Condo unit mix explained
What a developer's unit chart really tells you about your monthly bill, your neighbours and your resale competition, worked through 19 Singapore new-launch projects.
Bedroom counts, floor areas and share values
A unit mix is the list of unit types a development offers — one-bedroom through five, and whatever the developer calls the odd ones. Buyers read it as a menu. It is closer to a blueprint: it sets what you pay in monthly maintenance for as long as you own the unit, it decides who your neighbours are, and it decides how many units you are competing against on the day you sell.
This page uses the developer unit charts we hold for 19 new-launch condominium projects — 66 distinct unit types — to show what a bedroom count actually means in Singapore, and then follows the chain almost nobody joins up: unit mix → floor area → share value → your monthly bill.
A bedroom count is not a size
Across those 66 unit types, here is what each bedroom count actually spans:
| Bedrooms | Unit types | Smallest | Median | Largest | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | 420 sqft | 495 sqft | 581 sqft | 1.38× |
| 2 | 14 | 484 sqft | 684 sqft | 829 sqft | 1.71× |
| 3 | 14 | 818 sqft | 974 sqft | 1,260 sqft | 1.54× |
| 4 | 13 | 1,152 sqft | 1,421 sqft | 2,067 sqft | 1.79× |
| 5 | 14 | 1,475 sqft | 1,852 sqft | 2,756 sqft | 1.87× |
Source: developer unit charts held by Finest SRI for 19 new-launch projects across D01, D02, D03, D05, D09, D11, D15, D16, D19, D20, D22, D23 and D26. These are the unit types on the charts we hold, not a count of every unit each developer built.
Every gate overlaps
This is the part that matters. If bedroom counts were a size ladder, the largest one-bedroom would be smaller than the smallest two-bedroom. It is not. Every single adjacent pair in our data overlaps, and the overlap is not marginal:
| Comparison | Larger of the smaller type | Smallest of the bigger type | Overlap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-bed vs 2-bed | 581 sqft | 484 sqft | 97 sqft |
| 2-bed vs 3-bed | 829 sqft | 818 sqft | 11 sqft |
| 3-bed vs 4-bed | 1,260 sqft | 1,152 sqft | 108 sqft |
| 4-bed vs 5-bed | 2,067 sqft | 1,475 sqft | 592 sqft |
So a buyer who filters a portal to “3 bedrooms and up” is excluding two-bedroom units that are physically larger than three-bedroom units they are being shown. And a buyer comparing two four-bedroom units across projects may be comparing 1,152 sqft against 2,067 sqft — nearly double — under one label.
It happens inside a single project too. At Zyon Grand, the five-bedroom types on the chart run from 1,819 sqft to 2,756 sqft — a 1.52× spread under one bedroom count, in one development, on one price list.
What to do instead: filter by square feet and layout, not by bedroom count. Then confirm the bedroom count. A 780 sqft two-bedroom with a proper second room will serve you better than an 818 sqft three-bedroom that got there by subdividing.
The part nobody joins up: your unit type sets your maintenance bill
Your monthly maintenance contribution is not a figure the managing agent picks. It is set by your unit’s share value, and share value is banded by floor area.
Under the Building and Construction Authority’s filing guidelines for a single-user residential development, the developer’s proposed share values follow this table:
| Floor area of the unit | Share values |
|---|---|
| 50 sqm and below | 5 |
| 51 – 100 sqm | 6 |
| 101 – 150 sqm | 7 |
| 151 – 200 sqm | 8 |
| 201 – 250 sqm | 9 |
| 251 – 300 sqm | 10 |
Source: BCA, Guidelines for Filing of Schedule of Strata Units under the Building (Strata Management) Act. Note what this is: administrative guidelines, not the Act. The Strata Units Regulations require only that the schedule states a proposed share value in whole numbers against each lot. Commercial, mixed-use and two-tier management corporation schemes use different methods entirely.
Doubling your floor area does not double your fee
Because the bands step in blocks of 50 sqm from a floor of 5, the fee per square metre falls hard as units get bigger. Using the actual smallest and largest units on our 19 charts:
| Unit from our charts | Size | Approx. floor area | Share values | Sqm per share value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smallest 1-bedroom | 420 sqft | 39 sqm | 5 | 7.8 |
| Smallest 2-bedroom | 484 sqft | 45 sqm | 5 | 9.0 |
| Largest 2-bedroom | 829 sqft | 77 sqm | 6 | 12.8 |
| Largest 3-bedroom | 1,260 sqft | 117 sqm | 7 | 16.7 |
| Largest 4-bedroom | 2,067 sqft | 192 sqm | 8 | 24.0 |
| Largest 5-bedroom | 2,756 sqft | 256 sqm | 10 | 25.6 |
Read the last column. The 2,756 sqft penthouse-scale unit is 6.6 times the floor area of the 420 sqft one-bedroom, but carries only twice the share values. Per square metre of what you own, the one-bedroom owner contributes about 3.3 times as much to the same swimming pool, the same lifts and the same security contract.
