Published 15 September 2026
A new 3 bedroom outside central rents for more per square foot than a 26-year-old one in prime, and that first became true in 2020
By Realila
A three-bedroom in a building less than five years old rented for a median S$4.92 per square foot outside central in 2025. One in a building over 26 years old rented for S$4.02 in the core central region. The newer suburban flat costs 22% more per square foot than the older prime one.
In 2017 that comparison ran the other way: S$2.82 in prime against S$2.60 outside central. Nothing about the buildings changed. What changed is how much the market pays for newness. The rest of the three-bedroom picture is on the three-bedroom condo guide: what it costs, what it rents for, what it yields and how big it is.
Key takeaways
- What age is worth. A newest-band three-bedroom rents for 1.65 times an oldest-band one nationally, up from 1.25 in 2017. What age is worth
- When it changed. The premium overtook location in 2020, and has stayed ahead for six years. When it changed
- It is not size and it is not region. The gradient holds inside every region and every unit-size band, so it is not a composition effect. It is not size and it is not region
- The stock is ageing. The oldest band has more than tripled since 2017 while the newest has shrunk by two thirds. The stock is ageing
What age is worth
Median rent per square foot by the building's age when the lease began, all regions.
- 0-5 years old
- 6-10 years old
- 11-15 years old
- 16-25 years old
- 26+ years old
| Year | 0-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-25 | 26+ | Newest / oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | S$3.03 | S$3.33 | S$2.92 | S$2.48 | S$2.43 | 1.25 |
| 2018 | S$3.07 | S$3.28 | S$2.96 | S$2.44 | S$2.41 | 1.27 |
| 2019 | S$3.06 | S$3.34 | S$3.10 | S$2.46 | S$2.34 | 1.31 |
| 2020 | S$3.08 | S$3.34 | S$3.05 | S$2.48 | S$2.19 | 1.41 |
| 2021 | S$3.54 | S$3.38 | S$3.34 | S$2.65 | S$2.38 | 1.49 |
| 2022 | S$4.81 | S$3.92 | S$4.09 | S$3.19 | S$2.83 | 1.70 |
| 2023 | S$5.79 | S$4.89 | S$4.78 | S$3.94 | S$3.56 | 1.63 |
| 2024 | S$5.68 | S$4.69 | S$4.68 | S$4.04 | S$3.58 | 1.59 |
| 2025 | S$6.01 | S$4.73 | S$4.78 | S$4.25 | S$3.64 | 1.65 |
In 2025, rent falls with age at every step of the ladder inside each of the three regions. The earlier years are not quite so clean, 2017, 2018 and 2021 each carry one or two reversals of a few cents, 2019 holds a tie in prime, and outside central in 2017 and 2018 the oldest band prints just above the 16-25 band.
The national column above pools three regions whose age profiles differ, which is why the middle of it inverts twice: in 2022 and 2025 the 11-15 band prints above the 6-10 band. The 2025 regional table below has no such reversal.
The top of the ladder is also untidy before 2021. From 2017 to 2020 the 6-10 band out-rented the newest band nationally, and only from 2021 does the newest band lead outright.
What changed is the size of the gap. In 2017 the newest band rented at 1.25 times the oldest. By 2025 it was 1.65 times. Most of that arrived in a single year: 1.49 in 2021 to 1.70 in 2022.
When it changed
The claim in the title is a specific test: does the newest band outside central beat the oldest band in prime?
| Year | Oldest, core central | Newest, outside central | Which leads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | S$2.82 | S$2.60 | Core central |
| 2018 | S$2.86 | S$2.62 | Core central |
| 2019 | S$2.79 | S$2.73 | Core central |
| 2020 | S$2.58 | S$2.74 | Outside central |
| 2021 | S$2.73 | S$3.17 | Outside central |
| 2022 | S$3.26 | S$4.09 | Outside central |
| 2023 | S$4.02 | S$5.04 | Outside central |
| 2024 | S$4.04 | S$4.89 | Outside central |
| 2025 | S$4.02 | S$4.92 | Outside central |
Location led in 2017, 2018 and 2019, the last of those by six cents. It has lost in every year since.
