Condo vs HDB in Singapore: The Price Gap Since 1995, and Who Can Buy Each

The price gap is the whole question. In 2026 H1 the median resale condo or apartment sold for $1,720,000 and the median 4-room HDB resale flat for $630,000: 2.7× as much, $1,090,000 more, for homes of about the same size (1,033 sq ft against 1,001 sq ft at the median).

What decides it:

1. Whether you can buy an HDB flat. HDB flats go to households that meet HDB's conditions; HDB's Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter "will inform you upfront of your eligibility to buy a new or resale flat" (HDB).
2. Whether you can buy a condo yet. A condo has no eligibility letter, and SLA lists a condominium unit among the properties a foreign person can buy without approval (SLA). But an HDB owner has to wait: "During the MOP of the flat, the flat owner, his/ her spouse and occupiers are not allowed to acquire private residential property" (HDB). And additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) depends on "the profile of the buyer" and on "The count of residential properties owned by the buyer" (IRAS).
3. Whether the gap in your town is the national one. It ranges from 1.6× in Queenstown to 3.1× in Ang Mo Kio and Bukit Panjang (see the town table below; Marine Parade's 4.0× rests on only 37 four-room resales).
4. How you will pay. HDB's own loan is for buying an HDB flat (HDB); for a condo, the housing loan comes from a bank or another financial institution. See HDB loan vs bank loan and can you afford to upgrade from HDB to a condo.

At the median you pay 2.7× the price for about the same space.

Resale against resale, at national medians for 2026 H1:

Source: PropKaki's HDB resale registrations and URA caveat data. Condominiums and apartments only: executive condominiums are left out here and shown below. Nominal dollars.

Three things stand out. The homes are about the same size at the median (1,033 sq ft for the condo, 1,001 sq ft for the 4-room flat), so the gap is almost entirely price per square foot. The gap is large in dollars: $1,090,000 at the median, before stamp duty and fees. And tenure differs: 35% of the condos and apartments resold in 2026 H1 were freehold, while every HDB flat is on a lease that ends (see the lease question below).

These are resale prices. Counting new launches too, which were 40% of condo and apartment sales in 2026 H1, the median was $1,921,500, which is why figures that include new launches, or ECs, run higher than this one.

The gap is not space: it is 2.9× the price for each square foot.

Half-year by half-year since 1995, resale against resale, with the first half of every fifth year shown:

Source: PropKaki's HDB resale registrations (4-room) and URA caveat data (condominium and apartment resales). Nominal dollars.

What the series shows:

• By price, the gap has narrowed. It was 4.4× in 1995 H1 ($850,000 against $195,000), its widest in the series; its narrowest was 2.5×, in 2008 H2. It stood at 2.7× in 2026 H1.
• Per square foot, it has barely moved. The ratio has run from 2.0× (1998 H2) to 3.2× (2019 H2). It reached 3.0× or more in 1995 H1 and 2007 H2, and in the 6 half-years from 2017 H2 to 2020 H1; since 2020 H2 it has stayed between 2.8× and 2.9×. It was wider than today's 2.9× in 14 of the 63 half-years.
• Condos got smaller. The median resale condo went from 1,550 sq ft to 1,033 sq ft, so each condo costs less relative to a flat even though each square foot costs about as much more as it did in 1995.

Measured per home, the gap has narrowed from 4.4× to 2.7×; measured per square foot, it is close to where it was in 1995.

Resale condos against 4-room resale flats in the same town, July 2025 to June 2026:

Source: PropKaki's HDB resale registrations and URA caveat data. Towns with at least 30 resales of each; HDB towns are matched to URA planning areas of the same name, so Central Area and Kallang/Whampoa are left out. Marine Parade's 4-room figure rests on 37 resales, too few to lean on: read it as indicative.

The three narrowest gaps, in Queenstown, Toa Payoh and Clementi, are in three of the four towns with the dearest 4-room flats in this table. The fifth column gives the ratio per square foot, with the size differences taken out.

Compare the gap in the town you would actually live in, not the national one.

• An HDB flat. HDB's HFE letter "will inform you upfront of your eligibility to buy a new or resale flat, as well as the amount of housing grants and HDB housing loan you are eligible for" (HDB); condo owners moving to a flat "are required to first obtain" one (HDB). Income ceilings apply to some purchases but not others (next section).
• A condo. There is no eligibility letter. SLA's list of "Types of property for which a foreign person can purchase without approval under the Residential Property Act" includes "Condominium unit" (SLA). Landed houses are different: a foreign person needs approval for a terrace, semi-detached house or bungalow.
• HDB owners wait out the MOP. "Before you and your spouse can acquire private residential property, you have to fulfil the MOP of your flat", and "During the MOP of the flat, the flat owner, his/ her spouse and occupiers are not allowed to acquire private residential property." The MOP is 5 years for Unclassified and Standard flats and 10 years for Plus and Prime flats, whether bought from HDB or on the resale market (HDB).
• ABSD depends on the buyer. "Liable buyers are required to pay ABSD on top of the existing Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD)", and the liability "will depend on the profile of the buyer" and "The count of residential properties owned by the buyer" (IRAS).
• The loan. HDB lends for HDB flats (HDB). For a condo the housing loan comes from a bank or another financial institution, under MAS's limits: "The maximum loan tenure for housing loans is capped at: 30 years for HDB flats. 35 years for non-HDB properties" (MAS).

