Are you looking to upgrade to a landed house for your family?
Do you know how many types of landed properties are in Singapore?
Which landed property most suits you and your family?
Before you make any decision to buy a landed property in Singapore, you must understand the types of landed properties here, the estimated prices of each landed property in the markets, and the criteria to buy a landed house. Work toward your needs and expectations to look for the landed property most suits you and your family.
Who can Buy Landed Property In Singapore?
For Singapore Citizens, you are definitely eligible to buy a landed property in Singapore.
Singapore Permanent Resident, only after 5 years of obtaining your Singapore Permanent Resident status, then you are qualified to apply for approval from Land Authority Development Unit (LADU) from Singapore Land Authority (SLA).
Several factors such as your economic contribution will be taken into consideration, your application will still be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Only approval is granted then you are allowed to purchase a land house in Singapore. (If you are keen to explore, I will be glad to assist you, call me at 94896105)
Foreigners are not allowed to purchase any landed property on Singapore's Main Land.
Sentosa Island will be exceptional but still subject to LADU approval.
Landed strata housing in a condominium, having condo strata titles, foreigners are allowed to buy.
Singapore has only a land size of 721.4 square kilometres, compare to other countries, we are just a little red dot on the world map. 1/4 the size of Johor State in West Malaysia.
The land is scared here, so owning a landed property is the utmost dream of a Singaporean and also a form of status recognition.
In 2020, there were around 68.4 thousand landed properties in Singapore. These refer to residential property where the owner has the title to the land.
The term landed property in Singapore normally refers to terraced, semi or fully detached houses for purely residential development and shophouses which is a mixed development.
To make full use of the land in Singapore, the government has determined the land sizes for every landed housing.
It has been divided into subsequent types.
The minimum requirement for each landed Property.
Terraces Houses
Terrace houses are a row of homes built within an equivalent plot of land subdivided into different smaller land plots.
Guidelines from URA, terraces houses are inbuilt in a row with a minimum of three units or more.
The end 2 units are named Corner Terraces and therefore the land sizes are going to be much bigger than the Inter Terraces.
The middle units share party walls with their neighbours on each side, while the corner or end terrace houses are only attached to at least one other neighbour.
The URA further classifies terrace houses into two (technical) categories, depending on the counting on the need for their front setbacks from the road.
The minimum land plots are between 80 square metres to 150 square metres with minimum width (frontage) of 6 metres for inter-terrace and eight metres for corner terraces.
Inter-terrace houses have only windows on their narrow ends, they have a reputation for being dark and not well-ventilated.
Thus, good-plan terrace houses are often designed with or inner courtyard or air well.
For the old development, there are terraces (Terrace II) only with land sizes of 80 square metres, this type of development is very compact and without a car pouch in the unit, and of course, the built-in is limited also.
The developers understand that buyers looking for land with good sizes, a minimum of a car porch in the unit, and good build-in areas, so newly build landed terraces houses are built with a land size of a minimum of 150 square metres (Terrace house I) and a width (frontage) of six metres.
Landed Inter-Terraces houses is the lowest entry point for upgraders
Landed Inter-Terrace prices started from S$2.3M to S$4M for 20+ old 2-storeys, 5-bedroom inter-terrace, 99-year leasehold, depending on the location.
Freehold will cost more, starting from S$3M to S$5M.
Old development will face an issue of not consistent façade, this is due to the redevelopment of each of the houses in the area.
Narrow road due to not well-established land planning.
Advantages for older development, you can tear down and rebuild the house or do A & A of the unit to your liking.
Land sizes might be much bigger than a brand new development, there is some old development with land sizes as big as 2000sqft.
Cost of rebuilding averages from S$600psf of your built-in area.
Most of the landed house area is allowed to develop into a 2 storey with an attic,
3 storey is possible in some area.
Another advantage is the area is more established, and transport and amenities are all in place.
