Renting out a 4-bedroom at Thomson Reserve, and the return on it

Few 4-bedrooms near Thomson Reserve are rented out. At Thomson Three, Thomson Impressions, Thomson Grand and Jadescape, four condos nearby that this series compares with Thomson Reserve, about 5 in every 100 homes with 4 bedrooms were leased over the past year. For 3-bedrooms it was about 9 in 100, and for 2-bedrooms about 21 in 100. Most 4-bedroom owners here live in their homes.

This note looks at what renting out a Thomson Reserve 4-bedroom could bring in, and what the home could make in all, living in it or renting it out, if it is sold 5 years after buying or 5 years after the keys. The keys are expected on 28 February 2031. It takes the cheapest 4-bedroom, 1,238 sq ft, at its starting price of $3.388M.

Because so few 4-bedrooms are leased, this note measures rent over the past 2 years, October 2024 to September 2026, where the series' other rental notes use one.

What is in this note

• The short answer
• How often 4-bedrooms here are rented out
• What 4-bedrooms near here rent for
• Buying today: the yield against a resale 4-bedroom
• How earlier launch buyers' rents turned out
• Rent near here and across Singapore
• The buyer and the cases
• What a landlord pays
• Sold 5 years after buying
• Sold 5 years after the keys
• How much the rent matters
• At other prices and sizes
• At the keys: earlier launches
• What the numbers cannot weigh

The short answer

• 4-bedrooms here are rarely rented out. About 5 in 100 a year at the four condos, against about 9 for 3-bedrooms and about 21 for 2-bedrooms.
• The rent. Over the past 2 years, 4-bedrooms at the four condos rented for a median of $8,100 a month, on 51 leases. 37 of them were at Jadescape, which has three-quarters of the four condos' 4-bedroom homes.
• The yield. At $8,100, Thomson Reserve's cheapest 4-bedroom would yield 2.87% at its starting price, within the range a resale 4-bedroom nearby yields today (2.42% to 3.26%). At $3,000 psf it would yield 2.62%. The rent starts only after the keys: about $421,200 of rent forgone over the 4 years and 4 months before then.
• Sold 5 years after the keys. In the middle case the buyer gains 44.2% of the cash put in living in it and 63.3% renting it out. In the low case, living in it loses 2.2% and renting it out gains 17.0%.
• Sold 5 years after buying. In the middle case the buyer gains 70.7% living in it and 73.4% renting it out. In the low case the price falls, and the buyer loses about a third of the cash put in either way.
• Fewer past sales to go on. The price cases for 4-bedrooms come from 81 owners who sold, against 459 to 496 for 3-bedrooms, so they are less certain.

How often 4-bedrooms here are rented out

Leases signed in a year for every 100 homes of each size at the four comparison condos, October 2025 to September 2026:

Size	Homes at the four condos	Leases in the year	Per 100 homes
2-bedroom	751	155	21
3-bedroom	747	65	9
4-bedroom	347	18	5

At each of the four condos, 14 to 20 of every 100 homes with 4 bedrooms were leased over the 2 years, so the rate is low at every one of them. Fewer tenants also means a landlord may wait longer between leases than the 1 empty month in every 24 this note assumes.

What 4-bedrooms near here rent for

October 2024 to September 2026:

Condo	Leases	Median rent
Thomson Three	5	$6,800
Thomson Grand	8	$6,500
Jadescape	37	$8,700
The four condos together	51	$8,100

Jadescape, completed in 2022, is the newest of the four condos and has 261 of their 347 homes with 4 bedrooms, so its rent carries most of the combined figure. 4-bedrooms close in size to Thomson Reserve's 1,238 sq ft rented for a median of $8,000, on 15 leases.

