Condo vs landed property in Singapore
Price, floor space, who is allowed to buy, and what each one costs to run, worked through the 81 landed homes and 51 condominiums we are marketing today.
The comparison, on our own numbers
This is usually framed as a lifestyle question — space and privacy against convenience and facilities. That framing is fine, and it is not what decides most purchases. Three things do: what you can spend, whether you are allowed to buy, and which square feet you are actually paying for.
The figures below come from the 81 landed homes and 51 condominiums we are marketing today, not from a market average.
The entry point is not close
| Condominium | Landed | |
|---|---|---|
| Listings | 51 | 81 |
| Lowest price | $1,239,000 | $3,515,600 |
| Median price | $2,684,300 | $13,200,000 |
| Highest price | $18,000,000 | $50,500,000 |
| Priced under $3m | 31 of 51 | none |
The median landed home on our books costs 4.9 times the median condominium. 34 of our 51 condominiums are priced below the lowest-priced landed house on our books.
For a great many buyers that settles it before any discussion of gardens or facilities. If your budget is under $3.5 million, the comparison is not live — at least not in the districts we work in.
The psf you are quoted depends on which denominator someone chose
This is the part that misleads people, and it misleads them in both directions.
Landed psf is almost always quoted per square foot of land. Condo psf is quoted per square foot of strata floor area. They share a name and measure different things, so putting the two numbers side by side tells you nothing.
| Measured on | Condominium | Landed | Reads as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land | not applicable | $3,572 median | landed looks dearer |
| Floor area | $2,781 median | $1,681 median | landed looks cheaper |
Put on the same basis — price divided by actual floor space — the median landed home works out about 40 per cent cheaper per square foot than the median condominium. Quoted the way the market normally quotes it, on land, landed looks 29 per cent more expensive.
Both numbers are correct. Neither is a verdict.
The reason is the built-to-land ratio. Across our landed listings the median house carries 2.18 times its land area in floor space. So a landed psf figure is spread over a small denominator and a condo psf figure over the thing you actually live in.
What to do about it: before you compare any two homes, ask which denominator the psf was calculated on. On landed, ask for both — land psf and built psf. We publish both on every landed listing for exactly this reason.
What you actually get for the money
| Condominium | Landed | |
|---|---|---|
| At the median price | $2,684,300 | $13,200,000 |
| You get, in floor space | 1,216 sqft | 7,288 sqft |
| Land | an undivided share of the common property | 3,368 sqft, median, held outright |
| Floor area range | 484 – 7,524 sqft | 1,496 – 18,000 sqft |
Six times the floor space for roughly five times the money. That is the trade in one line, and it is why the honest comparison is not “which is better value” but “which one can you fund, and do you want that much house”.
Who is allowed to buy which
This is binary, and it decides the question for a large share of buyers before price does.
| Buyer | Condominium | Landed |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore citizen | No approval needed | No approval needed |
| Permanent Resident | No approval needed | Must apply for approval |
| Foreigner | No approval needed | Must apply for approval |
| Company or trust | Permitted | Restricted; depends on the beneficiaries |
Under the Residential Property Act, a foreign person includes Permanent Residents. Approval is discretionary, the criteria are stricter again inside a Good Class Bungalow Area, and it is not granted as a matter of course. A condominium removes the question entirely.
Two exceptions worth knowing: strata landed houses inside an approved condominium development are not restricted, while visually identical cluster houses outside one are; and Sentosa Cove runs on its own track. The full picture is on our page for foreigners buying landed property.
What each one costs to run
| Condominium | Landed | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly charge | Maintenance contribution to the management corporation | None, unless it is strata landed |
| How it is set | Your share value × a rate the AGM votes on | You decide, and you pay for everything |
| Who fixes the roof | The management corporation, from the sinking fund | You |
| Big-ticket surprises | A special levy the whole development votes on | Reroofing, external works, drainage — entirely yours |
| Facilities | Pool, gym, security, shared and paid for by everyone | Whatever you build and staff yourself |
“Landed has no maintenance fee” is true and misleading. There is no monthly invoice; there is also no sinking fund quietly accumulating for the day the roof needs replacing. On a 7,000 square foot house that is a real number, and it lands in one go.
On the condominium side, the fee is not a figure someone picked for your unit — it is your share value multiplied by a rate the development votes on each year, and small units pay considerably more per square metre than large ones. How the fee is actually calculated.
Supply, and why it matters over twenty years
Landed housing is roughly 5 per cent of Singapore's housing stock and that share does not meaningfully grow. There is no mechanism by which the island produces more terrace rows, and Good Class Bungalow plots sit inside 39 gazetted areas that have not been added to in years.
Condominiums can be, and are, built. Government land sales, collective sales and redevelopment all add stock. That is not a criticism — new supply is why a condominium buyer has choice, and why entry prices stay within reach of far more people.
What it means practically: the two assets answer to different forces. A condominium competes with the next project down the road, including ones not yet launched. A landed home in an established estate competes with a fixed number of houses, most of which are not for sale in any given year.
We will not tell you which will be worth more later. Nobody can, and anyone who does is selling.
Which question actually decides it
In the order that settles most of the buyers we work with:
- Are you a Singapore citizen? If not, landed means an application that may not succeed. Settle this before anything else.
- Is your budget above roughly $3.5 million? Below that, in the districts we cover, the comparison does not arise.
- Do you want to run a building? A landed house is a small facilities job you own. Some people want that. Many discover they did not.
- How long will you hold it? Shorter holds favour the deeper, more liquid condominium market and its far larger pool of comparable transactions.
- Do you need the facilities, or do you need the space? This is the lifestyle question, and it belongs last, not first.
If the first two answers rule landed out, that is not a downgrade. Our condominium book runs to $18 million, and a large prime floor plate is a different proposition from a suburban two-bedroom.
Where this fits
For condominium pricing by district and segment, see condo prices in Singapore. For what landed homes cost per square foot of land by house type, see our landed psf analysis. For the tightest landed category, read Good Class Bungalow facts. For the full purchase cost picture either way, see buying costs in Singapore.
Browse
Correct as at 6 September 2026. The price and size figures describe the homes Finest SRI is marketing today, not the Singapore market as a whole, and they change as the book changes. Ownership rules are linked to the Singapore Land Authority and the Ministry of Law; check the source before you commit. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial 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
Eight companion guides to this page, written from the unit charts and price lists we hold and from the current government rules.