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|March 12,2025Where Can You Find Resale Condos Below $1 Million?
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"High pricing is a huge hurdle when it comes to purchasing private housing."
Evidently, many home buyers agree and share the sentiment above. According to a PropNex survey in 2024, more than a third of the HDB homeowners surveyed indicated that they will never be able to afford a private home, with high home prices and prevailing additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) being major hurdles preventing most from upgrading to private housing. With new launch prices being upwards of a million dollars for a 1- or 2-room unit, it is hard for the average buyer to believe that their dreams of owning a condominium unit are within their reach.
What are the odds of purchasing a private condo with a budget of $1 million? Well, it is not exactly a pipe dream. Look no further than the private resale market, where 223 condo units spanning between 900 and 1,100-sq ft were transacted for under $1 million from 2023 to early 2025 (see Table 1).
Table 1: Number of 900-1,100-sq ft non-landed private homes (ex. EC) sold for under $1 million by year
Year | Number of 900-1,100-sq ft condos sold for under $1 million |
2023 | 133 |
2024 | 87 |
2025* | 3 |
In total, 50 projects had at least one unit that sold for under $1 million from January 2023 to 10 February 2025. Among them, Melville Park and Parkview Apartments posted the highest number of such deals, with 60 and 22 units sold, respectively. According to caveats lodged, the top 10 projects with the most units sold for under a $1 million tended to be in District 18 (Tampines, Pasir Ris), District 23 (Bukit Batok, Choa Chu Kang), and District 25 (Woodlands, Admiralty) (see Table 2).
Table 2: Top 10 condominium projects by number of resale units sold for under $1 million from 2023 to February 2025*
Project Name | Address | District | Tenure | Lease start date | Number of 900-1,100-sq ft condominiums sold for under $1 million* | Average transacted price for units under $1 million |
| Melville Park** | Simei Street 1 | 18 | 99-yr LH | 1992 | 61 | $888,164 |
| Parkview Apartments | Bukit Batok Street 25 | 23 | 99-yr LH | 1994 | 22 | $937,727 |
| Orchid Park Condominium** | Yishun Street 81 | 27 | 99-yr LH | 1991 | 17 | $924,464 |
| Casablanca | Rosewood Drive | 25 | 99-yr LH | 2001 | 15 | $966,266 |
| Hillview Regency | Bukit Batok East Ave 2 | 23 | 99-yr LH | 2000 | 7 | $960,428 |
| Rivervale Crest** | Rivervale Crescent | 19 | 99-yr LH | 1997 | 6 | $923,500 |
| Regent Grove* | Choa Chu Kang North 7 | 23 | 99-yr LH | 1997 | 6 | $912,666 |
| Rosewood** | Rosewood Drive | 25 | 99-yr LH | 2000 | 6 | $959,148 |
| Palm Gardens** | Hong San Walk | 23 | 99-yr LH | 1996 | 6 | $964,129 |
| Azalea Park Condominium | Flora Road | 17 | 999-yr LH | 1885 | 6 | $969,000 |
| Seletar Springs Condominium | Gerald Drive | 28 | 99-yr LH | 1997 | 5 | $973,000 |
There may be several reasons why these properties are more affordably priced, a key one being the remaining lease left for the development. For instance, the top three projects that had more of such transactions - i.e. Melville Park, Parkview Apartments, and Orchid Park Condominium - have a 99-year lease commencing from 1992, 1994, and 1991, respectively. That means each of those three projects has a lease balance of less than 70 years. It is not uncommon for older properties to see stagnating prices owing to declining lease, and/or poorer condition of the unit or building over time.
That is not to say such properties should not be considered at all. If the lease balance can sufficiently cover the prospective buyers till old age - say over 90 years old - such resale units could present viable opportunities to purchase a relatively spacious unit at a much lower price quantum compared with new launches in the same area.
For illustration purposes, let's compare Rosewood and Casablanca - two projects that were highlighted in Table 2 - with the nearby new launch project, Norwood Grand. While all three projects are located in District 25 and fairly near to the Woodlands South MRT station, their price quantum and $PSF pricing differed widely. At slightly over $1,000 psf, median $PSF prices for Rosewood and Casablanca in 2024 were about 50% lower than that of Norwood Grand. Similarly, median price quantum for these projects were about 20% lower than that of the new launch project (see Table 3).
Table 3: Price gap between Rosewood, Casablanca and Norwood Grand in 2024
Project Name | Rosewood | Casablanca | Norwood Grand |
| Median price quantum* | $1,200,000 | $1,160,000 | $1,522,000 |
| % price difference with Norwood Grand | -21.2% | -23.8% | - |
| Median $PSF price* | $1,031 | $1,064 | $2,069 |
| % $PSF difference with Norwood Grand | -50.2% | -48.6% | - |
Besides, some of these projects have dec
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