Condo Floor Plans Explained

A Singapore condo floor plan is a legal document as much as a picture. The area printed on it is the area you pay psf on, and it includes things you cannot put furniture in. This page explains what is inside that number, what the abbreviations mean, and why the bedroom count on a plan tells you almost nothing about how big the unit is.

The bedroom count is not a size

Across the 19 new launches we are currently marketing, here is what each bedroom label actually covers.

Every band overlaps the one above it. The largest two-bedroom on our list is 829 sqft; the smallest three-bedroom is 818 sqft. The largest one-bedroom is 581 sqft; the smallest two-bedroom is 527 sqft. A three-bedroom at Zyon Grand is 818 sqft and a three-bedroom at Chuan Park is 1,260 sqft — the same label, 54% apart. If you are shortlisting by bedroom count you are not comparing like with like. Shortlist by square feet, then read the plan.

Figures from the unit charts we hold for the 19 developments on our new launch hub. Indicative and subject to availability.

What the area on the plan actually includes

The number quoted is the strata area — the area inside the boundary drawn on the strata plan certified by the Chief Surveyor. Market psf, and URA's own published psf statistics, are calculated on it. Which means the balcony, the private enclosed space and the household shelter all sit in the denominator at the same psf as the living room.

Source: URA glossary and REALIS data dictionary.

Sources: URA development control handbooks on PES, ledges, household shelters and bay windows; URA Circular DC22-09 on the harmonised definitions effective 1 June 2023.

The void point is the one to check. Voids were taken out of strata area only for projects granted provisional permission on or after 1 June 2023. Plenty of projects launching now were approved before that, and in those a double-volume void can still sit inside the area you are paying for. Ask which side of that date the project falls on.

Why your tape measure disagrees with the brochure

Strata area is measured to the middle of the structural walls, not to the internal face. So the floor you can walk on is always smaller than the number on the plan. That is not a discrepancy, it is the definition.

Source: Singapore Land Authority.

Balconies: what the rules allow

• A balcony may be up to 15% of the internal nett unit size.
• Minimum width 1.5m measured from the external wall.
• At least 40% of the perimeter must be open.
• Balconies may not be enclosed with walls or glass panels. Screens are allowed only if they can be drawn fully open and leave the balcony naturally ventilated at all times.

That last one is worth knowing before you buy a unit planning to glass in the balcony as a study. You cannot.

Source: URA residential handbook; the developer-side bonus GFA cap was reduced from 10% to 7% by URA Circular DC18-07, effective 17 January 2019.

The household shelter

Every new home in Singapore has one, required under the Civil Defence Shelter Act. It is a reinforced concrete box with a blast door, it cannot be removed or reduced, and it is inside the area you paid for. Minimum sizes scale with the unit.

Clear height is between 2,400mm and 3,900mm. On a compact one-bedroom the shelter is a meaningful share of the floor plate, and where it sits in the layout decides whether it works as a store, a utility cupboard or dead space.

Sources: SCDF Technical Requirements for Household Shelters 2023; Civil Defence Shelter Act 1997.

Efficiency

Agents quote an efficiency percentage — usable internal area divided by strata area. There is no official definition of it. It is a market convention, and whoever quotes it chooses the formula. URA does define a related term for its own balcony rules: internal nett unit size, which excludes voids, balconies, air-conditioner ledges and other external areas, measured to the middle of the walls. If someone gives you an efficiency figure, ask which areas they took out to get it. If the answer is vague, the figure is decorative.

Source: URA.

If the built unit comes up short

The sale and purchase agreement for an uncompleted unit carries a surveyor's certificate of the area. If the final surveyed area is more than 3% below the area stated in the agreement, the price is reduced for the shortfall beyond that 3%, at the contracted price per square metre. If it comes in larger, the developer gets nothing extra. Resale buyers have no equivalent — the area is already on the title, so check it there.

Clause 18 of Form 5, Housing Developers Rules; wording confirmed in the URA Home Buyers' Guide.

What a show unit is required to tell you

• The floor plan must be drawn to scale, with the scale shown.
• For a strata unit it must show a breakdown of all the areas that make up the unit — not just one total.
• Floor-to-ceiling height must be stated for every area, and must match the approved plan.
• Non-load-bearing walls left out of the show unit must be marked on the floor in solid lines, with a notice explaining them.
• Omitted external walls, parapets, fences and railings must be marked the same way.

Walk the show unit with the plan in your hand and check those lines. What is missing from the mock-up is the part you will be living with.

Source: URA guidelines on the Housing Developers (Show Unit) Rules 2015.

Abbreviations on a Singapore floor plan

Four questions to ask about any plan

• What is the strata area, and what is the internal area with the balcony, PES and AC ledge taken out?
• Is the AC ledge inside the strata boundary on this project?
• Was provisional permission granted before or after 1 June 2023 — and if before, is any void counted in my area?
• Where does the household shelter sit, and does that layout still work for me?

Ask us and we will get the answers from the developer's architect rather than guess at them.

Where this fits

For what these units cost per square foot, see our new launch condo psf comparison. For the full cost of buying, see condo buying costs in Singapore. For how buying off a plan differs from buying a completed unit, read new launch versus resale. Every project we are marketing is on the new launch condo hub.

Rates and rules on this page are current as at September 2026 and are reproduced from the official sources linked beside each section. They change. Nothing here is tax, legal or financial advice — check your own position with your conveyancing lawyer and your banker before you commit. Finest SRI is part of SRI Pte Ltd, agency licence L3010738A; every listing is handled by a CEA-registered salesperson.