Semi-Detached vs Terrace House in Singapore: 41% More Money for 75% More Land

Over the 12 months to August 2026, the national medians were $6,300,000 for a semi-detached house and $4,500,000 for a terrace, a gap of $1,800,000. National figures mix locations, so the fairer test is the same district: across 14 districts with at least 10 resales of each, the semi-D sold for a median 41% more, on a median 75% more land, at a median 16% less per square foot of land. These are three separate medians of the district figures, so they don't multiply out exactly. The semi-D was cheaper per square foot of land in 12 of the 14 districts, and in 13 of 13 planning areas.

How to choose:

• Budget first: a terrace is the lower entry price in every one of those districts, and the buyer's stamp duty is lower too ($209,600 against $317,600 at the national medians).
• Land and layout: a semi-D has a wider plot and one shared wall, like a corner terrace, against two for an intermediate terrace.
• The cheaper land follows the bigger plot: corner terraces, on bigger plots than the row behind them, resold at a median $1,837 per square foot of land, close to semi-Ds' $1,843, against $2,306 for intermediate terraces.
• Sales to price against: there are more terrace sales to compare with: 1,084 against 597 over the same 12 months. That reflects how many of each there are, not how readily they sell: 4.6% of terraces with a sale on record changed hands in the 12 months, against 4.5% of semi-Ds.

To look up a particular house, use PropKaki's landed house checker or the landed homes directory.

A semi-D costs more per house and less per square foot of land.

URA's definitions:

• Semi-detached: "one half of a pair of two houses, each with its own land title, separated by a common party wall along one side of the premises. The pair of semi-detached houses is attached either side-to-side or back-to-back" (URA).
• Terrace: "a dwelling house with its own land title that forms part of a row of at least 3 dwelling houses abutting the common boundary party walls" (URA).

Side by side:

Rules: URA's terrace and semi-detached plot-size pages (updated 7 June 2026). The minimums are development rules: they govern what can be built, and don't tell you the plot of any existing house. Figures: PropKaki's analysis of URA caveats for land-titled houses.

A pair or a row: that decides the plot, the price and the neighbours you share a wall with.

Resales only, land-titled only, district by district:

Source: PropKaki's analysis of URA caveats, 2025-08-30 to 2026-08-30. Resales only, because new launches sell at different prices and would distort a few districts. Price per square foot is on land area.

The pattern is steady: in every district in the table the semi-D costs between 1.20 and 1.83 times the terrace, and in all but two it costs less per square foot of land. The two exceptions, D17 and D23, are where terraces sold for the lowest prices per square foot in the table.

Per square foot of land, the bigger plot is the cheaper one.

Source: PropKaki's analysis of URA caveats: prices, land and sales are the app's landed statistics (land-titled homes, every sale type); the freehold share is PropKaki's count over the same 12 months, and includes leases of 900 years or more. Buyer's stamp duty on IRAS's residential rates. August's caveats are still being lodged, so the counts will rise.

IRAS charges buyer's stamp duty on "the purchase price or market value of the property, whichever is higher", at 1% on the first $180,000, rising in bands to 6% on the "Remaining amount" (IRAS). IRAS's own worked example is "A terrace house was purchased on 17 Feb 2023 at $4,500,100", which pays "$209,606": almost exactly today's median terrace.

The quartiles show how wide each market is: half of all terraces sold between $3,889,722 and $5,250,000, and half of all semi-Ds between $5,300,000 and $8,000,000. Additional buyer's stamp duty comes on top for some buyers: IRAS sets it by "the profile of the buyer" and "The count of residential properties owned by the buyer" (IRAS). To work out the full cost, use PropKaki's Property Financial Planner.

Moving up a type costs the price gap plus about 6% of it again in stamp duty.

URA sets a corner terrace's minimum plot at "200sqm" and "8m" wide, the same as a "Side-to-side semi-detached house including corner terrace (Type I)"; an intermediate Type I terrace needs "150sqm" and "6m" (URA; URA).

The market prices them in between, over the 12 months to August 2026:

Resales only, land-titled only. Corner and end units are PropKaki's estimate from plot shapes on the SLA cadastral map (a plot that shares one long side with a neighbour rather than two); it misses some end units, and URA's caveats do not record it. Plot sizes are the median cadastral plot of all houses in each group.

A corner terrace buys more land for its price than the row behind it: compare it with the semi-Ds nearby, not just the terraces.

URA's tests are simple (URA; URA):

1. Two houses joined as a pair: semi-detached (side-to-side or back-to-back).
2. Part of a row of at least three houses: terrace. The ends of the row are corner (or end) terraces: they share one wall, like a semi-D, but they are still terraces.
3. Not joined to any house: a bungalow, or detached house (URA).

If one half of a pair is rebuilt as something else, the other half keeps its semi-D approval: "If an adjoining semi-detached house is demolished or redeveloped into a different housing form (e.g. to a bungalow), the left-behind (or existing) semi-detached house shall remain a semi-detached house as originally approved" (URA).

For a specific address, PropKaki's landed homes directory and landed house checker show the house type on record from URA's caveats, with its sales history.

