We Had A $2.9M Budget For A Family Condo — Should We Buy A Bigger Older Condo Or A Smaller New Launch?

Hi Stacked,

We’re a couple in our late 30s with two young children who are two and five years old. In our ongoing search for a new home, space is our main priority. We need a unit that is at least 1,200 sq ft, and a property that can realise a reasonable profit when the time comes to sell it.

Our budget is around $2.9 million, and we plan to hold on to the unit for at least four years.

After shortlisting developments in Bishan and Ang Mo Kio, and excluding those which are either too old or over our budget, we’ve ended up with two options: AMO Residence and The Gardens at Bishan.

We like AMO since it is newer with a much longer lease, we also reckon that it might be easier to find a buyer in the future. However, the living room is smaller than we’d like and the largest three-bedders sit at around 1,140 sq ft.

 The Gardens at Bishan draws us in for its unit sizes and more affordable pricing, but we’re concerned about the 29-year-old lease and whether we’d be leaving resale upside on the table by going that route.

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.)

Hi, and thanks for writing in.

In our opinion, there’s a gap in the timeline you have laid out that’s worth naming before we dive deeper. You’ve described an intention of holding this new property for at least four years, but both developments are on your shortlist for their proximity to the primary schools in the area.

If your five-year-old enrols in the next year or two and your two-year-old follows in 2030, staying through both children’s primary school years means that you may have to consider holding on to this property for at least eight to ten years.

There may be other factors that you need to consider which you aren’t able to share, but we think it’s worth pointing out before we begin.

Now, this isn’t a reason to rule out a holding period of about four years, but it changes how you can approach the question about living space: a 1,140 sq ft unit is a different commitment for a decade than it is for four years.

Older leasehold condos have outgrown their reputation for underperformance

It is understandable that the age of The Gardens at Bishan incites concerns about the negative impact of lease decay on its resale value, especially for buyers today who need to plan long-term.

To summarise, The Gardens at Bishan is a 99-year leasehold development along Sin Ming Walk that was completed in 1997. This means that the 29 year old condo has about 70 years left on its lease.

However, the market data and our analysis of transaction data over the past decade indicates that the resale penalty on a depreciating lease has been smaller and less linear than what most buyers would assume.

In an analysis of sub-sale and resale transactions for 99-year leasehold non-landed private properties between 2015 and 2025, we can see that developments in the 21–30-year age band recorded higher annualised price growth than those in the 11–20-year band: specifically 3.73% per year against 2.64%.

Meanwhile, condos in the 31–40-year cohort posted a 3.38% annual rate over the same period.

The condos in the youngest age band do command higher prices on a psf basis (in 2025, developments aged 11–20 years were transacting at around $1,625 psf compared to $1,393 psf for the 21–30-year cohort), but that premium has not translated into stronger compound growth over the decade.

Our take on the data shown here is that most of the outperformance among older condos took place during the housing market’s recovery after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is partially attributed to the increase in demand for large-sizes homes, such as three-bedders and larger units.

With new launch projects that feature more compact and efficiently designed unit layouts, a growing number of buyers who want a larger living area seem to be turning to resale options. That demand has helped to support price growth for these older projects, which might otherwise have fallen behind compared to the broader resale market.

Thus, a development that is 29 years into its lease is not yet at the stage where its age starts to significantly and negatively impact its price growth as well as resale value.

Based on our analysis of private home prices in the market, lease decay becomes a more acute constraint when the development has approximately 40 years left on its lease, and has a more direct effect on CPF eligibility and financing terms.

An older condo’s price growth in the first half of its 99-year tenure is often shaped far more by its location, supply dynamics of the surrounding area, and the quality of the unit in the specific precinct, rather than just the years left on its lease.

The Gardens at Bishan has been the area’s strongest performer

The broader price trend influencing lease decay and resale value is one thing. But what’s even more crucial is the price performance of the resale units at The Gardens at Bishan over the past decade.

When we compare the price performance across 99-year leasehold condominiums in the Bishan and Upper Thomson corridor from 2015 to 2025, The Gardens at Bishan recorded the highest annualised growth among the projects in the area, notching an average growth rate of 5.29% per year.

This puts it ahead of other condos in the area such as Thomson Three (4.30%), Thomson Impressions (3.15%), and Thomson Grand (1.61%). Although, the newer developments command higher quantums, they have not matched The Gardens at Bishan’s rate of appreciation over the decade.

Average $PSF by project

Transaction volume by project

A closer examination of the three-bedroom category, the trend since 2021 still holds. Median resale prices for three-bedroom units at The Gardens at Bishan rose from $1,294 psf in 2021 to $1,777 psf in 2025, an annualised gain of roughly 8.2% over four years.

If a development has a narrowing pool of buyers, as a result of its declining leasehold tenure, would reflect a decline in resale volumes as it ages. But no such pattern seems to be reflected in the transaction history at The Gardens at Bishan.

Three-bedroom resale transactions at The Gardens at Bishan

The area’s proximity to well-known schools is likely the strongest factor which has maintained the pool of interested buyers in this area, and for the condos that are located nearby.

Both Ai Tong School and CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School is within 1km of The Gardens at Bishan. Families with school-going children who want a higher chance of enrolling their children into these schools create a consistent pool of owner-occupier demand that is not contingent on the development’s building age or the quality of its facilities.

Thus, this type of proximity to established and well-known schools is an attribute that new launch projects cannot replicate.

AMO Residence commands a 42% psf premium and delivers less space

When we take a look at the transactions, the price gap between The Gardens at Bishan and AMO Residence is real and substantial, especially from the perspective of their $PSF prices.

