Singapore private home prices since 2020: suburbs up 56%, prime districts up 23%

Since the start of 2020, URA's price index for private flats and condominiums has risen about 56% outside the city centre, 49% in the city fringe and 23% in the prime districts, using the third-quarter 2026 flash estimate 14. Over the whole period the suburbs gained most and the prime districts least 14.

What does URA's price index measure, and what do CCR, RCR and OCR mean?

The Urban Redevelopment Authority publishes a private residential property price index every quarter, with prices in the first quarter of 2009 set at 100 14. A reading of 200 means prices are about twice their level in early 2009.

The index is not a simple average of prices. URA computes it with a stratified hedonic regression method, using the value of transactions from the first quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015 as weights 1. Since the third quarter of 2016, the data have come from transaction prices in contracts submitted for stamp duty and from developers' data on new units sold 1.

For non-landed homes, URA splits the index into three regions 4:

• Core Central Region (CCR): postal districts 9, 10 and 11, the Downtown Core planning area and Sentosa.
• Rest of Central Region (RCR): the rest of the Central Region outside those districts. This guide calls it the city fringe.
• Outside Central Region (OCR): the area outside the Central Region. This guide calls it the suburbs.

This guide uses the non-landed index for each region from the first quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2026. Landed homes have their own index and are left out here.

How has each region moved, quarter by quarter?

Here is the full series. The data.gov.sg copy of URA's regional index runs to the third quarter of 2025; the later quarters come from URA's quarterly releases, and the latest is a flash estimate 1234.

Index, 1st quarter 2009 = 100, non-landed private homes. Sources: URA via data.gov.sg 1; URA quarterly releases 234.

Three patterns stand out. The OCR index rose from 177.2 to 277.1, a gain of about 56%, and set a new high in the latest flash estimate 14. The RCR index rose from 152.6 to 226.7, about 49%, with its highest reading of 228.9 in the first quarter of 2026 134. The CCR index rose from 131.1 to 161.3, about 23%, and peaked at 163.4 in the third quarter of 2025 before a fall of 3.5% in the following quarter 124.

The quarterly path was not smooth. In the third quarter of 2022 the OCR index jumped from 208.4 to 224.0, then slipped to 218.2 in the fourth quarter 1. The RCR index rose 16.3% in 2021, measured fourth quarter to fourth quarter, the fastest annual rise for any region in the period 1. Single quarters move around; the trend is what holds.

How did the regions compare year by year?

Measured from the fourth quarter of one year to the fourth quarter of the next, the city fringe led most often 12.

Sources: URA via data.gov.sg 1; URA 2.

Sources: Sightlines calculations from URA 12.

The city fringe led in 2021, 2022 and 2024, with its biggest rise, 16.3%, in 2021 1. The suburbs led in 2023, with 13.7%, and in 2025, with 3.2% 12. The prime districts never led, and their best year was 2022, at 4.8% 1. By 2025 the three regions had slowed to between 1.6% and 3.2%, and URA reported those same full-year figures for 2025 2.

In 2026 so far, the OCR index rose from 265.6 at the end of 2025 to 277.1 in the third-quarter flash estimate, about 4.3% 24. The CCR rose from 157.7 to 161.3, about 2.3% 24. The RCR moved from 227.1 to 226.7, almost flat 24.

What would $1m in early 2020 look like now? A worked example

Take a household that bought a $1,000,000 condominium unit in the first quarter of 2020, when the regional indices stood at the levels in the table below 1. Assume, for the sake of the arithmetic, that its value moved exactly with its region's index. That never happens to a single home, but it shows what the index means in dollars.

Sources: URA via data.gov.sg 1; URA flash estimate 4; Sightlines calculation.

The arithmetic is the latest index divided by the starting index, times $1,000,000 14. For the OCR, 277.1 divided by 177.2 is about 1.564 14. The gap between the suburbs and the prime districts on the same starting sum is about $333,000 14.

Two cautions. The index is for the region as a whole, so a single project can do much better or worse. And the gains are before stamp duties, agent fees, interest and the other costs of owning and selling, which this example leaves out.

Do actual transaction prices tell the same story?

An index can be checked against the prices people paid. Sightlines queried URA's private residential transactions for condominiums and apartments in each region, by contract year, from 2022 5. A new sale is a unit bought from the developer; a resale is a unit resold after the project's completion. Psf is the price divided by the strata area URA records, in square feet; quantum is the total price.

