORA rates for 1-month, 3-month and 6-month tenors and a SORA Index daily, to give market participants a standardised and transparent basis to derive rates for given tenors, which can be easily referenced in new SORA products.
On 5 August 2020 MAS said it would issue SORA-based floating rate notes on a monthly basis starting from 21 August 2020, to broaden its money market instruments, to facilitate the adoption of SORA as a floating rate benchmark and to provide a pricing reference for SORA cash products.
On 5 August 2020 MAS said it had prescribed SORA as a financial benchmark under the Securities and Futures Act, so that regulatory and enforcement powers, including criminal and civil actions, can be taken against any market misconduct related to SORA.
MAS said in its user guide that it would begin publishing the SORA Index and the Compounded SORA averages on its website on 6 August 2020.
MAS states that the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (SIBOR) will be discontinued immediately after 31 December 2024, supporting the shift towards a SORA-centred SGD interest rate landscape.
That last date is now in the past.
SIBOR and SOR: the benchmarks SORA replaced
Before SORA, SGD loans often used SIBOR or SOR as the reference rate. For customers, the change meant converting existing loans.
For customers with products referencing SIBOR, the Steering Committee for SOR & SIBOR Transition to SORA (SC-STS) published its final recommendations on 30 June 2023 on how to convert SIBOR loans to SORA, in particular the setting of adjustment spreads to account for the difference between SIBOR and Compounded SORA. Measures on fee waivers and loan rule exemptions were also put in place to support customers.
MAS's interest rate benchmarks transition page gives the current position. It also covers LIBOR, a separate benchmark.
MAS states that LIBOR and SOR have been discontinued or are no longer representative across all currency and tenor settings, and that the industry has transitioned to overnight alternative reference rates, with SORA for SGD contracts. Financial institutions are no longer able to reference LIBOR and SOR for charging interest on loans. MAS notes the page is no longer being actively maintained following the cessation of all remaining LIBOR benchmarks on 30 September 2024.
What the TDSR floor means for someone on a SORA loan
A SORA loan's rate moves with the market. The affordability test works differently. For the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) test, the bank does not simply use the opening rate of the loan.
When calculating monthly interest payable, banks base the calculation on a medium-term interest rate, applied only to the property purchase loan under application. For residential property purchase loans and mortgage equity withdrawal loans, it is the higher of a 4% floor or the thereafter interest rate.
The thereafter interest rate is the highest interest rate offered by the bank at any time during the tenure of the loan, typically charged after the introductory or lock-in period. Where it is pegged to a floating reference rate, the bank computes it using the reference rate as of the date of loan application plus the spread.
The floor sits inside the TDSR formula, which compares monthly debt with income.
TDSR = (borrower's total monthly debt obligations / borrower's gross monthly income) x 100%.
What happens on days with few transactions
SORA is computed under the normal method only if all data sufficiency conditions are met: at least 5 reporting banks, at least 10 transactions and a volume of at least S$500m. If any one is not met, MAS produces a Contingency SORA from the previous business day's SORA adjusted by the change in MAS's Standing Facility reference rate, subject to a floor of zero, and the MAS website shows the calculation method used.
Worked examples: compounding, interest and the TDSR floor
Every number in these examples is invented round arithmetic. None is a SORA reading, a bank rate or a forecast.
Compounding a week of daily rates:
Illustration with made-up rates, not MAS data and not a current rate: over a week from Monday to the next Monday (7 calendar days), SORA is 2.00% on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (1 day each) and 3.00% on Friday, applied for 3 days. Growth = (1 + 0.02 x 1/365)^4 x (1 + 0.03 x 3/365) = 1.00046583. Subtract 1 for 0.046583% over 7 days, then annualise by 365/7 to get 2.4289%. The simple average of the five daily rates is 2.20%; the compounded figure is higher because Friday's higher rate covers 3 of the 7 days.
From reference rate to interest charged:
Illustration with made-up rates: a compounded SORA of 3.00% for a 30-day period plus a bank spread of 1.00% gives a loan rate of 4.00% for that period. Interest on a $500,000 balance is $500,000 x 4.00% x 30/365 = $1,643.84.
Why the floor can matter for the TDSR test:
Illustration with made-up figures, assuming the bank's later-period rate is at or below the 4% floor: a $500,000 loan over 25 years has a monthly instalment of about $2,243 at an invented 2.5% and about $2,639 at 4%. A borrower with gross monthly income of $10,000 and no other debt is tested at $2,639 / $10,000 = 26.4%, against the 55% threshold.
Where to see the current rate
MAS publishes SORA and the Compounded SORA rates on its website each business day, and links historical SORA data from its SORA page to its Domestic Interest Rates statistics page (eservices.mas.gov.sg).
SORA and compounded SORA change every business day. For that reason this page does not print any current rate, and it does not compare banks or print any bank's rate. Read today's figure on the MAS statistics page linked below.
Common questions
What does SORA stand for, and who publishes it?
SORA stands for Singapore Overnight Rate Average, and MAS publishes it. MAS is the administrator of SORA. SORA is computed based on actual transactions and, per MAS, meets the standards of international best practice set out in the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks.
What is compounded SORA?
It is SORA averaged over the past 1, 3 or 6 months, which gives a steadier number than one day's rate.
How is a floating home loan rate worked out?
The bank adds its own spread to a reference rate such as SORA. MAS's TDSR explainer states that where a loan's interest rate is pegged to a floating reference rate, banks compute it using the value of the reference rate as of the date of loan application plus the spread. MAS's example is a rate made up of 3-Month SORA plus a spread, where the bank adds the latest published value of 3-Month SORA as of the application date to the spread.
What happened to SIBOR and SOR?
SORA replaced them as the reference rate for SGD loans. MAS states that LIBOR and SOR have been discontinued or are no longer representative across all currency and tenor settings, and that the industry has transitioned to overnight alternative reference rates, with SORA for SGD contracts. Financial institutions are no longer able to reference LIBOR and SOR for charging interest on loans. MAS notes the page is no longer being actively maintained following the cessation of all remaining LIBOR benchmarks on 30 September 2024.
Where can I see today's SORA?
On the MAS website. SORA for a given business day in Singapore is published by 9am the next business day on the MAS website and through third party redistributors.
What is the TDSR threshold for a property loan?
For property loans where the Option to Purchase is granted on or after 16 December 2021, the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) threshold is set at a maximum of 55% of the borrower's monthly income. Monthly debt obligations count towards this threshold.
Where to go next
Related guides
- How much can I borrow for a home, and what are the loan limits: TDSR, MSR and LTV?
- Am I eligible for a resale flat, and which grants can I get?
- How does an HDB resale flat purchase run, step by step?
- How much stamp duty will I pay on a home?
About the data
Every figure on this page has its source and the date we checked it. We are not affiliated with any government body. General information, not financial advice.