A Kallang/Whampoa 4-Room At $920,000, A District 12 Condo At $1,469,000 — And A Third Option That Pays $4,000 A Month

This is an illustrative example on the quarter's median prices and a stated household, not a real family and not advice on whether to sell, buy, keep or rent out. It lays out the figures the position engine computes for each side of the question; the decision is the reader's.

According to HDB resale records on data.gov.sg and URA Data Service caveats, run through our position engine, the figures are these. A 4-room in Kallang/Whampoa had a median of $525,000 in 2Q2020, across 22 sales. In 2Q2026 the median is $920,000, across 70 sales. That is a move of +75.2% over the six years. A 60 to 99 sqm private unit in District 12 has a 2Q2026 median of $1,469,000, across 36 sales.

The household in this example is a couple who bought in 2Q2020 with a 75% HDB loan. Everything below is indicative, drawn from recorded transactions and recorded rental approvals. None of it is a valuation of any home. We lay out three sides and stop there.

The sale side comes down to one number: $575,554 in net proceeds

Start with what the flat does on its own. The purchase was $525,000 in 2Q2020. The 2Q2026 median is $920,000, a change of $395,000. The original HDB loan was $393,750. The engine puts the loan balance at about $321,120 after six years, on a standard amortisation at 2.6% over 25 years.

Selling costs come to $23,326, covering agent and legal fees. Seller's stamp duty is $0, since the six-year hold sits well past the SSD window under the rules as recorded. Strip those out and the sale nets about $575,554.

One caveat on the medians. The 2Q2020 figure rests on 22 sales and the 2Q2026 figure on 70. Both are medians for the whole town, not for a specific block, floor or lease balance. Mix moves these numbers. The table below sets out each line.

Buying the condo needs $410,610 before the loan, and the sequence changes that completely

The District 12 median of $1,469,000 covers 36 sales, at a median size of 888 sqft. Buyer's stamp duty on that price is $43,360. The maximum loan is $1,101,750, set by the 75% LTV limit. That leaves $73,450 in minimum cash and $293,800 in CPF or cash.

Add it up as the engine does and $410,610 is needed before the loan draws down. Against $575,554 from the flat sale, that leaves a surplus of $164,944. The order matters here. If the condo is bought before the flat is sold, additional buyer's stamp duty applies at 20%, or $293,800, under the rules as recorded. Remissions are not modelled in these figures.

The rates used are versioned. BSD sits at the 2023-02-15 version, ABSD at 2023-04-27, SSD at 2025-07-04, LTV at 2024-08-20. Rules change with each round of measures, so the line items move with them.

The monthly instalment moves by $3,179, and the test rate moves it again

The flat instalment is about $1,786 a month. The condo instalment is about $4,966 a month, on a loan of $1,101,750 at 3% over 27 years. The difference is $3,179 a month.

The second row of the table below is the test rate, not a prediction of where rates go. At 4%, the condo instalment is $5,566 and the flat instalment is $2,013. It is a sensitivity check on the same loan, nothing more.

Holding the condo for five years costs $262,858 in all, on the engine's assumptions. Of that, $154,988 is interest. The remainder covers stamp duty, maintenance, property tax and the selling costs at exit. For those five years of cost to be covered, the price would need to rise 18.3%.

The third side is renting the flat out at $4,000 a month for a 5.2% gross yield

The rental estimate comes from 12 recorded approvals on data.gov.sg for comparable flats. Twelve rows is a thin base, so treat the $4,000 as indicative rather than firm. Against the 2Q2026 median of $920,000, that works out to a gross yield of 5.2%.

From there the engine subtracts. Property tax at the non-owner-occupied rate is $2,016 a year, on an assumed annual value of $41,820. Maintenance is $900 a year. After vacancy, tax and maintenance, net rent is $41,100 a year. Interest on the remaining loan takes $8,349.

What is left is a net carry of $32,751 a year, or 3.6%. That figure assumes the flat is kept and the existing loan continues to run. It says nothing about what the flat would fetch later. The table below shows each deduction.

What the three sides do not settle

Each column rests on a median, and a median is not a home. The flat's 70 sales in 2Q2026 span different blocks, floors and lease balances. The condo's 36 sales span different projects and stacks. A specific unit can sit well above or below either line.

The engine also holds some things fixed. The condo loan is drawn at the maximum 75%. The hold cost assumes a sale at today's indicative mid value after five years, with 2% commission, $3,000 in legal fees and 9% GST. Change the tenure, the rate or the loan size and every monthly figure moves.

TDSR is not binding in this example; LTV is what caps the loan. That is a feature of the stated income of $15,000 a month and the age of 38, not a general result.

The open questions are the ones the data cannot close. Whether the 2Q2026 medians hold into 3Q2026 is one. Whether a $4,000 rent is achievable from a 12-row base is another. The rules themselves are versioned and checked against IRAS and MAS publications as of 2026-09-18. A fresh round of measures resets the stamp duty and LTV lines, and the whole arithmetic shifts with them.

One headline number rarely carries a decision on its own. A $920,000 median tells you where the town sat last quarter. It does not tell you what any single flat is worth, or how any of these three paths runs over five years. The value is in watching how each figure fits the direction of the wider market over several quarters. We lay out the sides; the weighing is yours.

Method: the flat is a 4-room in the town, bought at the median of Q2 2020 with a 75% HDB loan at 2.6% over 25 years, of which 6 years have been paid. Its value today is Q2 2026's median. Selling costs, seller's stamp duty, equity, the rent estimate and the carry are the position engine's under the rules recorded as in force. The condo is a 60 to 99 sqm resale in the nearest district with enough sales within 2.5 km of the town. It is taken at Q2 2026's median. The buyer is a citizen aged 38 with a household income of S$15,000 a month and no other debt. sale at today's indicative mid value after 5 years. Seller pays 2% commission and S$3,000 legal fees, plus 9% GST. Mortgage interest from a standard amortisation schedule at the given rate. Loan of S$1,101,750 (75% of the price), the maximum available. Property tax on an assumed annual value of S$41,820 (85% of market rent). Maintenance at the configured norm. Rates are versioned data in config/rules.yaml, checked against IRAS and MAS publications on 2026-09-18. The newest version applied here took effect 2025-07-04. Rules change with each cooling-measure round. Private figures are from URA Data Service caveats, HDB figures from data.gov.sg resale records, both loaded weekly by this site's ingest. Medians are of the non-excluded transactions in the period named. Sales flagged by the hygiene rules (related-party transfers, bulk deals, outliers) are left out. Every figure is indicative and drawn from recorded transactions, not a formal valuation.