Among AMO Residence units in the 900–1,200 sq ft range (broadly corresponding to the three-bedroom configuration) that transacted in 2025, the median price was approximately $2,519 psf. However, at The Gardens at Bishan, the median price of a three-bedroom unit was $1,777 psf in the same year. That is a difference of roughly 42% on a psf basis.

In absolute dollar terms, the gap is narrower but still significant. Three-bedroom resales at The Gardens at Bishan fetched a median price of approximately $2.12 million, based on transactions in 2025, but comparable units at AMO Residence came in at around $2.57 million. This suggests to us that buyers are paying roughly $440,000 to $450,000 or more for a unit at AMO Residence, but for a home that is smaller compared to The Gardens at Bishan.

What makes this comparison particularly interesting is that both developments share essentially the same location advantages: within the same school catchments, a short walk from the same MRT stations and green spaces, and less than a kilometre apart. 

The price premium that the resale buyers at AMO Residence likely fork out for is the benefit of a relatively fresh lease, newer facilities, and a more contemporary product. To put it simply, those buyers are paying for more time and modernity.

Those are real advantages. But whether they are worth the additional price outlay and the reduction in floor area, particularly given your stated minimum of 1,200 sq ft, will ultimately depend on what you prioritise.

The units are similar in size but allocate space differently

When we compare similarly sized layouts in both developments, it is clear that the units in these two projects use their floor area in different ways. The smallest three-bedroom unit at The Gardens at Bishan is around 1,152 sq ft, while a comparably sized AMO Residence three-bedroom unit sits at approximately 1,141 sq ft.

Despite being almost identical in terms of their total floor area, the two units are designed around different priorities.

The unit layout at The Gardens at Bishan apportions a larger share of its footprint to the main living areas, bedrooms, and a service area that includes an enclosed kitchen, a dedicated yard, a WC, and a naturally ventilated utility room. On the other hand, the unit at AMO Residence allocates more of its floor area toward a study and a household shelter, with a smaller service area and a balcony in place of planter boxes.

The unit at The Gardens at Bishan is likely to feel more spacious when we consider a family’s typical daily routine, even though the raw size difference between the two units is just 11 sq ft.

For a household with two young children the layout comparison is worth taking careful consideration. This is not because of what the home feels like now, but because the way a family uses space changes considerably as children move through primary school: a dedicated study area, separate bedroom retreats, and room for storage.

Additionally, The Gardens at Bishan has units well above the 1,152 sq ft mark. Some are in the 1,400–1,700 sq ft range and may still fall within your budget. The premium for these larger units over the standard three-bedroom at The Gardens at Bishan will bring the price closer to AMO Residence, but the space-per-dollar comparison would still favour The Gardens by a wide margin.

If 1,200 sq ft is a genuine minimum for you, it is worth checking what is available at the development above that threshold before treating the two options as equivalent in space.

Thomson Grand as a middle ground in terms of lease, age, and price

You are also faced with more than a choice between a 29-year-old development and a relatively new condo. We would consider Thomson Grand, a 99-year leasehold condo with 339 units that was completed in 2015, as a possible contender.

Thomson Grand is located along Sin Ming Walk and is in the same RCR segment as The Gardens at Bishan; it also sits along the same Bishan-Upper Thomson residential corridor.

Resale three-bedroom units, that range from 1,100 to 1,500 sq ft at Thomson Grand, changed hands for approximately $1,800 psf and $2.47 million, based on transactions in 2025. That’s higher than the median price at The Gardens at Bishan by around $23 psf and around $340,000 more in terms of price quantum, but well below the prices at AMO Residence on both measures.

Since its lease started in 2010, it has about 83 years left on its land tenure. This is longer than the leasehold at The Gardens at Bishan, while still offering unit sizes that are tough to compare among newer developments.

We are not suggesting Thomson Grand is automatically a better fit than either of your shortlisted developments. But it illustrates that the decision does not have to rest entirely on the tension between a nearly 30-year-old condo and a newer development. Depending on what is available in the current market, a mid-vintage development like Thomson Grand may offer a compromise on both dimensions that is worth exploring before you commit.

So, what should you do?

Faced with the data, the case against The Gardens at Bishan in terms of its remaining lease is weaker than other 29-year-old leasehold developments might suggest. The project has delivered the strongest annualised price growth among comparable developments in the Bishan corridor over the past decade, and maintained consistent transaction volumes. It is also located in an area where the school catchment provides a reliable base of owner-occupier demand that newer developments in the area cannot replicate.

On the other hand, AMO Residence offers a younger lease, a modern product, and a resale appeal that will likely attract a broader buyer pool for the decade ahead. What it does not offer at current prices is comparable space. At $2,519 psf in OCR, buyers are already paying close to RCR rates for a home that falls below your stated size requirement.

But what the data cannot offer is the factor which you may need to consider the most seriously. If your family settles into the area and stays through both children’s primary school years, the holding period is close to ten years. Over that time, the question of which unit your family lives in, and how comfortably it does so, carries more weight than it does over a short-term transaction.

A slightly older lease at ten years from now is still a development in its fourth decade of a 99-year leasehold, at a location with school-access demand that has proven resilient. A modern unit that feels tight in year one may feel more so in year eight.

The financial case for The Gardens at Bishan is more coherent than its age typically leads buyers to assume. Whether the remaining lease concern would weigh on you through the hold, and whether the floor area would genuinely work for your family over the longer term, are the questions worth resolving before you decide.