Should We Sell Our Freehold Condo For A $2.2M Leasehold Landed Instead?

Hi Stacked, 

We previously upgraded from a HDB flat to an EC, and now live in a condo. But we are now considering a move to a landed home. A freehold property is out of our budget, so we are focusing on 99-year leasehold options.

We have the sale proceeds from our former home at Signature at Yishun, which we bought around late 2017 at a relatively low $PSF. We stay in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit at The Lilium – a freehold condo and we are past the Sellers Stamp Duty period – which is under my wife’s name.

We face two options:

Option 1: Decouple and buy a second property
We are considering an older resale condo (The Madeira or Palm Gardens) under my name, or a project in areas like Bukit Gombak, Choa Chu Kang, or Bukit Panjang. Our budget is around $1.3 to $1.4 million. This is because our children are studying at schools nearby, so we need to move closer to the Bukit Gombak area.

Option 2: Sell and upgrade to landed
Alternatively, we could sell the unit at The Lilium and purchase a 99-year leasehold landed property in Villa Verde (the house we are eyeing has a lease that started in 2000). We’ve considering a house that is priced at around $2.2 million. We are leaning toward this option as our children are growing up and we would prefer more space, including separate bedrooms and a proper study area.

However, we have a few concerns:

• The unit at The Lilium has been on the market for a few months with no viewings so far, making us unsure whether to continue holding or adjust expectations
• The Villa Verde properties are already over 20 years old, so there is some lease decay to consider.
• New launch and resale condos are also priced above $2 million today, and we question whether a $2.2 million landed home might offer better value, even with a shorter remaining lease.

Do you think a 99-year leasehold landed property at around $2.2 million is a better long-term move compared to newer condos at similar price points in our case, and are there any blind spots or risks we may be overlooking, especially in terms of exit strategy and long-term value.

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 to us! 

So far, your property choices have been a textbook example of homeowner upgrading, namely: enter early, benefit from market growth, and move up the property ladder. It has worked especially well in your case, given your competitive entry price point into a unit at Signature at Yishun.

Your next property upgrade isn’t just about “moving up” anymore. It’s about deciding what you want to optimise in your lifestyle: space, location, or flexibility.

In general, the lack of viewings for the unit at The Lilium after a few months on the market is concerning, as it affects how easily you can execute your next step.

First, let’s examine the development of the unit you currently own, The Lilium, to see how it has fared on the resale market.

The Lilium is a boutique 80-unit project on How Sun Road in District 19. Typically, the owners of units at boutique condos like this take a bit longer to find the right buyers, since the overall demand for boutique condos is a bit more niche compared to mass market alternatives.

Since the launch of The Lilium in 2019 to date, the condo has not recorded any sub-sale or resale transactions. This presents us with a challenge and may cause most buyers to hesitate, since the lack of sales doesn’t offer them a clear reference in terms of the resale value.

But let’s look at how prices moved at The Lilium, based on developer sales.

Overall, the decline in average $PSF price is attributed to the larger-sized units in the development, which tends to command a much higher price quantum, and are often the last to get sold by the developer.

Based on the transaction data, it suggests that most of the smaller units at the project were sold first by the developer, while the largest units – like the four-bedders – moved subsequently. We can see this in the transaction types:

2-bedroom units

3-bedroom units

4-bedroom units

According to the sales data, the average $PSF declined in 2023 due to sales of the larger units. There is a possibility that the dip in average selling price may be related to discounts offered by the developer in an effort to sell the remaining unsold units, ahead of the five-year ABSD deadline for the project.

Overall this isn’t too much of an issue, as the real bugbear is still the lack of resale transactions. 

There’s no indication of the resale performance of units at The Lilium at the moment, and while that doesn’t mean it will perform poorly, it could signal slower resale buyer take up rates.

With that in mind, let’s look at your two alternatives:

Option 1: Decoupling and buying a resale condo near Bukit Gombak

The first option is to retain The Lilium under your wife’s name, decouple, and purchase another property under your own name.

