Hi Stacked,
My fiancée and I currently live with family, but we intend to buy our first home - a resale HDB flat - since we're above the income ceiling for BTOs. We're keen to find a flat in very central areas close to the CBD, like The Pinnacle@Duxton, or the Dawson Road projects in Queenstown.
We've viewed many units and are currently considering two contenders: a four-room flat of around 1,000 sq ft on the fourth floor, which has a mostly unblocked park and city view, listed for about $1.2 million; or a five-room flat of 1,152 sq ft on the eighth floor, with a more blocked-off estate view, for roughly $1.48 million.
We're trying to find a compromise on the floor, unit size, views, and potential capital gain. But it's difficult to decide. We are leaning towards the four-room flat because of its price and view, but we're worried that we might regret the lower floor and smaller size, and the possibility that it will be harder to sell in the future.
Our combined income is around $30,000 a month, with combined CPF of about $240,000. We'd likely take a 75% bank loan over 30 years.
We considered some private residential options, but for the size and price, we couldn't find anything that compared to a resale HDB. Do you think that's a mistake?
Thank you!
(This is part of an ongoing series where we answer reader questions about the property market. If you have one of your own, send it to stories@stackedhomes.com.)
(This is part of an ongoing series where we answer reader questions about the property market. If you have one of your own, send it to stories@stackedhomes.com.)
Hi, and thanks for writing in!
Your pull toward the fourth-floor unit makes sense. It costs less, and it offers a view that you might find enjoyable each day.
But we'd test that presumption against two things: what the extra space in the five-room would be used for, and the resale performance at The Pinnacle @ Duxton and the BTO projects on Dawson Road.
We'll start with the flat, then the location, then how it might impact your budget.
Weighing the space against the floor and the view
Based on what you shared, the five-room flat costs about 23% more for roughly 15% more floor area compared to the four-room flat. It also trades being a relatively higher floor unit for a more obstructed view.
In most HDB layouts, the extra area offered by a five-room flat usually becomes a larger living and dining space, and sometimes a yard. If you plan to expand your family with children, need to accommodate a home office, or a helper within the next few years, that larger communal space gives you flexibility and could put off a future move.
But if your current needs can comfortably fit within a four-room flat, paying an extra $280,000 for space you don't really need may not be advisable. The floor and the view matter too, just for different reasons. A fourth-floor unit facing a park can feel brighter and more enjoyable compared to an eighth-floor unit that faces the neighbouring block.
We would also recommend taking into consideration other aspects of the unit like unit facing, noise, and ventilation.
When it comes to the future resalability, just because you own a lower floor unit doesn't rule out the possibility of attracting a good number of interested buyers - just as a higher floor unit doesn't guarantee a stronger sale either.
(But some buyers may treat 8 - a culturally 'lucky' number - with more favourability compared to 'unlucky' or inauspicious 4.)
But that preference doesn't show up in the transaction record: eighth-floor units don't reliably sell for more than units on the fourth floor.
Between the two flats on your shortlist, we'd weigh the floor and the view by how comfortable you think it will be living there day to day, not by its future asking price.
- Resale price premiums at The Pinnacle @ Duxton have sustained
The Pinnacle @ Duxton is in District 2, while the BTO flats on Dawson Road are in District 3. We will start by examining how easily a future buyer of your flat could find something comparable nearby, since fewer substitutes usually mean a stronger position at the negotiating table.
Officially completed in 2009, most of the flats at The Pinnacle @ Duxton have leases that start in 2011, with about 83 years left on their lease.
Based on resale transactions from June 2025 to June 2026, four-room flats along Cantonment Road - where The Pinnacle @ Duxton sits - commanded an average price of $1.36 million.
This is $335,000 more than the same flat type at HDB projects along nearby Cantonment Close, where leases commenced nearly a decade earlier in 2002 and 2003.
Meanwhile, five-room resale prices along Cantonment Road fetched an average price of $1.54 million over the same period - against $1.15 million for the same flat types at Cantonment Close, $955,000 for the flats at Everton Park, and $896,000 for the flats at Spottiswoode Park Road. All of those developments had leases which started in 1979 and 1980.
