Only top 5% of earners can afford landed homes

Landed homes are some of the most expensive properties in Singapore.

UPDATED: Only the top five percent of earners in Singapore or professionals like financial directors, specialist medical practitioners, lawyers and CFOs can afford landed properties in the city-state, reported Singapore Business Review citing ValueChampion research.

This comes as an average terrace home sold in H1 2018 would see the buyer forking out $714,590 as a 25 percent downpayment and $9,086 per month as mortgage payment given an interest rate of about two percent – amounts which can only be afforded by those earning $34,646 per month.

Good class bungalows (GCBs) emerged as the most expensive property in Singapore. With only about 2,700 units spread mainly across districts 10 and 11, GCBs typically span 1,400 sq m with land prices at over $1,600 psf.

More: 10 Facts About Good Class Bungalows

This is followed by detached properties which were sold for an average price of $13.1 million, or $1,276 psf in the first half of the year. Semi-detached properties and terrace homes were sold at an average price of $4.12 million ($1,168 psf) and $2.86 million ($1,261 psf), respectively.

ValueChampion junior research analyst Anastassia Evlanova noted that landed properties also come with varying types of leasehold tenures which could also affect the price.

“Freehold properties are the most expensive, followed by 999-year leaseholds and 99-year leaseholds.”

With this, smaller 99-year leasehold semi-detached homes with about 10 to 30 years left on their lease may prove to be cheaper. In fact, some are going for $300,000 to $400,000 or lower than the average price of a four-room resale HDB flat, said Evlanova.

Find landed houses for sale or read our buying guides. Can you afford a landed house? Check your affordability now.

 

Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg