Freehold vs Leasehold Condo in Singapore: Which Is Better?
Quick answer:
Neither tenure is better on its own. A freehold condo has no lease to run down. A 99-year leasehold does, slowly at first and faster later. In the early decades, location, entry price and project size usually separate two projects more than tenure does.
Tenure matters more as the lease shortens, and the region changes the answer.
This guide covers private condos. For HDB flats, see HDB lease decay.
Table of Contents
What is the difference between freehold and leasehold?
Freehold has no end date. A leasehold runs for a fixed term from the lease start date, not your purchase date, then returns to the State.
| Tenure | How long it lasts | At the end | CPF age-95 test |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freehold | No end date | Nothing expires | Always met |
| 999-year leasehold | 999 years from lease start | Returns to the State, centuries away | Met in practice |
| 99-year leasehold | 99 years from lease start | Returns to the State | Met while the lease covers the youngest buyer to 95 |
Source for the CPF column: CPF Board, using CPF when the lease does not cover the youngest buyer to age 95.
Is freehold a better buy than leasehold?
Not as a rule: in our read of URA resale data from 2022 to 2026, freehold condos rose more in the Core Central Region (CCR), while 99-year leaseholds rose as much or more in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR).
| Region | Freehold / 999-yr | 99-yr, 83+ yrs left | 99-yr, 68–82 yrs left | 99-yr, 67 or fewer yrs left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCRCore Central Region | +9.3% (55) | −6.9% (8)* | +4.6% (20) | +6.0% (6)* |
| RCRRest of Central Region | +13.8% (52) | +17.3% (23) | +20.7% (33) | +17.0% (11) |
| OCROutside Central Region | +17.3% (67) | +17.6% (85) | +23.5% (74) | +17.3% (20) |
*Only eight and six projects sit behind these two cells. The −6.9% even turns positive when we ask for more sales per project, so it is too thin to build anything on.
Source: YouHome.sg analysis of URA Data Service private residential transactions, pulled 22 Sep 2026. We also ran it with a three-resale minimum, and against calendar 2025: the regional pattern held both times.
How we worked this out: for each project we took the middle resale psf in 2022 — the median — then the middle psf in the latest 12 months, and compared the two.
Then we took the middle project in each cell.
We use the middle figure rather than the average because one unusual unit, a penthouse or a ground-floor unit with a large terrace, can pull an average a long way.
A project counts only if it sold at least five times in each period.
Resales of private condominiums and apartments only: new sales, sub-sales, bulk deals and executive condominiums (ECs) are all left out, as is URA’s catch-all “residential apartments” label, which groups unrelated buildings.
The freehold column also holds other 900-year-plus leases.
Limits: this is one market phase, not a long-run rule, and the two starred cells are thin.
Tenure is mixed up with location, age and entry price, and this is price change, not profit. The transactions are URA’s; the groupings, the bands and the reading of them are our own research, so another method will give other figures.
Kovan Residences vs D'Pavilion: what separated them?
Tenure didn’t separate them: in Navis Atlas’s PrimeKey case study both scored 5 out of 5 on tenure at their 2008 launch, and the gaps were MRT distance, project size and rental yield.
Kovan Residences is a 99-year leasehold and D’Pavilion is freehold, both in District 19, a few minutes apart.
Over a longer window, the gap widened.
From 2008 to 2026, average resale psf at Kovan Residences rose about 108%, against about 49% at D’Pavilion.
Two things to hold alongside that.
This chart uses yearly averages rather than the medians used in the table above, so single unusual sales move it more.
And D’Pavilion transacts rarely — nine resales in the last five years — so several of its yearly points rest on one or two sales.
The direction is clear; the precision is not.
| Factor | Kovan Residences | D'Pavilion |
|---|---|---|
| MRT | 5 | 4 |
| Growth hotspot | 1 | 1 |
| GLS / en bloc | 5 | 5 |
| Project size | 5 | 1 |
| Tenure | 5 | 5 |
| Primary schools | 2 | 3 |
| MOP cluster | 5 | 5 |
| Rental yield | 5 | 3 |
| Total | 33 / 40 | 27 / 40 |
Scoring method: PrimeKey analysis.
Worth noting how those scores were set.
Navis scored both projects as they would have in 2008, on what was knowable at the time — station distance, project size, the rental market, the stock of nearby flats reaching their MOP.
The project that scored higher is the one that went on to perform.
One pair cannot prove a scoring tool works, but it does show what the exercise is for: weighing a purchase on the factors that tend to matter years later, which is what a buyer with resale in mind is really trying to do.
Scoring method: PrimeKey analysis.
URA’s records show the same thinness. Kovan Residences recorded 95 resales from September 2021 to September 2026, with a 2025 median of S$1,838 psf across 20 sales. D’Pavilion recorded 9, none in 2022, and a 2025 median of S$1,494 psf from two sales.
Fewer resales can mean owners who are happy to stay, or fewer buyers.
Either way, there is less price evidence. One comparison illustrates a pattern; it does not prove cause.
One factor you can judge for yourself
Layout belongs there too. It is the one thing on the list you can feel for yourself, standing in the room.
Two units can carry the same bedroom count and live very differently.
The first fits bay windows to all three bedrooms, plus a void and an a/c ledge.
Each counts in the floor area you pay for, and none of it holds furniture.
The second spends its area differently: a private lobby and a corridor to reach the two bedrooms, and a terrace off the living room.
