S1E74: Why are buyers willing to pay $900,000 for 3-room resale HDB flats?

2025-12-04

Imagine paying close to a million dollars... for a three-room Housing Board flat. Some people did, and in the first 11 months of 2025, at least four three-room resale Housing Board flats were sold for between $900,000 and $935,000. To be clear, these prices are not representative of the norm. In that same period, the majority of three-room resale flats were sold for an average price of $470,000. What’s raising eyebrows is the rising number of pricier three-room resale flats. In 2024, just one such transaction took place when a three-room resale flat in Alkaff Lakeview was sold for $900,000 in the last month of the year. Furthermore, the number of three-room flats resold for b...

Imagine paying close to a million dollars... for a three-room Housing Board flat.

Some people did, and in the first 11 months of 2025, at least four three-room resale Housing Board flats were sold for between $900,000 and $935,000.

To be clear, these prices are not representative of the norm.

In that same period, the majority of three-room resale flats were sold for an average price of $470,000.

What’s raising eyebrows is the rising number of pricier three-room resale flats.

In 2024, just one such transaction took place when a three-room resale flat in Alkaff Lakeview was sold for $900,000 in the last month of the year.

Furthermore, the number of three-room flats resold for between $800,000 and $900,000 more than doubled from 41 in 2024 to 95 in 2025.

What’s driving these eye-watering prices for smaller units, and how does this affect buyers who see three-room units as the most accessible way to own a first home?

In this episode of The Usual Place podcast, I speak with Mr Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at property portal Mogul.sg, and Mr Patrick Chee, property agent and founder of real estate portal Homeseller SG.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:49 Million-dollar 3-room HDB flat to happen “in the next ‘bull run”: Patrick Chee

6:13 Who buys pricey 3-room HDB flats?

8:34 Majority of 3-room HDB flat are still transacted in the range of $500,000

15:14 Property prices outlook

21:36 Previous property bubbles

30:32 Does sentiment play a role in flat prices

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Filmed by: Studio+65

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai, Eden Soh and Chen Junyi

Executive producers: Danson Cheong, Elizabeth Khor & Ernest Luis