How it flipped in 2020 is not how it stayed flipped afterwards. In 2020 the prime figure fell, from S$2.79 to S$2.58, while the suburban one barely moved. The crossing was a prime decline in the first COVID year rather than a suburban surge.
Over the five years since, both rise and the gap widens, because the suburban figure rises faster, from S$2.74 to S$4.92. Neither line rises every single year; the direction over the span is not in doubt.
This is not a claim that location stopped mattering. Inside any one age band, prime still rents for more than the suburbs, in every year. The claim is narrower: the gap between a new building and an old one has grown wider than the gap between the best address and the ordinary one.
It is not size and it is not region
Two explanations would make this uninteresting, and neither survives.
The first is unit size. Newer three-bedrooms are smaller, and a smaller unit rents for more per square foot. That is real: the median leased area rises with building age, from about 95 square metres in the newest band to 125 in the oldest, though not at every step. But splitting 2025 by unit size leaves the gradient intact inside every column. A three-bedroom of 90 to 110 square metres rented for S$5.87 per square foot in the newest band and S$3.89 in the oldest, and the same shape appears in every size band.
The second is region. Newer stock is concentrated outside central, where rents are lower, so a national figure could be picking up geography. But the gradient holds inside each region separately, in all 15 cells of the 2025 grid, with no reversal:
| Age | CCR | RCR | OCR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-5 | S$7.43 | S$6.28 | S$4.92 |
| 6-10 | S$6.34 | S$5.38 | S$4.34 |
| 11-15 | S$5.41 | S$4.78 | S$4.04 |
| 16-25 | S$4.98 | S$4.42 | S$3.65 |
| 26+ | S$4.02 | S$3.78 | S$3.36 |
Read across and the region premium is real. Read down and the age gradient is steeper. In the core central region the newest band rents at 1.85 times the oldest; the widest region gap in any single band is 1.51 times.
The stock is ageing
The bands are not the same size, and they are moving.
| Year | 0-5 leases | 26+ leases |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 6,140 | 2,116 |
| 2018 | 6,120 | 2,323 |
| 2019 | 5,528 | 2,632 |
| 2020 | 4,286 | 3,052 |
| 2021 | 3,231 | 4,098 |
| 2022 | 2,075 | 4,251 |
| 2023 | 1,687 | 5,580 |
| 2024 | 1,798 | 5,839 |
| 2025 | 1,882 | 6,704 |
The newest band has shrunk by two thirds and the oldest has more than tripled, crossing in 2021. Fewer completions are reaching the rental market and more of the existing stock is passing 26 years.
That matters for reading the tables above. Each year is a valid picture of that year, but the buildings in a band change from year to year: a block that was 16-25 in 2017 is in the 26+ band by 2025. Reading down a column follows a category, not a set of buildings.
What this does not tell you
- Why newness commands a premium. This measures that it does, not what tenants are paying for. Facilities, layout, finishes and the absence of a renovation cycle are all candidates and none is measured here.
- Whether it holds. The premium roughly doubled in nine years and most of that came in 2021 and 2022, the same two years rents rose across the whole market. A premium that grew in a tight market may not survive a loose one.
- What a landlord nets. An older building's maintenance costs, sinking fund contributions and vacancy periods are not in these figures.
- Anything about a specific project. These are medians across dozens to hundreds of developments per cell. The thinnest quoted here covers 35.
Method and data notes. Rental data to 1 July 2026.
Medians of URA rental contract data for private condominiums and apartments, three-bedroom, by the date the lease began. Building age is the years between the project's completion and the lease commencement, banded 0-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-25 and 26 or more. Rent per square foot uses the midpoint of the contract's recorded floor-area band, since URA publishes rental areas in bands rather than exact figures.
Each year is a separate cross-section. A building moves between bands as it ages, so a band in 2025 holds different buildings from the same band in 2017. Comparisons down a column are comparisons between categories, not between the same properties over time.
Every cell quoted rests on at least 390 leases. The regional split is a partition: the three regions sum exactly to the national total in every year.
Rental data to 1 July 2026.
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Every number in this post comes from Realila Research, dated to when it was true. For now we publish research notes from the platform to answer the community's questions; the platform itself opens to the public later.
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