Working within your budget of $1.3 million to $1.4 million, older resale projects like The Madeira and Palm Gardens could be viable. These condos are close to your children’s schools and in theory, are the most flexible option in your case.

But before deciding if this makes sense, consider how these projects have actually performed on the resale market. The tables below show resale and sub-sale transactions for condos in the Bukit Gombak and Choa Chu Kang area, benchmarked against the average price of condos in D23 and the overall private residential market.

Average $PSF

According to what we see in these comparisons, our view is that it’s not great and it’s not bad either.

In general, resale prices at Palm Gardens and The Madeira mostly kept pace with the private residential property market, and have performed just under average prices recorded in D23 (though not by a significant margin).

A caveat of this comparison is that several new projects entered the secondary market and contributed to a ramp up in resale activity in 2020. This skews our analysis of the longer-term data. To get a fairer comparison, we will only look at the period from 2020 to 2025.

Most of these projects moved broadly in line with the average price of condos in D23 and the wider condo market, with a few cases of outperformance.

With that in mind, let’s look at where prices are today, especially for two- and three-bedroom units within the $1.3 million to $1.4 million range. 

2-bedroom units

3-bedroom units

With a budget of around $1.3 million to $1.4 million, a two-bedroom unit is still achievable in your case, but once you move up to three-bedders the options narrow.

Palm Gardens stands out as one of the few developments where the price of three-bedroom units still fall within your budget, and most resale units there fetched an average of $1.28 million in 2025.

In contrast, three-bedroom units at newer projects like Sol Acres, Inz Residence, and Wandervale are already closer to the $1.5 million to $1.6 million range.

The Madeira sits somewhere in between, but securing a three-bedder within your budget may depend on the specific unit of your choice.

Where these older projects do stand out is the size of their units. Palm Gardens and The Madeira offer units with noticeably larger layouts, with three-bedders averaging around 1,200 sq ft, compared to newer developments where units in this category are about 1,000 sq ft.

The overall resale transaction volume is also worth noting. Both Palm Gardens and The Madeira continue to see consistent resale activity, which suggests there’s steady buying demand despite the age of the developments. This likely stems from buyers with families seeking larger units.

Older developments like these can see sustained resale buying demand for a surprisingly long time, as local homeowners tend to prioritise space and overall price quantum.

Option 2: Selling and buying a Villa Verde landed home

The second option is to sell the unit at The Lilium and consolidate the capital gains into a landed property in Villa Verde, a collection of terraces and semi-detached houses in a landed estate in District 23 that is close to Chua Chu Kang.

From our perspective, this is the more straightforward “upgrade” move since you’ll own a home with significantly more space to suit your evolving lifestyle needs.

With a budget of around $2.2 million, you’re effectively looking at a price range of most so-called entry-level landed homes. In terms of price, it’s not too far off from what some larger resale or new launch condos are going for today, especially new four- and five-bedroom options.

But before deciding if it’s worth it, we’ll examine how the landed properties in Villa Verde compare to other landed properties in the area.

The table below shows resale and sub-sale transactions for leasehold landed homes in Bukit Batok and Choa Chu Kang, alongside broader market benchmarks.

Average $PSF

If we compare Burgundy Hill, a collection of 166 three-storey semi-detached landed homes off Bukit Batok Ave 3, to Villa Verde, the resale prices of both projects have broadly kept pace with the price of the landed housing market. 

This is because D23 doesn’t have many clusters of 99-year landed houses, so projects like Villa Verde and Burgundy Hill make up a big part of the transaction data. As a result, their price movements tend to mirror the district’s quite closely. 

The following transactions were lodged in 2025, which should give you a sense of the overall price trajectory.

At $2.2 million, the unit you’re considering sits slightly below the average price of this area. This implies that you might be entering at the lower end of the range that most sellers are looking to close deals. To see whether this is a good value, we’ll compare it against other leasehold landed homes across Singapore.

