The PSF trap: why the bigger unit looks cheaper
Two flats in the same town. One is S$743 per square foot, the other S$577. The cheaper one per square foot costs two and a half times as much.
The number that reverses itself
Take every HDB resale lodged in the last 24 months — 50,912 of them — and sort by flat type. The price per square foot falls as the flat gets bigger, while the price climbs:
| Flat type | Median size | Median PSF | Median price | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-room | 506 sqft | S$743 | S$368,000 | 1,592 |
| 3-room | 721 sqft | S$592 | S$440,000 | 12,326 |
| 4-room | 1,001 sqft | S$612 | S$625,000 | 22,064 |
| 5-room | 1,249 sqft | S$574 | S$730,000 | 11,818 |
| Executive | 1,572 sqft | S$577 | S$898,888 | 3,085 |
Read on PSF alone, the executive flat is the bargain of the table and the 2-room is the worst value in Singapore. Read on price, they are separated by more than half a million dollars.
Same town, same story
The first table mixes towns, so hold the location still. In Tampines alone, over the same 24 months:
| Flat type (Tampines) | Median PSF | Median price | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-room | S$628 | S$485,944 | 732 |
| 4-room | S$613 | S$662,000 | 1,757 |
| 5-room | S$601 | S$800,000 | 1,052 |
| Executive | S$605 | S$958,000 | 327 |
The slope is gentler once the town is fixed, and it is not perfectly smooth — executives edge back up, because the ones that still trade are a particular kind of flat in a particular kind of block. But the direction holds: more space costs more money and less money per square foot.
Why space gets cheaper by the foot
- The expensive parts do not scale. A kitchen, a bathroom, a service yard, the entrance — a bigger unit spreads the same fixed content over more floor area.
- The buyer pool thins as the price climbs. Fewer households can write the larger cheque, whatever the arithmetic per square foot says, and that shows up as a discount on the rate.
- Small units are bought for a different reason. Entry price and rentability drive them, and both are indifferent to the rate per foot.
PSF cannot cross a location either
The same 4-room flat type ran at a median S$613 psf in Tampines and S$1,011 psf in Queenstown over the same period. Nothing about the flats explains an outcome that large; the address does. PSF compares two things at once — the property and where it is — and quietly reports the sum as if it were a property fact.
The lease version of the same trap is worse still, because in Singapore lease length and location were built in the same order: older flats with shorter leases sell for more per square foot, not less.
What PSF is genuinely good for
PSF is a fine instrument when everything except the price is held still:
- The same project, the same size band, over time. This is the honest use — it tells you which way a specific building has moved.
- Two units of similar size in the same development. Here the rate is doing real work, because the fixed content and the address are shared.
- Never across sizes, across projects in different areas, or across lease lengths.
A worked example, and it is fictional. Riverbend Court is an invented development used across this site so no real project is described. Two units are for sale: 700 sqft at S$1,750 psf, and 1,300 sqft at S$1,610 psf. The larger unit looks 8% “cheaper” and costs S$868,000 more. Neither number tells you whether either price is supported — only the lodged sales of that size in that building can.
How we handle it
A PriceVero rating never compares a unit to a differently sized one on rate alone. The size you give is matched to the lodged sizes recorded for that project, and the price is read against what that size has actually transacted at — with the project's own price pattern used to bridge when the exact size has no recent sale. That is also why the price check asks you to pick a lodged size rather than type one: a size that has never traded there has no evidence behind it to read.
Compare like with like. Every project and block page prints the lodged sales for that building — size, price, and when.
Common questions
Is a lower price per square foot better value?
Not on its own. Larger homes almost always carry a lower rate per square foot and a higher total price, so comparing PSF across sizes reliably favours the more expensive property.
What is a good price per square foot in Singapore?
There is no single answer, because PSF varies by size, location, lease length and building. A median 4-room HDB flat transacted around S$613 psf in Tampines and around S$1,011 psf in Queenstown over the same 24 months. The useful benchmark is the same size in the same building.
Why does PriceVero ask me to pick a size instead of typing one?
Because the rating is read against what that size has actually transacted at in that project. Picking from the lodged sizes keeps the comparison anchored to real evidence, and it catches typos before they reach the rating.
Can I compare PSF between two different condos?
Only with care, and only if the two are genuinely alike in size, tenure and area. Across locations the rate mostly measures the address, not the property.
HDB transaction data: Housing & Development Board, via data.gov.sg, used under the Singapore Open Data Licence. Figures cover resales lodged in the 24 months to the latest published month; medians are stated as measured. Riverbend Court is fictional. A PriceVero rating is not a valuation and is not prepared by a licensed valuer.