If you’re looking to find a site to build your own house to your own expectation and configuration, this might be a good choice for you. (Limited supply now, most of this old house have been taken and rebuilt over the last 15 years)
A brand new inter-terrace house will cost you around S$4M to S$4.5M for a 99 years leasehold 3-storey house, with either 3 or 4 bedrooms, location will make a great difference in the price, and land size averaging 1650sqft.
As for freehold, it will be in the range of S$5M to S$5.5M.
In the new development, unlike the old one, all façades look alike, and the layout is similar.
All road is well designed with the latest requirement by the authority, not messy and narrow.
The setback for New Landed Development is that amenities and transports are yet to establish, it needs time to settle down. Especially Public Bus transport.
If you are looking to buy an inter-Terrace without hassles in your renovations, this will be a good selection for you.
Semi-Detached houses
Semi-detached houses are a pair of houses-built side by side on a piece of land subdivided into 2 land plots, sharing a standard wall called a party wall.
Originally, they were mirror images of each other in layout and facade.
Semi-detached houses are usually called “semi-d” in Singapore.
In other countries, they’re identified as duplex houses.
In URA guidelines, the land sizes of semi-detached houses must come with a minimum of 200 Square metres and a width (Frontage) of not less than eight metres.
For most of the new development, the developers will follow the minimum requirement and most of the dwelling Semi-detached house is made on this land size.
For old development, you would possibly be able to locate some units with bigger land sizes.
If you are a person who likes more greenery in your House and greater privacy, Semi-detach will be a good option for you.
Likewise, if you’re looking for a house that suits your expectations, you should go for an old development, you can rebuild your house to your liking and furthermore, you might be able to find a unit with larger land sizes.
Older semi-detach houses do have units with land sizes of 3,600 square feet.
The rebuilding cost is identical to the inter-terrace house.
Detached House (Bungalow)
In Singapore, a single-detached house has usually named a bungalow, whether it is a single-storey structure or not.
A single-detached house is a free-standing structure within a plot of land.
No common wall or roof with its neighbours.
Detached houses are available in many styles:
Colonial bungalows (also fondly known as black-and-white houses) that aren’t large enough to be GCBs, or not located in designated GCB districts, also are considered detached houses.
Modern bungalows also are detached houses.
With a minimum lot size of 400 sqm, the Bungalow home is still one of the larger estates, even amongst landed properties.
By definition, a bungalow is a detached house, therein no other estate is how linked thereto, adding to its privacy and exclusivity.
There are four “classes” within the faction of Bungalow Houses.
This is differentiated and supported by their respective plots of land:
Class 1: from 400 sqm to 550 square metres
Class 2: from 550 sqm to 700 square metres
Class 3: from 700 sqm to1000 square metres
Class 4: from 1000 sqm to 1400 square metres
The minimum width (frontage) for a bungalow is 10 metres.
If you are looking for a stand-alone detached house, then a bungalow will definitely be the best choice.
As mentioned in the above paragraph, there are 4 classes of bungalows in the Singapore context.
The most common understanding is a class 1 bungalow, with a land size of around 400 square metres.
This class of bungalows will be the entry point for bungalow lovers.
Prices for newly developed Bungalows start from S$10M to S$14M for 99 years of leasehold development.
Freehold will be from S$12M to S$18M.
There are not many new Bungalows for sale.
Any new bungalow for sale most likely is an old (class 3 & 4) bungalow with large land sizes and permissible to develop into 2 or 3 units of class 1 bungalow depending on the layout of the land.
Good Class Bungalow
The most luxurious sort of landed residence in Singapore is Good Class Bungalow or GCB,
Looking into the URA guidelines on landed housing, Good Class Bungalow, the land sizes must have a minimum of 1,400sqm (15,070sqft) and a minimum width (frontage) of 18.5 metres.
Depending on the layout and planning of the houses, it always has a built-up size of 10,000 square feet and a car porch that may accommodate 3 to 4 cars.
Private swimming pools and a gorgeous garden.
Most people have a vague concept that good-class bungalows are very prestigious, very expensive and large.
But what exactly is a good class bungalow?
Good class bungalow, two main defining factors for these houses: that is location and size.
There are designated areas for a good-class bungalow in Singapore, it has to be within the 39 areas gazetted by the URA.
Many good-class bungalows are settled in forested areas with sufficient greenery in between plot areas.
Owners are only allowed to use 40 per cent of the plot area to build the bungalow.
Bungalows that fall into such areas also got to have a minimum plot size of 1,400 square metres and can’t exceed the maximum building height of two storeys.
Though there’s no exact number, it’s estimated that there are up to 2,800 good-class bungalow plots in Singapore.
Each plot can house more than one bungalow.
Some of these bungalows are more than a hundred years old, dating back to the colonial era.
There are about 65 of these specially conserved good-class bungalows.
The average price range of a good-class bungalow can be from S$36M to S$120M depending on the location and land sizes of the house.
There is a policy change in 2012, now only Singapore Citizens are allowed to own Good Class Bungalows.
To find out where are these Good Class bungalows located, go to my blog articles Good Class Bungalow (GCB), Where are they located?
Shop House
Shophouses are also terrace housing. A shophouse is a hybrid building consisting of 2 elements, a commercial shop on the ground floor and residential usage on the 2nd & 3rd floors.
Landed shophouses normally are not in your selection if you intend to purchase them to be your dream home.
Commercial usage is normally used as retail outlets or offices; food & beverage outlets are possibly subject to approval from URA.
Shophouses are very common in Southeast Asia, most of them are built during pre-world wartime, in such, most of the remaining shophouses in Singapore, are gazetted as conservation shophouses.
All these gazetted conservation shophouses are required to preserve their historical exterior.
Most of these shophouses have a five-foot way in front of them, and this is how it was differentiated from the residential terrace houses.
Shophouses' prices have increased sharply over the past few years. Easily each shophouse will cost you from S$3.5M and above for an outskirt area, those located in town can cost you S$12m to S$30M for a three-storey unit.
Townhouses
Other than the landed houses, you might want to consider the townhouse as one of your choices.
Townhouses are a row of housing built on common land, they have the same characteristics as a land terrace house.
The difference between a townhouse and a landed terrace, the townhouse shares a common land, common facilities gym, a swimming pool, and a car park shared among the residents.
A maintenance fee is paid to the MCST to maintain the development.
Landed Terrace house, the owner owns the title of the land.
There have their own greenery compound and a car porch.
All maintenance and expenses are on the house owner.
Townhouse prices are much cheaper than a landed Terrace house, you can find some things that start from S$2.5M.
Cluster House
Lastly, Cluster housing / Strata landed house might be a good selection for you that like to communicate with people.
Cluster House / Strata Landed House, have the same characteristics as landed properties but are built on common land with facilities.
They are like townhouses, having the convenience of common facilities as in a condominium.
The difference between cluster houses / Strata Landed houses to townhouses is, the development is not restricted to terrace houses, it also can be mixed of terraces, semi-detached houses, and bungalows.
It is designed to have the privacy and spaciousness of landed properties and also the luxury of sharing the common facilities like a swimming pool, gym, and recreation facilities within the development.
Prices of cluster housing are much lower than a Landed house.
Prices are quoted in the build-in area of the unit since they don’t have a land plot by itself.
Average pricing starts from S$900psf for older 99 leasehold development.
Freehold pricing starts from S$1050psf.
Newer development prices range from S$950psf to S$1100psf.
Freehold will be S$1100psf to S$1300psf.
I hope the above will give you a general idea of the different types of landed houses we have in Singapore, but if there is something you are not clear about, do give me a call, I am more than happy to clear your doubts over a cup of coffee and definitely, I will be able to assist you in looking out for the landed house you are looking for.
Hi, I am Peter Tan.
Since 1995, I’ve been providing professional consulting services to clients in Singapore and beyond.
From strategic getting to innovative solutions, my focus is usually on building an efficient and results-driven relationship.
I’ll work with you to make a customized plan of action for yourself or your organization.
Get in-tuned to find out more about my vision and consulting approach
Comments