When it comes to your personal finances, there's nothing as frustrating as finding out that you're overpaying for something. This frustration can turn to serious worry if you're overpaying for something as significant as your home. In this article, we identify some warning signs that you might be overpaying for your home, as well as ways to decrease your total cost of home ownership.

In general, experts tend to agree that individuals should spend about 30-40% of their income on housing. For homeowners, it is important to make sure that this figure includes not only mortgage payments, but also utility, insurance and maintenance costs. For a household earning S$100,000 annually, this translates to S$1,750 to S$2,333 per month for housing costs. The chart below helps give you an approximate guideline for how much you can afford to spend on your total housing budget.