The Pinnacle @ Duxton - Cantonment Rd
| 4-room flat | ||||
| Street name | Average price | Tnx volume | Minimum lease start year | Maximum lease start year |
| CANTONMENT CL | $1,024,067 | 15 | 2002 | 2003 |
| CANTONMENT RD | $1,359,437 | 44 | 2011 | 2011 |
| 5-room flat | ||||
| Street name | Average price | Tnx volume | Minimum lease start year | Maximum lease start year |
| SPOTTISWOODE PK RD | $895,857 | 7 | 1979 | 1979 |
| EVERTON PK | $954,800 | 5 | 1980 | 1980 |
| CANTONMENT CL | $1,153,400 | 5 | 2002 | 2003 |
| CANTONMENT RD | $1,536,529 | 17 | 2011 | 2011 |
The data suggests that buyers aren't simply paying for a HDB project which has a longer lease - although the extra years probably help it to command million-dollar prices.
The lease on the flats at Cantonment Close is only about nine years older than the flats at The Pinnacle @ Duxton, which on its own would normally support a somewhat higher price for the latter.
But an additional nine years on the lease doesn't typically explain a price gap this wide. The flats at Cantonment Close still sell for roughly a quarter less than the ones at the Pinnacle @ Duxton. This suggests to us that the prestige of the development, as well as the overall scarcity of five-room flats in the Central Region, have been significant drivers of the sky-high prices there.
The flats on Dawson Road have nearby substitutes
The BTO projects along Dawson Road were completed between 2016 and 2021, which means that many of the flats have about 89 to 94 years left on the lease.
Over the same one-year period, from June 2025 to June 2026, the four-room flats there transacted at an average price of $1.12 million while most five-room flats commanded an average price of $1.47 million.
Dawson Road
| 4-room flat | ||||
| Street name | Average price | Tnx volume | Minimum lease start year | Maximum lease start year |
| STRATHMORE AVE | $942,787 | 59 | 1993 | 2020 |
| DAWSON RD | $1,115,314 | 87 | 2016 | 2021 |
| 5-room flat | ||||
| Street name | Average price | Tnx volume | Minimum lease start year | Maximum lease start year |
| STRATHMORE AVE | $1,208,500 | 14 | 1993 | 2011 |
| DAWSON RD | $1,466,052 | 15 | 2016 | 2021 |
On the other hand, the HDB flats at Strathmore Avenue have leases which started from 1993 to 2020. Its newest four-room flats, with leases commencing in 2020, transacted at an average of $1.07 million over the same period - just 3.7% below the average price of four-room flats at Dawson.
Meanwhile, the five-room flats commanded an average price of $1.32 million, which is about 10.3% less than the average price set by the flats along Dawson Road.
However, we would caveat that this is based on a low transaction volume, with just four and two transactions, respectively, over the one year.
Overall, our reading of the data suggests to us that the four-room flats at Strathmore Avenue fetch an average price that is about 15% less than the flats along Dawson Road, and 18% less than the average price for its five-room flats.
This is a narrower price gap compared to the 25% to 42% difference which separates The Pinnacle @ Duxton from its affordable neighbours, and the price gap narrows further if we only consider newer HDB flats in the Central Region.
If you specifically want a flat at The Pinnacle @ Duxton, the scarcity of a five-room flat that meets your budget may be the biggest hurdle. But if it doesn't have to be that one development, the flats along Dawson Road are still a reasonable choice.
Has the larger flat actually recorded stronger price appreciation?
Price growth over the full decade doesn't clearly reward the larger flat types at either The Pinnacles @ Duxton or the flats along Dawson Road.
At The Pinnacle @ Duxton, the average resale price of four-room and five-room flats rose by a near-identical rate of 52.4% and 51.4%, respectively, from 2016 to the first half of 2026.
Meanwhile, within the Dawson Road estate, the comparison is harder to pin down because different blocks carry such different starting lease tenures. But we can see that the flats with leases commencing in 2016 show the opposite pattern: five-room resale prices grew 51.4% against the 36.3% uptick for four-room flats, measured from 2020 to the first half of 2026.
