Selling A Geylang 4-Room At S$673,000 To Buy In District 14 — The Sale Nets S$2,825 Short Of What The Condo Needs

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.

Here is the question, stripped to its parts. A couple buys a 4-room flat in Geylang in 2Q2020. Six years on, they look at a 60 to 99 sqm private unit in District 14. The flat can be sold to fund it. It can also be kept and rented out. Each path carries its own set of numbers. Those numbers rarely sit side by side anywhere. So we ran them through our position engine and laid the three sides on one page. What follows is what the quarter's medians and the recorded rules produce. We have not picked a side.

According to data.gov.sg HDB resale records and URA Data Service caveats, the headline medians read like this. The Geylang 4-room median was S$427,500 in 2Q2020, from 26 sales. In 2Q2026 it is S$673,000, from 55 sales. That is a move of +57.4% over the six years. On the private side, the District 14 median for a 60 to 99 sqm unit is S$1,420,000 in 2Q2026, from 58 sales. The median unit in that set is 866 sqft. Every figure here is indicative and drawn from recorded transactions. None of it is a valuation of any particular home.

The flat's median has moved 57.4% since the couple bought it in 2Q2020

Start with the flat on its own. The purchase sits at the 2Q2020 median of S$427,500, measured across 26 sales that quarter. The 2Q2026 median is S$673,000, measured across 55 sales. The change between the two is S$245,500. That is the whole of the first table's top half, and it is a comparison of two quarterly medians, not of one flat against itself.

The rest of the table is the exit arithmetic. The purchase assumes a 75% HDB loan of S$320,625 at 2.6% over 25 years. After six years the balance is about S$261,484. Selling costs for agent and legal work come to about S$17,941. Seller's stamp duty is S$0 at this holding period. That leaves net proceeds of about S$393,575.

What the table cannot settle is mix. Those 55 sales cover different blocks, floors, lease balances and conditions. A median across them is a market reading, not a price for this flat. The same caution applies to the 26 sales behind the 2020 figure, which is a thinner base.

The cash the condo needs lands S$2,825 above what the sale brings in

Now the buy side. The District 14 median for the 60 to 99 sqm band is S$1,420,000, from 58 sales. Buyer's stamp duty on that is S$41,400. The maximum loan is S$1,065,000, which is 75% of the price. In this run the loan-to-value limit is the binding constraint, not income.

That leaves the cash and CPF legs. Minimum cash is S$71,000. A further S$284,000 comes from CPF or cash. Needed before the loan: S$396,400. The sale brings in about S$393,575. The engine shows the difference as a shortfall of S$2,825, to be found elsewhere.

Order matters in the second row of the table. Bought after the flat is sold, ABSD is S$0. Bought before, ABSD at 20% is S$284,000 under the rules as recorded. Remissions are not modelled here. The rates are versioned data, checked against IRAS and MAS publications on 2026-09-18. The newest version applied took effect 2025-07-04.

The monthly instalment moves from S$1,455 to S$4,800 on the same household

The month-by-month table is the shortest one here, and the plainest. Keeping the flat means an instalment of about S$1,455 on the remaining HDB loan. Buying the condo means about S$4,800, at 3% over 27 years, on the full S$1,065,000. The engine puts the difference at S$3,345 a month. Nothing in that row changes with sentiment. It is amortisation at the stated rate and tenure.

The second row runs both legs at 4%. That is a test rate applied to the schedule, not a rate anyone is quoted. At it, the flat leg reads S$1,639 and the condo leg S$5,380. The gap between the two rows is simply the rate used. It shows how much of the monthly figure is sensitive to the rate assumption, which matters more on the larger loan.

Renting the flat out instead is the third way the engine counts it

The third side keeps the flat and puts it on the rental market. The estimated rent is S$3,900 a month. That comes from 13 recorded rental approvals in the data.gov.sg set. On the 2Q2026 median price, the gross yield works out to 7.0%.

Then the costs come off. Property tax at non-owner-occupied rates is S$1,966 a year, on an assumed annual value of S$54,060. Maintenance is S$900 a year. After vacancy, tax and maintenance, net rent is S$40,050 a year. Interest on the remaining HDB loan is S$6,799 a year. The net carry is S$33,251 a year, or 4.9%.

Thirteen approvals is a thin base, and worth holding in mind. Rents in that set cover different units and lease terms. The figure is indicative, and it moves as new approvals are recorded. The loan on the flat also keeps running in this path, which is why interest sits in the table at all.

Five years of holding the condo costs S$258,664, and S$149,818 of that is interest

The engine also costs out the condo over a five-year hold. The total is S$258,664. Of that, S$149,818 is mortgage interest. The rest is the other recorded costs of owning and exiting. On those inputs, the price would need to rise 18.6% to cover the holding cost. That is a breakeven figure computed from the costs, and nothing more.

The assumptions behind it are stated. The exit uses today's indicative mid value after five years. The seller pays 2% commission and S$3,000 in legal fees, plus 9% GST. Interest comes from a standard amortisation schedule at 3% on the S$1,065,000 loan. Maintenance sits at the configured norm. Change the rate or the hold period and the breakeven figure changes with them.

A few things the tables do not settle. The medians are quarterly, and both counts are modest: 55 flat sales and 58 private sales. Mix can move a median on its own. The rental estimate rests on 13 approvals. The stamp duty and loan-to-value rules are versioned, and they change with each policy round. What is worth tracking in the next quarter's data is whether the two medians hold their current levels, how many sales sit behind them, and whether the rental approvals base thickens.

We keep coming back to the same point with these runs. One number on its own, however large, settles very little. The sale figure only means something next to the cash the purchase calls for, the monthly instalment on both sides, and what the flat earns if it stays. The three sides are laid out above. The reading of them 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$1,065,000 (75% of the price), the maximum available. Property tax on an assumed annual value of S$54,060 (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.