Based on the data here, we have a little bit of bad news. Most 99-year leasehold landed homes which were sold in 2025 fetched between $2.7 million and $3.2 million, with the average price of some properties in several districts exceeding the $3 million threshold. 

Landed homes in D23 recorded an average price of about $2.83 million, which is on the lower price range among many districts. This is still an average price that would likely stretch your budget.

However, homes in Villa Verde appear to sit slightly below this average, which could make it a viable option in your case.

Condo vs. landed: how do the two options compare? Written by Hailey, writer at Stacked.

From the transaction data we’ve presented in this article, both the condominiums and landed homes you are considering have moved in line with the wider market over time. In other words, price movements for developments in this part of District 23 tend to be driven by the broader property cycle rather than by any individual development.

That said, if we compare the three shortlisted developments over a consistent period from 2020 to 2025, landed homes in Villa Verde edge ahead, recording a stronger annualised growth rate than both Palm Gardens and The Madeira over the same period of time.

In terms of age, the three developments are largely comparable. Palm Gardens and Villa Verde both date back to around 1996 to 1997, while The Madeira was launched a few years after. Any difference in price performance over this period is unlikely to be attributed to the age of the property alone.

Beyond the price data, the two property types also come with different structural trade-offs that are worth laying out clearly.

What this means for your situation

Based on what we’ve shared here so far, neither option is a clear winner when we compare them solely based on their price performance.

Both the older condos and landed homes in Villa Verde have generally kept pace with the wider private residential property market over time. So the decision is less about which will appreciate more, and more about what best fits your family’s needs at this stage of your lives and into the next

In my view, the most immediate consideration you might face is the need for space. With two growing boys, a Villa Verde landed home offers significantly more room than any condominium in this budget. This could take the form of additional bedrooms, a dedicated study area, or simply more usable space across multiple levels. From a lifestyle standpoint, the landed option is compelling.

Moreover, given a budget of about $2.2 million, you are also not paying dramatically more compared to the prices of some larger resale or new launch condos in the area. 

The next consideration is your unit at The Lilium. As we shared earlier, there have been no sub-sale or resale transactions at the development since its launch in 2019.

This doesn’t necessarily mean units there will always struggle to sell in the resale market. But the lack of transaction history does make it harder for prospective buyers to price it with confidence, which likely explains the absence of viewings so far.

If the plan under Option 1 is to hold The Lilium as an investment property, it is worth asking whether it is the right asset for that role. Investors tend to prefer properties with stronger resale liquidity and more established transaction histories. Tenants, on the other hand, are drawn to the underlying qualities that drive that demand: good connectivity, nearby amenities, and the kind of consistent locational appeal that keeps a rental unit occupied.

You may want to consider another option. Rather than holding on to the unit at The Lilium, you could sell it and reallocate the proceeds into a different investment property that may offer stronger rental demand and a cleaner exit down the road, and separately purchase a home that meets your family’s lifestyle needs.

This separates the two objectives cleanly rather than bundling them into one compromised decision.

Taking everything together, selling the unit at the The Lilium and consolidating the capital gains into a Villa Verde landed home appears to be the option that most directly addresses what you have described as your priority: more space for a growing family, proximity to the boys’ schools, and the next step up the property ladder.

The data also shows that landed homes in this part of the district have tracked the broader market closely over time, so you are not taking on outsized risk relative to staying in the condo segment.

However, the landed purchase would naturally depend on successfully selling the unit at The Lilium at a price that works for you. Given the lack of resale comparables, it may be worth setting a realistic floor price based on the developer’s later-stage transaction data rather than anchoring the listing to the higher prices from the earlier launch phases.

In short, this is less a question of which asset will outperform, and more about whether landed living better meets your family’s needs right now. Based on what you’ve shared, the answer seems to point in one direction.