98.3% of Subsales Made Money: What the Losing 1.7% Tell Us About Buying Small Units

Most homes bought at a new launch and subsold before the project receives its certificate of statutory completion change hands at a profit.

Of over 5,000 subsale transactions across the Core Central Region, Rest of Central Region and Outside Central Region between January 2021 and August 2026, 98.3 per cent were subsold above their original purchase price after accounting for seller’s stamp duty, based on an EdgeProp Singapore analysis of URA Realis data.

That said, 76 transactions, or 1.5 per cent, recorded a loss. A further nine were subsold at exactly the original purchase price, but likely lost money in practice once buyer’s stamp duty, commission and other costs are factored in.

An important caveat on the method: figures are stated after accounting for SSD, but before buyer’s stamp duty on the original purchase, additional buyer’s stamp duty, commission and other costs. Units bought from the developer but not subsold in the period fall outside the analysis.

Loss-making subsales were most common in the CCR, where 7.1 per cent of subsale transactions translated to losses. The RCR followed at 1.9 per cent, and the OCR at 0.7 per cent.

Loss rate and average loss by region, 2021 to August 2026, per URA and EdgeProp research: Core Central Region, 255 subsale transactions, 18 loss-making, 7.1 per cent loss rate, average loss S$171,564. Rest of Central Region, 2,014 transactions, 38 loss-making, 1.9 per cent, average loss S$79,347. Outside Central Region, 2,807 transactions, 20 loss-making, 0.7 per cent, average loss S$70,877.

The largest single loss also came from the CCR. A 2,411 sq ft unit at The Avenir, a freehold condominium in River Valley, was subsold for S$6.9 million in July 2025, about S$1.1 million or 13 per cent below its original purchase price.

One Pearl Bank and Normanton Park, both in the RCR, recorded eight loss-making subsales each, or 16 of the 76 losses islandwide. These are the only projects with more than three loss-making subsales each. The remaining 47 projects recorded three or fewer each, and of those, 12 recorded more than one.

Projects with more than one unprofitable subsale, with average loss and region: One Pearl Bank, 8 unprofitable, S$100,125 average loss or 8.0 per cent, RCR. Normanton Park, 8, S$36,485 or 3.6 per cent, RCR. Leedon Green, 3, S$58,567 or 3.4 per cent, CCR. The Florence Residences, 3, S$32,667 or 2.8 per cent, OCR. Dairy Farm Residences, 3, S$27,733 or 2.3 per cent, OCR. One Bernam, 2, S$142,000 or 10.7 per cent, CCR. Sky Everton, 2, S$116,360 or 6.5 per cent, RCR. Park Colonial, 2, S$110,400 or 4.7 per cent, RCR. Eon Shenton, 2, S$93,350 or 6.6 per cent, CCR. Martin Modern, 2, S$79,550 or 3.4 per cent, CCR. Ki Residences at Brookvale, 2, S$67,100 or 3.5 per cent, OCR. The Landmark, 2, S$19,500 or 1.8 per cent, RCR.

One Pearl Bank is a 774-unit development in the Outram Planning Area on a 99-year lease from 2019, occupying the site of the former Pearl Bank Apartments sold en bloc in 2018. Eight of its 57 subsales, or 14 per cent, recorded a loss. The largest involved a 527 sq ft unit held for 5.8 years before changing hands for S$1.13 million in May 2025, some S$198,000 or 15 per cent below the original purchase price.

Normanton Park is in the Queenstown Planning Area, comprising 1,840 apartments and 22 landed homes on a 99-year leasehold from 2019, on the site of a former Housing and Urban Development Company estate sold en bloc in 2017. Eight of its 207 subsales, or 4 per cent, recorded a loss.

This is the finding that matters most for buyers. Eight of One Pearl Bank’s 16 small-unit subsales were loss-making, while none of the 41 larger-unit subsales made a loss. At Normanton Park, units under 600 sq ft made up 15 per cent of subsales but accounted for seven of the eight losses, a loss rate of about 23 per cent against less than 1 per cent for larger units.

Loss rate and median return by unit size: At One Pearl Bank, units under 600 sq ft recorded 16 subsales, 8 loss-making, a 50.0 per cent loss rate and a median return of negative 0.4 per cent. Units of 600 sq ft and above recorded 41 subsales, no losses and a median return of 9.0 per cent. At Normanton Park, units under 600 sq ft recorded 31 subsales, 7 loss-making, a 22.6 per cent loss rate and a median return of 7.6 per cent. Units of 600 sq ft and above recorded 176 subsales, 1 loss, a 0.6 per cent loss rate and a median return of 16.3 per cent.

EdgeProp offers two explanations. Smaller units tend to command a higher price per square foot, because fixed elements of a home such as the kitchen, bathroom and entrance cost roughly the same regardless of unit size, so that cost is spread across a smaller floor area. Beyond that, smaller lower-quantum units tend to attract a narrower buyer base skewed towards investors rather than families. A narrower pool means fewer exit buyers, which can translate into slower price growth or loss-making transactions.

At One Pearl Bank, the average new sale price for units under 600 sq ft rose 16 per cent, from S$2,386 psf in 2019 to S$2,774 psf in 2022. By 2025, the median subsale price for these units was S$2,346 psf, below the 2019 launch average.

Normanton Park sold most of its apartments in 2021, the launch year, and the remainder in 2022. Among units later subsold, those purchased in 2022 made up about 14 per cent of the sample but accounted for half the project’s losses. The median return for units bought in 2022 was lower than for the launch year, and the new sale price for these units was about 4 per cent higher in 2022 than in 2021.

The losses also cluster in time. Of the 16 loss-making subsales across the two projects, 13 fell in 2025, seven of them in November and December alone. Holding periods within that group ranged from 3.1 to 6.4 years, which suggests the clustering was not driven by a single buying cohort.

That coincided with falling subsale prices for small units at both projects. At One Pearl Bank, the median subsale price for units under 600 sq ft fell from S$2,625 psf in 2023 to S$2,483 in 2024 and S$2,346 in 2025, while units of 600 sq ft and above went from S$2,501 to S$2,498 to S$2,587 over the same years. At Normanton Park, the median subsale price for units under 600 sq ft fell from S$2,051 psf in 2024 to S$1,886 psf in 2025.

SSD-adjusted profits across the 4,991 profitable subsales totalled S$1.32 billion, which is 176 times the S$7.5 million lost across all loss-making transactions. Average gains and losses came to S$265,000 and S$99,000 respectively, and the median profit reached 18.8 per cent.

Losses were shallow too. The median loss stood at 4.3 per cent, with 42 of the 76 losses within 5 per cent of the purchase price.

Freehold condominium Boulevard 88 on Orchard Boulevard accounted for the three largest gains, led by a S$3.87 million profit. Those three transactions alone exceeded the S$7.5 million lost across all 76 loss-making transactions.