Private apartments & condominiums (page under construction)

History of private apartments & condominiums

Which was the first private apartment in Singapore is hard to be determined. Some collonial black & white bungalows are actually apartments rather than single family homes.

First condominium (private apartments with facilities like swimming pool) was built in 1974. Early condos were aimed to rich people, dominated by 3 or 4 bedrooms apartments ranging 150-300 sqm (double than size of HDB flats built in same period), designed for comfort and privacy, they do not have rooms facing corridor like HDB flats (with few exceptions), living and dining are separate, there are 2 entrances for owners and servants. Non-condo private apartments were still built, without poll, guards or other condo facilities, aimed to middle class, with prices comparable to high-end HDB flats, there is no much info about their apartment sizes.

A boom in condo construction started in 1990s, aimed to middle class and foreigners, having apartment sizes comparable with HDB flats, while non-condo private developments became rare. The percentage of residents living in HDB flats dropped from 87% to 80%.

HDB flats shrunk, 4-room being 104-108 sqm in early 1990s, 100 sqm in mid-1990s, 90 sqm since late 1990s, a size that remained steadily by present (2020s). 5-room were 20 sqm bigger than 4-room flats built in each period.

Private properties followed same downsizing trend during 1990s, but they continued this trend during 2000s and nowadays they are smaller than HDB flats. The difference is made by facilities: security guards, swimming pools, tennis courts, etc, which leads to a bigger price than public housing. But I wonder how happy are people living in them?

Since 2009 there is a strange trend of “shoebox apartments” denoting the flats under 500 square feet, and developers are desperate to fit as many units possible, sometimes making units with view to small courtyards.

In 2012 URA introduced a maximum allowable dwelling units outside certain area, by dividing gross floor area to 70 sqm (raised to 85 sqm in 2018). Some areas were subject to stringer requirements, 100 sqm, to counter excess of shoebox units.

From gross floor area are exempted uncovered terraces, planters, and until 2000s bay windows. BUT what is specified in condo brochures is saleable area, which include void space, bay windows, planters, A/C ledges, rooftop terrace, PES (Private Enclosed Space) in case of strata-tiled landed houses, etc.

In 2019 URA reduced developers’ balcony bonus gross floor area incentives from 10 per cent to 7 per cent, and mandated that balconies could not exceed 15 per cent of the net internal area of units, a measure aimed at maximising liveable space in new units. The net internal area refers to the net living space of a unit, which excludes voids, balconies, air-conditioner ledges and other external areas.

For all new projects in the central area, URA also stipulated that from Jan 18, 2023, the developments must ensure that at least 20 per cent of dwelling units have a net internal area of at least 70 sq m.

Nowadays most condos are designed for profit instead of comfort, living, dining and kitchen are often a single room, 2-bedroom apartments have sometimes a single bathroom, no more separate entrance for servants (except high-end condos with private lift for owners and common lift for servants). One of the worst examples is Natura @ Hillview (2016) where 3-bedrooms apartments are 59-61 sqm, bedrooms being only 2 x 2 meters (Hong Kong style).

Condominium apartments are named by number of bedrooms, but people must be careful, a so-called “110 sqm 2-bedroom” apartment could have living and dining room plus a study room along with bedrooms, plus a massive balcony, while the internal bedroom size may be smaller than 110 sqm “5-Room” HDB apartments.

Due to unknown reasons, HDB flat size is often quoted in square meters while condos apartments are quoted in square feet. I tried to figure out average / median size and found contradictory data (probably someone included landed houses and others not).

According insing.com (dead link) the private condos have been shrunk from 121 sqm in Q1 2010 to 93 sqm in Q1 2013, while executive condos have been growth a little.
According ST Property the average size is is 667 sq ft = 62 sqm.
According PropertyGuru average size to estimate number of units in government land sales programme is 85 sqm and for EC is 100 sqm, as 2012.
According StraitsTimes the median size of non-landed new condos has dropped from 1,012 sq ft in 2010 to 904 sq ft 2024, in prime districts has dropped from 1,044 sq ft in 2010 to 829 sq ft in 2024, while prices surged 76.9%. New executive condo unit sizes fell from 1,066 sq ft in 2010 to 980 sq ft in 2024.

Smallest apartment in Singapore is 24 sqm (258 sq ft), 4 units in Suites @ Guillemard. All other studio apartments are 35+ sqm and have separate bed area.

En bloc – collective sales

Private properties are leasehold (99 or 999 years) or freehold. But most condos built up to 1980s feature low-rise blocks with large open spaces. Revised URA guidelines in 1989 allowed collective sales, condo owners sell the land to a new developer who is demolishing condo and build a new one, taller and denser.

Cosy Mansions was the first one to enbloc in 1994, with 100% vote. The rules changed later (when?), allowing collective sales if 80% of owners vote for enbloc (90% if development is less than 10 years old).

Numerous pre-1980s condos went enbloc during late 2000s, new condos being built with having 2x-3x more (smaller) apartments than original project.

There have been few cases of post-1990 condos to enbloc, notably Olivio, a 36-unit condominium in Novena, completed in 2002, enbloc in 2006 (after just 4 years).

I would like to make a complete list of condos that went enbloc but this is nearly impossible.

Notable examples

The Beverly Mai, Tomlinson Road, built 1974, it was the first condominium (private aparments with facilites like swimming pool). Demolished in 2006.

Futura, 14 Leonie Hill Road, built 1976 with a futuristic shape, it was the first condo with private lifts for its 69 units. Demolished in 2012 and replaced by New Futura having 124 units.

Pearl Bank Apartments, completed June 1976, it was the tallest residential building in Singapore, at 38 floors and 113 meters. It housed 280 apartments in three types of split-level units: 48 two-bedroom (130 sqm), 184 three-bedroom (176.5 sqm), 40 four-bedroom (213.7 sqm), with 8 units to each floor, and an additional 8 penthouses.

On 4 August 2007, the Pearl Bank Apartments site was put up for an en bloc sale. The tender closed on 18 September 2007, but fetched no bids. Another tender closed on 19 February 2008, failing again, and the collective sale agreement lapsed on 1 August 2008.

On 13 February 2018, Pearl Bank Apartments was finally sold to CapitaLand for $728 million in a private treaty collective sale at the residents’ reserved price. The replacement condo, One Pearl Bank was completed in 2024, have 39 floors and 774 units.

Pandan Valley, completed 1979 was a large development for its time (623 units), it was the first condominium integrating apartments, landed houses, shops and education centres.

Bedok Court, Bedok South Avenue 3, completed 1985, 19 floors, 280 units, noteworthy for private courtyards placed between common corridor and actual apartment. 18 floor plans available on PropertyGuru.

Hamilton Scotts, 37 Scotts Road, completed 2012, 30 floors, 56 units, noteworthy for being the first condo with automated parking system that transport vehicles next to living room on each floor. See video how the parking works.

The Interlace, Depot Road, completed 2013, noteworthy for its break from the typical tower design, it features a series of 6-storey blocks stacked upon each other in a hexagonal layout, making a total of 24 floors and 1040 units.

Avenue South Residence, Silat Avenue, completed 2023, 1074 units, it is comprised by two towers newly-built and five 4-storey blocks built in 1950 by SIT, renovated and upgraded with lifts and the 4-room flats were split into 2 apartments with terrible layout.