HDB resale prices since 2020: Woodlands rose 54% like for like, Toa Payoh 39%

Since 2020, HDB resale prices have risen most in the outer towns. Measured block by block, so that each comparison is the same kind of flat in the same block, Woodlands rose 54.4%, Sembawang 53.5% and Pasir Ris 51.6% between 2020 and July to September 2026 1. Queenstown, at 30.3%, rose least 1. The town medians most people quote tell a different story, and often the wrong one.

How much have HDB resale prices risen since 2020?

Across Singapore, the median resale flat registered in 2020 sold at about $405 psf 1. In July to September 2026, the latest full quarter in HDB's resale records, the median was about $598 psf, a rise of 47.8% 1. For a four-room flat, the most common type, the median price went from $420,000 in 2020 to $628,000 in the latest quarter 1.

HDB's own Resale Price Index, which adjusts for the mix of flats sold, tells a similar story. It averaged 133.85 across the four quarters of 2020 and stood at 202.4 in the third quarter of 2026, a flash estimate, which is a rise of about 51.2% 2. The index is not climbing any more. It peaked at 203.7 in the third quarter of 2025 and has eased in each of the last three quarters 2. CNA reported that the flash estimate puts the fall over the first nine months of 2026 at 0.6% 3.

So the broad answer is that a resale flat costs roughly half as much again as it did in 2020. The town-by-town answer needs more care, because the flats that sell in a town change from year to year.

Why can a town's median mislead?

A town median is the middle price of whatever flats happened to be sold. If a town's newer blocks reach their five-year minimum occupation period and start to change hands, the median jumps, even if no single flat is worth more than it was. The reverse is also true. A town where older flats make up more of the sales will look as if prices stalled.

Toa Payoh shows how large the effect can be. Its median resale psf went from about $407 in 2020 to about $861 in July to September 2026, a rise of 111.3%, by far the largest of any town 1. Over the same period, the median lease start year of the flats sold there moved from 1982 to 1999 1. A different set of flats was being sold.

To separate price from mix, Sightlines matched every block and flat type that recorded resales in both periods: the same three-room flats in the same block in 2020 and again in July to September 2026, for example 1. For each match, the change is the block's median psf in the later period against its median in 2020. A town's like-for-like figure is the median of those changes. There were 3,587 such matches across 3,311 blocks 1.

The like-for-like measure has one built-in feature worth knowing. A flat in the same block is six years older in 2026 than it was in 2020, with six fewer years of lease. The figure shows what an owner who held the same kind of flat actually saw, ageing included. It is not a measure of what a brand-new flat in each town would fetch.

Which towns rose most, block for block?

Ranked on the like-for-like change, the outer towns lead. Woodlands, Sembawang, Pasir Ris, Yishun, Sengkang and Choa Chu Kang all rose by 50% or more, block for block 1. The mature, central towns sit at the bottom: Queenstown at 30.3%, Marine Parade at 31.2%, Bukit Timah at 32.5% and Bukit Merah at 33.1% 1. In psf terms, those central towns still cost much more. They have simply risen less, in percentage terms, from a higher base.

The table gives every town, with the raw change in the town median beside the like-for-like change and the number of sales and block matches behind each figure.

Source: HDB resale flat prices on data.gov.sg, registration months January to December 2020 and July to September 2026; Sightlines analysis 1. Psf is the resale price divided by the floor area in square metres times 10.7639. Changes are worked out from unrounded medians.

Three towns rest on thin samples and should be read with care. Bukit Timah had 16 resales in the latest quarter and 10 block matches, Marine Parade 27 matches and Central Area 29 1. A handful of sales can move those figures a long way.

The gap between the two columns is the useful part. Where the town median rose much faster than the like-for-like figure, newer flats made up more of the recent sales. That is the case in Toa Payoh, Bukit Batok (67.0% against 45.9%), Bukit Merah (54.3% against 33.1%) and Queenstown (56.4% against 30.3%) 1. In Bukit Batok, the median lease start year of the flats sold moved from 1986 to 2004 1. In Queenstown it moved from 2000 to 2013 1.

The mix can push the other way too. In Bukit Panjang, the town median rose only 35.1%, but block for block prices rose 45.4% 1. There, the median lease start of the flats sold went from 2012 in 2020 to 2001 in the latest quarter, so older flats made up more of the recent sales 1. A buyer reading only the town median would think Bukit Panjang lagged when it did not.

A worked example: how did Toa Payoh's median double?

Split Toa Payoh's resales by the age of the block and the doubling disappears.

Source: HDB resale flat prices on data.gov.sg; Sightlines analysis 1.

In 2020, almost three in four of Toa Payoh's resales were in blocks whose leases began before 1990, at a median of about $380 psf, or $278,000 in quantum 1. By July to September 2026, that share had fallen to 43.6%, and flats on leases from 2010 onwards made up 43.3% of sales, at a median of about $1,099 psf, or $1,065,000 1.

