If you've ever felt paralysed by the sheer cost of buying property in Singapore, you're not alone. Most of the clients I work with today don't lack the desire to own or upgrade. What they lack is the clarity to act. And that gap between wanting to move and actually moving is where I've seen too many people lose years of potential wealth-building to simple fear.
Private non-landed home prices have climbed roughly 40 to 50 percent over the past decade, with the sharpest gains coming in the post-COVID years from 2020 to 2023. Meanwhile, transaction volumes have pulled back from peaks of around 25,000 to 27,000 units a year to closer to 17,000 to 19,000 units, partly because of cooling measures and higher borrowing costs.
On the HDB side, resale prices have risen around 25 to 30 percent since 2019. Median resale prices are now above S$600,000 island-wide, and in mature estates like Queenstown, Bukit Merah, and Toa Payoh, a 4-room flat can easily command above S$800,000. That's not a bubble. That's structural demand meeting constrained supply.
For private buyers weighing new launches against resale, the price gap matters enormously. In the OCR, or Outside Central Region, new launches are typically priced at S$1,900 to S$2,300 psf while nearby resale condos trade at S$1,400 to S$1,800 psf. That's a structural gap of S$300 to S$600 psf, a 20 to 35 percent premium. Understanding why that gap exists, and whether it's justified for your situation, is exactly the kind of analysis that separates a good property decision from a costly one.
In my view, the biggest mistake buyers make right now is treating price as the only variable. I've watched this pattern for 25 years. When the market feels expensive, people freeze. They wait for a correction that may or may not come, and while they wait, the cost of entry keeps rising and their window of financial flexibility quietly narrows.
Here's the thing most people miss: fear isn't the problem. Unstructured fear is. When a client sits across from me and says "I'm scared I'm buying at the peak," that's a legitimate concern. My job isn't to dismiss it. My job is to put numbers around it. What does your worst-case scenario actually look like after five years? What does your downside look like if prices correct 10 or 15 percent? What does your cash flow look like at 3.5 percent mortgage rates with a TDSR stress test applied? When you model the downside clearly, the fear either becomes a good reason to hold back, or it dissolves into a manageable risk you can plan around.
What I'm seeing on the ground is a growing gap between clients who engage with data and those who engage with emotion. Developers are still securing GLS sites at land prices of S$1,650 to S$1,750 psf ppr in central locations. Using a standard breakeven multiplier, that implies future launch prices in the S$3,300 to S$4,000 psf range for prime projects. So the question "are we too late?" has a very specific answer depending on which segment you're buying in, and a good advisor can map that out for you clearly.
If you're an HDB owner thinking about upgrading, the resale price appreciation you've seen since 2019 is real equity. That 25 to 30 percent uplift in HDB values isn't just a paper gain. It's a war chest for your next move. The question is how to structure that upgrade without over-leveraging, especially when mortgage rates sit in the 3 to 4 percent range. This is exactly where detailed cash-flow planning and an honest look at your ABSD exposure matters most.
If you're a private condo investor, gross yields on OCR condos are running at around 2.8 to 3.3 percent right now, which sits below current borrowing costs on face value. That sounds like a red flag, but it's not automatically a deal-breaker. Net yield after costs, combined with realistic capital appreciation scenarios over a 7 to 10 year hold, can still produce a strong risk-adjusted outcome, especially if you're buying resale at S$1,400 to S$1,600 psf versus a new launch at S$2,100 psf with zero track record on rental demand. The entry point and the holding strategy are everything.
If you're a first-time buyer, the worst thing you can do right now is make a purely emotional decision in either direction. Don't buy because everyone around you seems to be buying. Don't hold back just because prices feel high. Run the actual numbers for your household income, your CPF position, your loan eligibility, and your five-year life plan. That's what turns a vague intention into a structured plan you can execute with confidence.
Singapore's property market rewards patience combined with preparation, not paralysis. Prices are high, yes. Policy constraints are real, yes. But within those constraints there are still genuine opportunities, whether it's a well-priced resale in the OCR, a strategic HDB upgrade timed around your Minimum Occupation Period, or a first purchase structured carefully around TDSR limits. The clients who come to me stuck in fear leave with a plan. That's the shift that matters. If you want to have that conversation and get a clear-eyed look at where you actually stand, reach out to me directly on WhatsApp at +65 9750 1055 or visit keithtanboonkee.com. Let's replace the fear with a number.
25 years experience · 1,000+ transactions · 4,379 TOP units managed
💬 WhatsApp Me