But these figures are averages, so a few pricier or cheaper units changing hands in a given year can shift the result. In general, it hasn't yet been definitively proven that paying more for the larger flat has reliably translated into stronger growth at either address.
Do private residential alternatives close the gap?
It's also worth analysing what your budget buys you in the private residential market, although you initially ruled out private home options based on the smaller unit size at your affordability.
We looked at two-bedroom resale transactions in District 3 from 2025 to June 2026, filtered to sales of $1.5 million and less, to find the closest comparable segment at your budget.
| Project | Average price | Average size based on tnx done | Completion year |
| ALEXIS | $1,185,972 | 735 | 2012 |
| QUEENS PEAK | $1,363,200 | 624 | 2020 |
| THE CREST | $1,378,333 | 764 | 2017 |
| MARGARET VILLE | $1,394,481 | 664 | 2021 |
| AVENUE SOUTH RESIDENCE | $1,416,270 | 666 | 2023 |
| THE METROPOLITAN CONDOMINIUM | $1,436,978 | 781 | 2009 |
| EMERALD PARK | $1,452,972 | 931 | 1993 |
| STIRLING RESIDENCES | $1,455,728 | 640 | 2022 |
| ALEX RESIDENCES | $1,489,500 | 657 | 2017 |
| CENTRAL GREEN CONDOMINIUM | $1,500,000 | 947 | 1995 |
Overall, the data indicates that Alexis is the only project on this potential shortlist, with a 735 sq ft unit going for about $1.19 million, or about a quarter smaller than your 1,000 sq ft four-room flat.
All other projects on the list had average resale prices of $1.36 million to $1.5 million, for units no larger than 947 sq ft. Even the two closest in size, Emerald Park and Central Green Condominium, reach only 931 and 947 sq ft while costing $1.45 million and $1.5 million.
For the space and lease length you want, a resale HDB still gets you more home for less money than a District 3 condo at this budget, which supports your decision to keep your search focused there.
What could your budgeted amount support?
According to the information which you have shared, your CPF amount of $240,000 works neatly as the 20% down payment on a $1.2 million flat, alongside $60,000 in cash for the remaining 5%, and a $900,000 loan at 75% loan-to-value (LTV).
For an HDB purchase, the Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) caps loan repayment at 30% of your gross income regardless of whether the loan comes from HDB or a bank. This cap is stricter than the 55% Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) used for private property.
If we assume a 4% interest rate over 30 years, your combined $30,000 monthly income allows a maximum loan of around $1.89 million. At current rates, Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) adds $32,600 on the purchase of the four-room flat, and $43,800 more on the purchase of the five-room flat.
According to our estimates, this puts your total upfront cash, including legal fees and other purchase costs, at roughly $96,100 and $121,300, respectively.
| 4-room ($1.2M) | 5-room ($1.48M) | |
| 5% cash downpayment | $60,000 | $74,000 |
| BSD | $32,600 | $43,800 |
| Legal fees (est.) | $3,500 | $3,500 |
| Minimum cash needed | $96,100 | $121,300 |
So, what should you do?
Between the two flats, we'd lean toward the five-room flat if you genuinely expect to need the extra space within the next few years. That need matters more to your long-term comfort than the better view or the lower price of the four-room.
If the four-room flat already fits your plans, there's little reason to stretch for the larger unit. You'd be giving up a view you like and a lower monthly repayment for a higher floor and a layout you may not end up using.
Between the two locations, the overall scarcity of five-room flats at The Pinnacle @ Duxton gives it an edge for buyers who specifically want that address, and its price premium has been consistent.
On the other hand, the flats at Dawson Road may be the more defensible choice if you don't specifically need a central address. The trade-off is a weaker scarcity premium, although you can bank on the fact that its growth hasn't lagged.
The $280,000 gap between the two flats works out to an extra $774 a month on the mortgage and roughly $68,700 more in interest paid over 30 years- capital you've said you'd rather keep invested in the market than tied up in property.
If that ongoing cost buys you years you wouldn't otherwise have in the flat, it's worth paying. If it's buying space you're not yet sure you need, we think that the four-room flat is the more conservative bet this time around.
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