Within each group, the rise was far smaller than the town's 111.3% 1. Flats on leases from before 1990 went from about $380 to about $518 psf, a rise of about 36%, and their median quantum from $278,000 to $363,500 1. Flats on leases from 2010 went from about $814 to about $1,099 psf, a rise of about 35%, and their median quantum from $838,000 to $1,065,000 1. The town median more than doubled because the newer, dearer flats went from a sliver of sales to almost half of them.

The rule this leaves is simple. When a town's median moves far more than its parts, look at what was sold before reading anything into the price.

Does the flat type or the age of the block matter?

Flat type makes little difference. Block for block, three-room, four-room, five-room and executive flats all rose by between 44.2% and 47.1% 1.

Source: HDB resale flat prices on data.gov.sg; Sightlines analysis 1.

The age of the block matters more. Grouping the block matches by the year the lease began shows the oldest blocks rising least, and blocks from the 1990s rising most 1.

Source: HDB resale flat prices on data.gov.sg; Sightlines analysis 1.

This goes a long way to explain the town ranking. Across all matches, 13.7% were in blocks whose leases began before 1980 1. In Marine Parade every match was, and in Queenstown and Toa Payoh just over half were 1. At the other end, 36.1% of all matches had leases from 1990 to 2009, against 84.0% in Sembawang and about three in four in Woodlands, Pasir Ris and Choa Chu Kang 1. The town name is partly a stand-in for the age of its flats.

The data shows the pattern, not the reason. A flat whose lease began in the 1970s had fewer than 55 years of its 99-year lease left by 2026 1, and buyers may weigh that more heavily as the years go by. Younger blocks had more room to rise from a lower psf base. Neither explanation is proven by these numbers alone.

Who does this not apply to?

The figures describe the typical matched block, not every flat. Across all 3,587 block matches, the middle half rose by between 36.4% and 54.7% 1. About 37.1% rose by 50% or more, and about 11.8% rose by less than 30% 1. Two flats of the same type in the same town can have moved very differently.

Several groups sit outside the analysis:

1. Blocks with no resale in one of the two periods. Most newer blocks had not reached their minimum occupation period in 2020, so they cannot be matched. The 2010 to 2019 group includes only blocks that already had resales in 2020 1.
2. Rare flat types. Only 60 two-room matches, one one-room match and three multi-generation matches exist, so those are left out of the flat-type table 1.
3. Floor and size. A block's median can shift if higher floors or larger units sold in one period. The matching controls for the block and the flat type, not the storey or the exact size.
4. Anyone looking for a forecast. The figures look back. They say nothing certain about the next six years.

How do you check your own block?

The method is reusable, and it takes the same four steps for any flat.

1. Download HDB's resale flat prices from data.gov.sg 1. The file lists every registered resale since January 2017, by month, town, block, street, flat type, storey range, floor area, model and lease start.
2. Filter to your block, or the blocks next to yours, and your flat type. Work out the price per square foot for each sale as the price divided by the floor area in square metres times 10.7639.
3. Compare like with like: the median psf in an earlier year against the latest full quarter, in the same block and flat type. A handful of sales is a weak base, so widen to neighbouring blocks of the same age if your own block has few.
4. Set the result beside your town's like-for-like figure in the table above, and beside HDB's Resale Price Index 2. If your block moved far less than both, the age of the lease or the size of the flats sold is the first thing to check.

For a buyer comparing towns, the same logic applies in reverse. Compare the median psf of flats of a similar lease age, not the town medians. A town that looks cheap may simply have sold older flats recently, and one that looks expensive may have sold new ones.

What would change the answer?

Three things could change the ranking. The first is newer blocks reaching resale. As blocks completed in the late 2010s and 2020s come onto the resale market, the matched sample will grow, and a later version of this table may rank towns differently.

The second is the market itself. The index has eased for three quarters in a row 2. CNA reported that, as of 29 September, 7,528 resale transactions had been recorded in the third quarter, 5.2% more than over the same period a year earlier 3. A market where prices are flat and volumes are steady may narrow the gap between the fastest and slowest towns, or may not. Neither direction is certain.

The third is supply. CNA reported that about 7,960 new flats are due to be launched in November across Bedok, Geylang, Sembawang, Tengah, Toa Payoh and Yishun 3. New flats do not reach the resale market until their minimum occupation period has passed, so any effect on resale prices in those towns could take years.

Doing nothing with this table is also a fair answer. For an owner who plans to stay, the like-for-like change matters less than the next ten years of living in the flat. For a buyer, the lesson is narrower: compare flats of a similar age, and treat any town median that has jumped with suspicion until you know what was sold.

This is general information, not financial advice. Check the current rules with IRAS, HDB, CPF Board or your bank before you commit.