Is landed still worth it in Singapore?

Short answer: yes, but only for the right buyer, and it's not the slam dunk people assume.

Landed property has long carried a certain mystique in Singapore. It is the aspirational purchase, the one people picture when they think of "making it". But aspiration and good fit are not the same thing, and the right question is rarely "is landed good?" It is "is landed good for me, right now?"

This is our topic of the month for July. Here is the honest version.

Why landed has held up

Over the long run, landed has quietly outperformed condos, with roughly +153% against +108% since 2009. It led the market again last quarter while non-landed dipped.

Part of that comes down to scarcity. The reasons landed holds its ground include:

• It is genuinely rare, at only about 5% of all homes here

• The land is finite and cannot be added to

• Much of it is freehold

• It is largely walled off to citizens, which protects the asset

When supply is fixed and demand is restricted, prices tend to be resilient.

The honest flip side

The case against matters just as much, and it is the part most people skip. Before committing, weigh:

• Entry price: Prices start north of $4m

• Liquidity: The buyer pool is thin, and a sale can take months

• Costs: Holding and rebuild costs land on you alone

• Yield: Rental yields sit around 1.9 to 2%, the lowest of any residential class

None of these are deal breakers by themselves. Together, they mean landed rewards patience and punishes a rushed exit.

Who landed actually suits

Landed is a wealth-holding and appreciation play, not an income one. It tends to suit buyers who:

• Have capital they won't need access to in the short term

• Plan to hold for the long run

• Value space, privacy and control over the property

• Are comfortable carrying the costs without rental income to offset them

If your priority is cash flow or flexibility, a condo will usually serve you better.

What would change our view

We would grow more cautious if prices ran well ahead of fundamentals, or if the buyer pool thinned further. We would grow more bullish if supply stayed tight and demand held. Either way, the decision should come from your own numbers, not the headline.

Final advice

Landed still makes sense in 2026, for the right buyer, with the right time horizon. Go in with clear eyes on the entry price, the exit timeline and the running costs, and it can be an excellent long-term hold. Go in for the status alone, and it can be an expensive lesson.

👉 Read the full piece here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18RDsSmkhl5HWqa9UrcuBG9eP-viECctw/view?usp=sharing