Is a new 400 sq ft condo home worth buying?

Is a new 400 sq ft condo home worth buying?

Developers might continue shrinking condo units unless buyers resist

Leslie Yee
The Business Times

Aug 4, 2025

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opi...e-worth-buying

Springleaf Residence, which is jointly developed by GuocoLand and Hong Leong, speaks to my heart.

The condo project with 941 units is tucked away in greenery – bordering Springleaf Forest and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve – yet less than a two-minute sheltered walk from the Springleaf MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line.

Imagine enjoying all the nature nearby and saving money by doing away with owning a car. Add to that Springleaf Residence’s many facilities such as four different pools, a tennis court, a recreational half-basketball court, multiple pavilions designed to look like cocoons, 10 sky terraces, function rooms, dining pavilions, a grand lawn, a gym, a study room, as well as an arts and crafts room.

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Amid today’s lofty new private home prices, one can snare a unit at 99-year leasehold Springleaf Residence starting from a relatively modest indicative price of S$878,000 – far below prices of numerous Housing and Development Board (HDB) resale flats.

Small-sized homes

However, there is a catch. For S$878,000, one will possibly get a rather tiny new home – a 388 square foot one-bedroom unit. This price translates to S$2,263 per square foot (psf).

In perspective, the above one-bedder is smaller than some high-end hotel rooms here. Typically, hotel rooms cater to short stays of possibly a few days and do not provide for kitchen areas or washing machines.

Meanwhile, smaller configurations of HDB two-room flexi flats in the latest Build-To-Order exercise are sized at about 431 square feet (sq ft) each, and Community Care Apartments, which cater to seniors who are 65 years or older, have open layouts of around 377 sq ft each.

Springleaf Residence is not alone among new condo projects in offering small-sized units. Wing Tai : W05 -0.7%’s 99-year leasehold River Green, located in the River Valley enclave, has 420 sq ft one-bedroom units. A one-bedder at River Green comes with a balcony, while Springleaf Residence’s one-bedder does not have a balcony.

The one-bedder unit at 99-year leasehold Canberra Crescent Residences in District 27 is 409 sq ft and has no balcony.

Certainly, many developers have been shrinking unit sizes across various configurations. New condos may have three-bedders, which are popular with families, of about 800 sq ft each – less than that of around 960 sq ft or more of new HDB four-room flats.

Given escalating psf prices of new condos, developers understandably build compact homes to keep absolute prices affordable.

Take the indicative starting prices of S$1.618 million for a 786 sq ft three-bedder and S$2.448 million for a 1,227 sq ft four-bedder at Springleaf Residence.

The monthly household employment income including employer CPF contribution of the 80th percentile of resident employed households in 2024 was S$21,488. The above three-bedder and four-bedder prices work out to about 6.3 times and 9.5 times of the annualised income of the 80th percentile of resident employed households.

While Singapore has high-quality HDB homes, many locals aspire to condo living for lifestyle reasons. However, is buying a new condo unit of about 400 sq ft or less a compelling proposition?

For sure, the number of one-person households in the Republic has grown. Between 2014 and 2024, the number of one-person resident households rose by 75 per cent from 134,800 to 236,200. Among resident households, the proportion of one-person households climbed from 11.2 per cent in 2014 to 16.1 per cent in 2024.

Drawbacks of small units

Can a one-bedder 400 sq ft condo unit that is well-designed and has magic done to it by a skilled interior designer adequately meet a discerning high-earning single’s needs?

Possibly not. Maybe the individual needs more space to store collectibles or pursue hobbies. Perhaps he or she wants to entertain family or friends in the privacy of their own home, notwithstanding the outstanding common facilities in the condo development.

Certainly, some condos boast facilities galore that a small unit’s occupant can utilise. For example, any condo resident can use the development’s function room to host a large gathering.

Still, some common facilities may be crowded or hard to book. And nothing beats one’s home for privacy.

Also, a small home might feel claustrophobic when a person is confined to largely staying at home over an extended period for whatever reason. What about space to house an elderly parent temporarily?

Over time, a single person might find a partner. While it’s cosy for two persons to share a 400 sq ft condo unit, each party may lack adequate personal space.

Crucially, while buying a small one-bedder condo home is good from an affordability view point, purchasing a small home for owner-occupation could mean that one may need to trade up to a larger place fairly soon.

Transacting homes incurs costs such as buyer’s stamp duty, which ranges from 1 to 6 per cent of the purchase price or market value of a home.

A local homeowner also has to time the sale of the existing home and the purchase of a new one right in order to avoid being caught with paying additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD).

Sure, a small new one-bedder condo unit may offer a good entry point for a local who can buy an investment home without incurring ABSD.

However, while small one-bedder condos located in the Central Business District (CBD) might draw tenants who work long hours in CBD offices and travel extensively, perhaps small one-bedder condo units outside the CBD have weaker appeal.

Think too of how selling a small one-bedder condo home in the resale market could be challenging, especially if the end-product of what one bought off-plan ahead of a unit’s completion turns out to look and feel smaller than what one envisaged.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority has guidelines for non-landed residential developments governing the maximum number of dwelling units for a development and the required mix of home sizes.

For example, condo developments outside the Central Area should have a maximum of 20 per cent of homes with net internal area of 50 square metres (538 sq ft) or less.

Should there be a minimum size for a condo unit to ensure better liveability?

Perhaps not. Instead, potential homebuyers need to mind the downsides of buying small condo units. Spurn units that are around 400 sq ft or less each and developers will stop building increasingly smaller condo homes.