The Central Area recorded a median resale price of S$907 per square foot in 2026-Q2, up from S$811 in 2026-Q1. That is an 11.8% move in a single quarter, against a median gain of 1.5% across the 24 towns with enough sales to measure.
Before treating that gap as a signal, there is something the arithmetic cannot resolve.
What the figure cannot tell you
The mix of flat types sold in the Central Area shifted by 12 points between 2026-Q1 and 2026-Q2. A median price per square foot moves when the composition of sales moves — larger flats tend to transact at a lower psf, smaller flats at a higher one. These two quarters cannot be cleanly compared without knowing how much of the move from S$811 to S$907 came from genuine price movement and how much came from a different set of flat types crossing the counter. The data, as measured, cannot separate the two.
Only 46 resales sit behind the 2026-Q2 figure. That is a thin base. A handful of transactions in a different size band can shift a median meaningfully without any underlying change in what buyers are willing to pay for a given flat.
How this compares to the broader market
The 1.5% median move across 24 towns gives a rough sense of what a typical town looked like this quarter. The Central Area's 11.8% sits well above that, which is why it draws attention. But the same caveat applies in reverse: a town where the mix shifted toward larger flats could show a flat or falling psf median even if individual flat values held steady.
Psf medians are most useful when the mix of flat types sold is stable from one period to the next. When it is not — and here it moved 12 points — the headline number describes the quarter's sales population more than it describes price direction.
What a buyer or seller should ask
If you are looking at a specific flat in the Central Area, the town-level median is a starting point, not a valuation. The more useful question is what comparable flats — same block, same storey range, same flat type — have transacted for recently. With only 46 resales in the quarter, comparable transactions may be sparse, and each one carries more weight than it would in a higher-volume town.
For sellers, a rising median can feel like confirmation that the market has moved in your favour. It may have. It may also reflect a shift toward smaller flats transacting at higher psf, with no change at all in what a buyer would pay for your specific unit.
Full transaction-level data for the Central Area, including the figures behind this quarter's median, is on the Central Area HDB resale page.
The practical consequence: when a median moves sharply on a small number of sales and a shifting mix, the number is worth noting but not worth anchoring to. Ask what sold, not just what the median was.
