In the Outside Central Region, the median new-sale condominium or apartment sold for S$2,255 psf from 2025-10 to 2026-09, against S$1,567 psf for a resale, according to URA's filed transactions. That puts the new-sale median 43.9% above the resale median, the widest gap of the three regions. If you are weighing a launch against an older unit, what sits inside that figure matters more than its size.
- 41.2% how far the new-sale median sits above the resale median, Core Central Region 2025-10 to 2026-09 · Truestorey, from URA Data Service — private residential transactions
- 41.7% how far the new-sale median sits above the resale median, Rest of Central Region 2025-10 to 2026-09 · Truestorey, from URA Data Service — private residential transactions
- 43.9% how far the new-sale median sits above the resale median, Outside Central Region 2025-10 to 2026-09 · Truestorey, from URA Data Service — private residential transactions
The gap between two medians is not the premium on your home
A median new sale and a median resale are different homes. The new one is newer, often smaller and usually on a different street. The resale could be a larger unit in an older estate some way off. Setting one median against the other compares two different baskets of property, not the same flat bought new and bought second-hand.
So the percentage is not the extra you would pay for any particular unit because it is new. It describes the difference between what was sold, not the price of newness itself.
The two prices are also set at different moments. New-sale prices are what developers achieved at launch, often before a building is finished. Resale prices are filed after completion, often years later, for a home that has been lived in. A launch price reflects the market when the project opened. A resale price reflects a building with some age on it, sold in whatever conditions held on the day.
Some of the premium comes from a change in how floor area is measured
URA circular URA/PB/2022/09-DCG, dated 20 Sep 2022, harmonised floor-area definitions across URA, SLA, BCA and SCDF. It applies to sites by government land sales tender launch date from 2022-09-01.
Under the new rules, air-conditioner ledges that form part of a strata unit count as gross floor area. Every uncovered area within the strata area counts too. Strata voids count in neither. The result is less saleable area for each unit of plot ratio, and a quoted unit size that no longer includes the ledge.
Both effects push the psf figure up for reasons that have nothing to do with the market. When the stated floor area shrinks and the price does not, the price per square foot rises. Projects on sites tendered under the new definitions report their sizes one way. Older buildings that make up much of the resale market report theirs the old way. Part of any new-against-resale gap in psf is therefore a measurement difference, not a price difference.
The median cannot separate the two. It has no way of telling you how much of the gap comes from newer buildings being worth more and how much from the square feet being counted differently.
In percentage terms, the premium is close to level everywhere
The dollar amounts vary widely by region. The percentage gaps barely move.
| Region | Median new sale | Median resale | New above resale | Transactions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Central Region | S$3,081 psf | S$2,182 psf | 41.2% | 1,802 new, 2,133 resale |
| Rest of Central Region | S$2,772 psf | S$1,956 psf | 41.7% | 2,756 new, 3,498 resale |
| Outside Central Region | S$2,255 psf | S$1,567 psf | 43.9% | 3,395 new, 5,649 resale |
All figures cover 2025-10 to 2026-09 and are drawn from URA Data Service private residential transactions. The percentage gaps are Truestorey's calculations from that data.
The Core Central Region carries the highest prices on both sides. Its new-sale median of S$3,081 psf is well above anything elsewhere. Yet its gap of 41.2% is the narrowest of the three. The Rest of Central Region sits just above it at 41.7%. The Outside Central Region, the cheapest on both measures, has the widest gap at 43.9%.
Resales outnumbered new sales in every region over the period. The difference was largest outside the centre, where resales came to more than one and a half times the number of new sales. In the Core Central Region the two counts were closer. None of these medians rests on a thin sample.
What sits inside the gap besides the building being new
The reader's real question is how much of the premium is simply the building being new. The median cannot answer that. It can only point to the other things that travel with a new launch.
- Unit size. New projects often sell smaller units. Smaller units tend to carry a higher price per square foot, which lifts the new-sale median without any single home costing more for its size.
- Location mix. Launches cluster where land has recently been sold. Resales are spread across every estate built before them. Within a single region, those can be very different streets.
- Timing. A launch price is fixed at the developer's opening. A resale price is filed years after completion, in a different market.
- Measurement. Projects on sites tendered under the harmonised definitions quote smaller floor areas for comparable space, which raises psf mechanically.
- Age and condition. This is the part that genuinely is the building being new: fresh fittings, a full lease ahead and facilities not yet worn.
Only the last of these is the premium for newness in the plain sense. The others are differences in what is being compared. A regional median folds all five into one number.
That also explains why the percentages look so similar across regions. The same forces shape the comparison in each one: smaller new units, launches concentrated on recently sold land and a measurement change affecting newer sites. A near-identical gap does not show that newness is valued the same everywhere. It shows that the two baskets differ in similar ways wherever you look.
What to check before comparing a launch with a resale
A regional median is a starting point, not a comparison you can act on. Before you set a specific launch against a specific resale, narrow the gap down to like with like.
- Check which floor-area rules apply. Ask whether the site was tendered on or after 2022-09-01. If it was, compare total price as well as psf, because the quoted size may exclude space that an older unit counts.
- Match the unit sizes. Compare units of similar floor area. A small new unit against a large resale will show a psf gap that has little to do with age.
- Look at the same street, not the same region. Find resales close to the launch. A region-wide median mixes neighbourhoods that are far apart in price.
- Note the dates. Launch prices and resale prices are set at different points in the market. Check when each transaction was filed.
- Account for the lease. Remaining lease and building age are real differences, and they are part of what a new unit offers.
Transaction-level figures for individual developments are on Truestorey condo prices by project, where you can set a launch against resales in and around the same project rather than across a whole region.