Two units can also sit in the same band. A 484 sqft two-bedroom and a 538 sqft one-bedroom both fall under 50 sqm, so both are proposed at 5 share values — identical monthly contributions despite the extra room.
Sizes above are the strata areas published on the developer charts. The floor area filed for share value excludes void, so a unit with a double-volume void can be filed in a lower band than its advertised size suggests. Treat the table as the mechanic, not as a quotation of any project’s filed schedule.
The void effect, which is worth money. Because filed floor area excludes void, a high-ceiling unit with a double-volume living room can land a band below a flat unit of the same advertised square footage — and pay less maintenance every month for the life of the building. Ask for the filed floor area, not the brochure size.
The full mechanic — how the rate per share value is set, who votes on it, and what to ask before you buy — is on our condo maintenance fees page.
What a unit mix tells you beyond the fee
Who your neighbours will be
A development weighted to one- and two-bedroom units is weighted to tenants, because that is what those units are bought for. That is neither good nor bad — it is high turnover, more lift traffic, more move-in damage, and a more liquid rental market if you are letting. A development weighted to four- and five-bedroom units is weighted to owner-occupiers, which usually means quieter common areas and a management corporation that spends on upkeep rather than deferring it.
How many units you compete with when you sell
If your unit type is the most numerous in the development, every resale listing in your stack is a direct substitute for yours. If it is one of a handful, you have far less internal competition — and far fewer comparable transactions for a valuer to price you against, which cuts both ways.
Whether the mix is complete or has gaps
Of our 19 projects, only three carry the full one-through-five ladder on the chart we hold. Nine list no one-bedroom type at all, and one offers nothing but four- and five-bedroom units. A gap in the ladder is a deliberate positioning decision by the developer, and it tells you which buyer the project was designed for before a single showflat word is spoken.
What the site plan adds that the unit chart cannot
The unit chart tells you what exists. The site plan tells you where it sits. Read them together and check:
- Which stacks face what. The chart says “3-bedroom, 1,001 sqft”. The site plan says whether that stack looks at the pool deck, the car park ramp, the refuse point or the neighbouring block’s bedrooms.
- Block spacing. Two towers 15 metres apart at the same level means your living room faces theirs. This is on the site plan and on no other document.
- Orientation. West-facing living rooms take the afternoon sun in Singapore. The compass on the site plan is the only place this is stated.
- Distance to the entrance, the gym and the lift lobby. Convenience for you, and noise if you are next to any of them.
- What is outside the boundary. The site plan is drawn against the actual site, so the road, the MRT viaduct or the vacant plot next door appears on it.
Ask for both, and ask for the specific stack number before you commit to a unit type. See our guide to reading condominium floor plans for the unit-level version of the same exercise.
How to read a unit mix in ten minutes
- Write down the square footage of every type, and sort by that. Ignore the bedroom labels for this pass.
- Convert your shortlist to square metres (sqft × 0.0929) and read off the share value band. That is your maintenance position for the life of the unit.
- Check whether any shortlisted unit has a void. If it does, ask for the filed floor area.
- Count how many types sit in your band. Those are the units paying the same as you.
- Look at where the bulk of the development sits. That is who lives there and who you sell against.
- Find the gaps in the ladder and ask why. The answer is usually about the target buyer, and occasionally about the plot.
- Put the site plan next to the chart and locate your actual stack.
Where this fits
For what the same units cost per square foot across all 19 projects, see our new-launch condo psf analysis. For how the fee is actually assessed and voted on, read condo maintenance fees in Singapore. For the unit-level drawing, see condo floor plans explained. For whether to buy new or resale in the first place, read new launch vs resale.
Browse
Correct as at 6 September 2026. The share value rules on this page are linked to the Building and Construction Authority and to Singapore Statutes Online; the unit sizes are taken from the developer unit charts we hold. Rules change and charts change — check the linked source and ask us for the current chart before you commit. Nothing here is legal or tax advice. Finest SRI is part of SRI Pte Ltd, agency licence L3010738A; every listing is handled by a CEA-registered salesperson.
Guides in this series
Seven companion guides to this page, written from the unit charts and price lists we hold and from the current government rules.