Source: URA Data Service, condominiums and apartments by market segment and contract year 5; Sightlines analysis.

The medians broadly agree with the index on the order: the suburbs and the city fringe rose much faster than the prime districts 5. Resale medians rose 24.8% in the OCR and 23.8% in the RCR from 2022 to the first nine months of 2026, against 8.6% in the CCR 5.

They also show something the index does not. A median new unit in the OCR sold at $2,319 psf in 2026 so far, above the CCR resale median of $2,186 psf 5. In quantum the picture reverses: the OCR new-sale median was $2.077m, against $2.68m for a CCR resale 5. A buyer comparing regions by psf alone can be misled; quantum beside psf is the fairer comparison.

Medians are not quality-adjusted, so a year with more large or more central units sold moves them even if prices do not change. That is one reason the medians and the index do not match exactly.

How wide is the gap between new and resale units in each region?

The same URA records show how much more a buyer paid per square foot for a new unit than for a resale in the same region, year by year 5. This gap is one of the main trade-offs a household weighs, and it has moved differently in each region.

Median psf, new sale against resale, condominiums and apartments. Source: URA Data Service 5; Sightlines analysis.

In the suburbs, the premium for a new unit narrowed from 58.4% in 2022 to 47.4% in 2026 so far, because resale prices rose faster than new-sale prices 5. In the city fringe it swung between 34.8% and 47.3%, and was at its lowest in 2026 5. In the prime districts it stayed between 39.4% and 49.9% 5.

Volumes explain part of the swings. In 2024 only 374 new units were sold in the CCR, against 1,910 in 2025, so one year's median rests on far fewer sales than the next 5. A narrowing gap in the OCR is consistent with the index story, since suburban resale prices have been among the fastest risers, but medians are not quality-adjusted and the mix of new projects changes each year.

How do the regions compare with the overall market?

URA's headline index covers landed and non-landed homes together. From the first quarter of 2020 to the third-quarter 2026 flash estimate, it rose from 152.1 to 222.5, about 46% 64. The non-landed index rose from 148.1 to 212.5, about 43%, and the landed index from 170.3 to 265.6, about 56% 64.

So the suburban non-landed market has kept pace with landed homes over the period, at about 56% each, while the prime districts rose by well under half as much 146. The headline figure, about 46% here, sits between them and hides that spread 46.

What does the index not tell you?

The index answers how prices moved on average across a region. It does not answer several questions buyers often bring to it.

• One project's value. The regional index blends many projects. A household's own block can move faster or slower, depending on its lease, age, size and nearby supply.
• The latest quarter for certain. The third-quarter 2026 figure is a flash estimate based on data up to mid-September, and URA says flash estimates may differ from actual changes 4. URA will update it on 23 October 2026 4.
• HDB flats. The figures in this guide are URA's non-landed private index only, so they say nothing about public housing.
• What happens next. The index describes the past. URA's latest release says the macroeconomic outlook remains highly uncertain, including for interest rates 4.

Volumes matter too. URA reported 4,296 private sale transactions in the third quarter of 2026 up to mid-September, against 6,148 in the second quarter 4. A price index built on fewer sales can move more from quarter to quarter.

What would change the answer?

The reader question is how prices have moved, and the answer is settled for the quarters already reported: the suburbs gained most, the city fringe next and the prime districts least 14. Two things could change how that history reads.

First, revisions. The latest quarter will be revised when URA publishes its full third-quarter statistics on 23 October 2026 4. A flash rise of 2.2% in the OCR could turn out larger or smaller 4.

Second, the starting point. Measured from the first quarter of 2020, the CCR lags by a wide margin. Measured from its peak in the third quarter of 2025 to the third-quarter 2026 flash estimate, it is down about 1.3%, while the OCR is up about 5.4% over the same quarters 14. Any comparison of regions depends on the dates chosen, so a fair one names them.

A decision rule follows for anyone using these figures. Compare regions over the same quarters, use the official index for the trend and transaction medians with quantum beside psf for the price a household would actually pay, and treat any single quarter, especially a flash estimate, as provisional. Doing nothing with this information is also a valid use of it: it describes where prices have been, not where they will go.

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