Selling a Queenstown 4-Room to Buy in District 3: The Numbers at Q2 2026 Medians

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.

Many flat owners reach the point where the next move is a private unit. The sums involved are large, and they sit in different places: sale proceeds, stamp duty, loan limits, monthly instalments and rent.

In this article, we look at one illustrative household three ways. We show what the flat sale nets, what the condo costs upfront and monthly, and what renting the flat out would earn.

The flat side uses HDB resale data and rental approvals from data.gov.sg. The private side uses URA Data Service caveats. The position figures come from this site's own engine. At Q2 2026, the Queenstown 4-room median was S$1,023,000 from 73 sales.

What Does The Flat Sale Net?

The couple bought in Q2 2020 at that quarter's median of S$780,000, with a 75% HDB loan. They are looking at a sale at the Q2 2026 median.

The table below sets out the sale side.

The table shows a change of S$243,000 in the median, or +31.1% since the quarter of purchase. The loan balance after 6 years is about S$477,093. Selling costs are about S$25,571, and there is no seller's stamp duty at this holding period. Net proceeds work out to about S$520,336. Note that both medians rest on a modest number of sales, 29 then and 73 now.

What Does The Condo Cost To Buy?

The target is a 60 to 99 sqm private unit in District 3. The Q2 2026 median there was S$1,828,888, from 43 sales with a median size of 797 sqft.

The table below sets out the purchase side.

Buyer's stamp duty is S$61,044. The loan is capped at S$1,371,666, set by the 75% LTV limit. Of the rest, S$91,444 must be cash and S$365,778 can come from CPF or cash. That is S$518,266 needed before the loan, against S$520,336 from the flat, leaving a surplus of S$2,070.

Order matters here. Buying the condo before the flat is sold would add ABSD at 20%, or S$365,777, under the rules as recorded. Remissions are not modelled in these figures.

How Do The Monthly Numbers Compare?

The flat instalment and the condo instalment are not on the same scale. The condo loan runs at 3% over 27 years in this example.

The table below shows both, at the loan rate and at a test rate.

The instalment moves from about S$2,654 on the flat to S$6,182 on the condo. That is a difference of S$3,528 a month. At the 4% test rate, the condo instalment is S$6,930. The test rate is a stress assumption used in the calculation, not a view on where rates go.

What Would Renting The Flat Out Earn?

The third side keeps the flat and rents it out. The rent estimate comes from 67 recorded approvals for the town and flat type.

The table below sets out the rental side.

Estimated rent is S$4,600 a month, a gross yield of 5.4%. After vacancy, tax and maintenance, net rent is S$47,400 a year. Interest on the remaining loan takes S$12,404. The net carry is S$34,996 a year, or 3.4%. Note that property tax here uses the non-owner-occupied rate.

What Does Holding The Condo Cost?

The engine also costs out five years of holding the private unit. That covers interest, selling costs on exit and the other items listed in the assumptions.

Over five years, holding costs S$326,613 in all, with S$192,958 of that interest. On those assumptions, the price would need to rise 18.3% to cover the total. That is an arithmetic breakeven on the stated costs, not a projection of prices.

Key Takeaways

At Q2 2026 medians, the Queenstown 4-room sells at S$1,023,000 and nets about S$520,336 after the loan balance and selling costs. The District 3 unit at S$1,828,888 needs S$518,266 before the loan, leaving S$2,070. The monthly step up is S$3,528. Renting the flat out instead returns a net carry of S$34,996 a year.

These figures come from recorded transactions and approvals, not from a valuation of any home. Medians cover a mix of blocks, ages, floors and sizes. The counts are small: 73 flat sales, 43 private sales, 67 rental approvals. Stamp duty, LTV and tax rules are versioned in the engine and change with each policy round.

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$1,371,666 (75% of the price), the maximum available. Property tax on an assumed annual value of S$49,470 (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.