Neither is wrong. They suit different buyers, and buyers notice at the viewing.
When does tenure start to matter?
Tenure starts to matter when the remaining lease gets too short for your future buyer to use CPF in full. That happens when the lease no longer covers the youngest buyer to age 95.
For a buyer in their mid-30s, that means fewer than about 60 years left. Before that, location, entry price and project size usually separate projects more.
Will your buyer's CPF still work?
Two steps, no formula. First, the years left on the lease today; a listing usually states it.
Second, take off however long you plan to hold. That is what is left when you sell.
| Years left when you sell | Fully covers a buyer aged |
|---|---|
| 70 | 25 and above |
| 60 | 35 and above |
| 50 | 45 and above |
| 40 | 55 and above |
Below that line, the buyer’s CPF use is pro-rated while at least 20 years remain.
Take Kovan Residences as an example. Its lease started in 2007, so about 80 years are left in 2026.
Hold 20 years and you sell with 60 left, covering a buyer of 35 or older; hold 30 and you sell with 50 left, covering only 45 and above.
SLA’s leasehold table, known as Bala’s Table, draws the same shape: 96% of freehold value with 99 years left, 80% at 60 and 60% at 30.
Our region table agrees: a gradual lag, not a cliff.
More in Bala’s Curve.
What moves the threshold
- Your likely buyer. Younger buyers need more years left.
- Your holding period. Your sale year sets the test, which makes it part of your property exit strategy.
- Bank lending on short leases. Each bank sets its own practice, so check with your banker.
- Redevelopment cost. Redeveloping an old leasehold site means paying the State to top the lease up to 99 years, under SLA’s Land Betterment Charge rules.
Shorter leases cost more to top up (see the FAQ). - Region. In our data, tenure showed up most in the CCR.
Should you buy leasehold over freehold? Start with these six questions
It depends on six answers only you can give. None has a pass mark; each can point either way.
- How long do you plan to hold?
- Is this a home you want to pass on to the next generation?
- How many years will be left when you sell, and which buyers does that cover?
- What premium are you paying for freehold here, against nearby transacted psf?
- Which region is it in?
- How easily does the project resell? Fewer recent resales means less price evidence.
Those six are about you.
The project itself is judged on a separate set: Navis Atlas’s PrimeKey Tool scores eight factors, tenure among them, alongside MRT distance, project size, growth plans, collective sale potential, primary schools, nearby MOP flats and rental demand.
See how the scoring works in PrimeKey analysis.
The two sides meet in the weighting.
Your answers decide which project factors matter most to you. Holding twenty years with children to settle, schools and project size carry more weight, and a few years of lease matter less.
Holding five and selling to a younger buyer, MRT distance, rental demand and resale volume carry more, and the lease matters more too.
Tenure is one factor of eight, and how heavily it weighs is set by your own six answers — which is why two buyers can look at the same project and both be right.
About the author
Rick Long is an Associate Senior Division Director at Huttons Asia.
Through YouHome.sg — Right Property Matters — he shares the frameworks, tools and field experience behind his advisory work, helping Singapore buyers and sellers across HDB, EC and private residential decisions with structured, calm, next-step guidance.
CEA Reg. R026818Z · Huttons Asia · YouHome.sg
For more Singapore property planning tips, follow me on Instagram.
@agent_rick_longBefore you choose freehold or leasehold
Tenure is a slow factor that earns more weight as the lease runs down, in your region and your sale year. Bring your shortlist, and we can run the test together.
What's left is the part no guide can do — how many years your own lease will have left in the year you plan to sell, and what the freehold next door is really charging you for. Bring your shortlist and we'll run it together.
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Freehold vs leasehold: frequently asked questions
Can the government take back a freehold property?
Yes. Under the Land Acquisition Act, the State can acquire private land, freehold included, for public purposes, paying market-value compensation.
Can a freehold condo go en bloc?
Yes. Consent depends on the building's age, not its tenure. Today a collective sale needs 90% consent under 10 years old, 80% from 10 years.
The Land Titles (Strata) (Amendment) Bill 2026, moved and passed at its Second Reading on 8 September 2026, adds 70% for developments aged 40 to 59 and 65% for 60 and above, from a commencement date not yet announced. Sales already collecting signatures stay under the old rules, with a route for older developments to switch after commencement.
Is 999-year leasehold the same as freehold?
Not legally, but close in practice. The lease ends centuries away, so it clears CPF's age-95 test and any loan term. Duchess Residences, for example, holds a 999-year lease from 1875, per URA records.
Is it true you can't use CPF on a leasehold condo with less than 60 years left?
No. If the lease covers the youngest buyer to age 95, CPF can be used in full. If not, CPF use is pro-rated, and it stops only below 20 years remaining. The CPF housing usage calculator gives your exact figure.
What happens to a leasehold condo when the lease runs out?
The land and building return to the State. Before then, some are sold en bloc and the buyer pays to top the lease up to 99 years. No development is guaranteed that outcome.
How do I check how many years are left on a condo's lease?
Count the years since the lease start year, not the launch or completion year, and take them from 99. Kovan Residences, for example, launched in 2008 on a lease from 2007. The lease start year is on the title and in the sale documents, and your agent or conveyancing lawyer can confirm it.
These figures are illustrative and opinion-based, produced with calculation tools — not a valuation or financial advice. Human error is possible; verify against official sources before relying on them.
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