Count the houses joined together: two is a semi-D; a row of three or more is a terrace, end units included.

• Terrace houses. "There are 2 types of terrace house typology - Terrace Type I and Terrace Type II. These are differentiated by their setback requirements" (URA). Type II terraces sit in their own enclaves with smaller minimum plots.
• Semi-detached houses. Attached "either side-to-side or back-to-back" (URA).
• Bungalows (detached houses). "A bungalow is a detached landed house with its own land title" (URA). Outside Good Class Bungalow Areas the minimum plot is 400 sq m and 10 m wide; inside them, 1,400 sq m, 18.5 m wide and 30 m deep (URA).
• Strata landed houses. "Any of the following three basic types of landed housing form can be built as strata landed housing: Strata bungalows (detached houses); Strata semi-detached houses (houses defined by their partial attachment on one side to another unit); Strata terrace houses (houses that are attached along a common boundary party wall and are part of a row of at least three units)" (URA). This page compares land-titled houses only.

Plot size rises with every step: from a Type II terrace's 80 sq m to a Good Class Bungalow's 1,400.

Rules: URA's landed housing handbooks. Figures: PropKaki's analysis of URA caveats.

A terrace is the cheaper way in; a bigger plot, on a semi-D or a corner terrace, is the cheaper land.

• Entry price: $6,300,000 at the national median, against $4,500,000 for a terrace, over the 12 months to August 2026.
• Stamp duty: $317,600 at that price, against $209,600 (IRAS).
• A shared wall, and a plot tied to its pair. URA's rule on rebuilding a pair: where "The left-behind Plot A is not large enough for a standard bungalow", "House B shall not be allowed to break away and be redeveloped into a bungalow" (URA). Once one half has been rebuilt, the other "may remain as approved", and can later detach or rebuild as a semi-D. URA's illustrations are for Designated Landed Housing Areas; outside them, "the left-behind plot must fulfil the minimum plot size requirement of 1,000 sqm".
• Fewer recent sales to price against: 597 semi-D sales against 1,084 terrace sales in the same 12 months. That is because there are fewer semi-Ds, not because they sell less readily: 4.5% of semi-Ds with a sale on record changed hands in the 12 months, against 4.6% of terraces.

A terrace has its own drawbacks: two shared walls for an intermediate unit, a narrower plot (a 150 sq m, 6 m minimum for Type I) and a higher price per square foot of land.

The semi-D's extra land is real; so is the extra cash it takes to buy it.

SLA counts as a foreign person anyone who is not a Singapore citizen, Singapore company, Singapore limited liability partnership or Singapore society (with conditions, in SLA's footnotes, on the last three). Its list of "Types of property for which a foreign person must seek approval to purchase under the Residential Property Act" includes "Terrace house; Semi-detached house; Bungalow/detached house" (SLA).

The criteria: "You should be a permanent resident of Singapore for at least five years; and You must make exceptional economic contribution to Singapore."

Approval doesn't change who pays what in additional buyer's stamp duty. For purchases on or after 27 April 2023, IRAS charges "Singapore Permanent Residents (SPR) buying first residential property" 5% and 30% on a second, and "Foreigners (FR) buying any residential property" 60% (IRAS).

For how SLA's approval works for landed homes, including Sentosa Cove, see Can Foreigners Buy Landed Property in Singapore?.

Over the 12 months to August 2026, the median detached house price was $12,680,000, the median plot 6,485 sq ft and the median price per square foot of land $1,972 (235 sales). Buyer's stamp duty at the median price is $700,400.

URA's minimums: "Bungalows (Within GCBA)" need "1,400sqm", "18.5m" wide and "30m" deep; "Bungalows (Outside GCBA)" need "400sqm" and "10m" (URA). To check whether an address is in a Good Class Bungalow Area, use PropKaki's landed house checker.

Proprietary figures. National medians are PropKaki's landed sale statistics: URA caveats for land-titled terrace, semi-detached and detached houses (cluster and strata houses excluded), every sale type, over the 12 months back from the latest caveat on record (2026-08-30). The same-district and same-planning-area comparisons use resales only over the same window, in districts and planning areas with at least 10 resales of each type. Price per square foot is on land area, because URA's landed caveats record land, not floor area. Corner and end terraces are PropKaki's estimate from plot shapes on the SLA cadastral map, which misses some end units. The share of houses sold in 12 months divides the 12-month sales by the number of houses of each type with at least one URA caveat on record (23,617 terraces, 13,208 semi-Ds), which is not the full housing stock. August's caveats are still being lodged, so the latest counts will rise. Buyer's stamp duty is IRAS's residential rates applied to the median price. All dollars are nominal. How we work: PropKaki methodology.

Official rules. Definitions, minimum plot sizes and the redevelopment rules are URA's development control handbooks (updated June 2026); stamp duty is IRAS's; foreign ownership is SLA's. All were read on 19 September 2026.

What we have not claimed: the value of any particular house, the floor area you could build, or where prices go next. This is a practical explainer, not financial or legal advice.