An HDB flat has an eligibility gate; a condo has none, but an HDB owner must finish the MOP first.

HDB raised the ceilings for HFE letters applied for from 24 August 2026: "the monthly household income ceiling will be raised from $14,000 to $16,000 for eligible families who apply for an HFE letter from 24 August 2026", and for singles aged 35 and above "from $7,000 to $8,000" (HDB). Where each ceiling applies, from HDB's Annex A and its page for couples and families:

Monthly household income. Sources: HDB Annex A, Tables A1 and A2 (HDB), and HDB's couples-and-families page, which says of 3-room flats "$16,000 or $8,000, depending on project" (HDB). The family ceiling for extended families is $24,000. A dash means the purchase is not in Annex A's table for singles.

Annex A's note is the one that matters for most resale buyers: "There is no income ceiling for the purchase of a resale Unclassified or Standard HDB flat without CPF Housing Grant" (for singles, "without Singles Grant"). A household above the ceiling can still buy such a flat, but any loan has to come from a bank, because HDB's loan has a ceiling too.

Earning too much shuts you out of new flats, grants and HDB's loan, not out of resale Standard and Unclassified flats.

HDB's rules for private property owners (PPOs), from its release of 28 July 2026 (HDB):

• No wait for a plain resale flat. "With immediate effect, private residential property owners (PPOs) and ex-PPOs who purchase a non-subsidised HDB resale flat without an HDB housing loan will no longer be subject to a 15-month wait-out period."
• Sell within six months. "PPOs will be required to dispose of their private residential properties – whether in Singapore or overseas – within six months from the completion of the HDB resale flat purchase."
• 30 months for everything else. A subsidised flat (a new flat, or a resale flat with grants), a new EC from a developer, or an HDB loan still needs "a period of 30 months after the disposal of their private residential property".

In money: at the 2026 H1 medians, selling a resale condo and buying a 4-room resale flat frees up $1,090,000 before stamp duty, fees, CPF refunds and any outstanding loan. For the full rules, see owning an HDB flat and private property.

Downsizing from a condo is now a resale-market move, not a 15-month wait.

Over July 2025 to June 2026, at national medians:

Source: PropKaki's HDB resale registrations and URA caveat data. New and resale ECs differ in age and size, so compare like with like before reading much into the order.

New ECs are sold to households under an income ceiling. HDB raised it "from $16,000 to $18,000" for "new units in ECs with land sale tender closing dates on or after 24 August 2026", and not for "balance units in existing ECs, or new units in ECs with land sale tenders awarded before 24 August 2026" (HDB). More: the EC income ceiling of $18,000.

An EC is priced like a condo, not like a flat.

The Prime Minister's National Day Rally of 2018: "That is why when the leases expire, the flats will have to return to the state." And: "Very few of today’s HDB owners will outlive their leases. HDB estimates that it will happen to less than 2 per cent of households, including those who have bought resale flats." (PMO)

How blocks can be redeveloped before their leases run out is explained in SERS and VERS explained. That guide also gives a later official figure, for owners whose leases will not last until they are 95; it measures something different from this 2018 estimate of households who will outlive their lease.

At the 2026 H1 medians, trading a 4-room resale flat ($630,000) for a resale condo ($1,720,000) means finding $1,090,000 more before stamp duty and fees. How much of that your flat sale covers depends on your loan, the CPF you must refund and the order you sell and buy in.

• The worked steps, including stamp duty and what a second property does to the loan: can you afford to upgrade from HDB to a condo.
• The loan side: HDB loan vs bank loan.
• Your own instalment: PropKaki's Property Financial Planner.
• The markets: HDB market overview and private residential market overview.

Proprietary figures. HDB prices are PropKaki's HDB resale registrations: 4-room flats only, so that the flat type is fixed while the mix of flat types changes. Price per square foot is the price divided by the flat's floor area. Condo prices are URA caveats for condominiums and apartments (executive condominiums excluded, and shown apart). The gap compares resale with resale: new launches and sub-sales are left out, because the share of new launches swings from half-year to half-year; the EC table also shows new ECs. Condo sizes are the strata areas recorded in URA's caveats and HDB sizes the flat's floor area in HDB's records; the two are measured differently, so "about the same size" is approximate. Freehold includes leases of 900 years or more. Half-years are the latest complete ones on both sides (2026 H1); the town table and EC figures cover July 2025 to June 2026. Towns are HDB towns matched to URA planning areas of the same name. All dollars are nominal. How we work: PropKaki methodology.

Official rules. Eligibility, income ceilings, the minimum occupation period and the private-property wait-out are HDB's (releases of 28 July and 23 August 2026, Annex A, and its pages on couples and families and on acquiring private property); ABSD is IRAS's; loan tenures are MAS's; the foreign-ownership rule is SLA's; the lease quote is the Prime Minister's 2018 National Day Rally speech. All were read on 19 September 2026.

What we have not claimed: the price of any particular home, where prices go next, or which to buy. This is a practical explainer, not financial or legal advice.