Buying today: the yield against a resale 4-bedroom

A buyer who wants a 4-bedroom to rent out today can buy a resale one nearby and collect rent at once. Thomson Reserve's starting price and the four condos' rent, against the 4-bedroom resales over the past 2 years:

4-bedroom	Typical price	Typical rent	Yield
Jadescape, resale23 sales	$3.20M	$8,700	3.26%
Sky Habitat, resale5 sales	$3.58M	$8,800	2.95%
Clover by the Park, resale10 sales	$3.30M	$7,200	2.62%
The Gardens at Bishan, resale5 sales	$2.95M	$5,950	2.42%
Thomson Reserve, cheapest 4-bedroom	$3.388M	$8,100	2.87%

Thomson Reserve's cheapest 4-bedroom would yield more than the resales at The Gardens at Bishan and Clover by the Park, and less than those at Jadescape and Sky Habitat, but only from 2031. The yield at other prices, at the lowest rent among the four condos, their combined rent and Jadescape's:

Home and price	At $6,500	At $8,100	At $8,700
1,238 sq ft, $2,737 psf$3.388M, the starting price	2.30%	2.87%	3.08%
1,238 sq ft, $2,700 psf$3.343M	2.33%	2.91%	3.12%
1,238 sq ft, $3,000 psf$3.714M	2.10%	2.62%	2.81%
1,238 sq ft, $3,300 psf$4.085M	1.91%	2.38%	2.56%

How earlier launch buyers' rents turned out

What 4-bedrooms at earlier launches nearby rented for in their first year after the keys, and over the past 2 years, as a yield on the typical 4-bedroom launch price:

Launch	Launch price	First year	Past 2 years
The Gardens at Bishan	$0.98M	–	$5,950 a month7.25%
Clover by the Park	$1.32M	$5,400 a month4.90%	$7,200 a month6.53%
Centro Residences	$1.49M	$5,300 a month4.28%	$6,300 a month5.09%
Thomson Grand	$2.28M	$4,500 a month2.37%	$6,500 a month3.43%
Sky Habitat	$3.50M	–	$8,800 a month3.02%
Thomson Three	$2.00M	–	$6,800 a month4.07%
Jadescape	$2.23M	$8,750 a month4.71%	$8,700 a month4.68%

At three of the four launches with both figures, the rent today is higher than in the first year. At Jadescape it is about the same.

In their first year, 4-bedrooms rented for more than at the other condos within 2.5 km at three of the four launches that can be measured: 25.6% more at Clover by the Park, 25.0% more at Jadescape and 17.8% more at Centro Residences. At Thomson Grand they rented for 6.2% less. Four launches are too few to call this a pattern.

Rent near here and across Singapore

The median 4-bedroom rent near Thomson Reserve was $1,350 to $2,950 a month below the median across Singapore in every year from 2012 to 2025. The two moved in the same direction in 9 of those 13 years. From 2014 to 2017, when 269 new 4-bedrooms were completed near here, rent fell about 12% near here and about 13% across Singapore. From 2021 to 2023, it rose 49% near here and 33% across Singapore; Jadescape's 261 4-bedrooms were completed in 2022.

Over 5-year spans since 2012, 1 in 10 spans saw 4-bedroom rent near here fall 2.62% a year or more, the typical span saw it rise 3.04% a year, and 1 in 10 saw it rise 10.01% a year or more. This note keeps the rent at today's level rather than projecting it.

The buyer and the cases

The return in this note is the gain or loss after every cost counted here, as a share of the cash the buyer put in: the first 25% of the price, stamp duty, fees and every monthly loan repayment until the sale.

The buyer is a Singapore citizen buying a first home. They pay the first 25% of the price themselves and borrow the rest over 25 years at 2% a year. As with any home bought before it is built, the bank pays the developer in stages as the building goes up, so the loan and its interest grow over time.

No one knows how prices will move, so this note uses three cases from 4-bedrooms near Thomson Reserve that were bought and later sold again. In the low case, 9 in 10 owners did better than this. The middle case is the typical owner. In the high case, 1 in 10 did this well or better.

• Sold after 5 years: −0.74%, 6.20% and 12.45% a year, from 81 4-bedrooms resold 4 to 6 years after being bought. In the low case the price falls.
• Sold after about 9 years: 1.49%, 3.69% and 5.95% a year, from 81 4-bedrooms resold 8 to 11 years after being bought.

The two holds draw on different owners, so their cases differ. Owners who sold after 4 to 6 years saw a faster typical rise than owners who held for 8 to 11 years, which is why the middle return 5 years after buying is higher than 5 years after the keys.

A landlord finds a first tenant 2 months after the keys, at $8,100 a month, the four condos' combined median. The rent stays at $8,100 throughout and is not projected forward.

A buyer who already owns a home pays an extra 20% of the price in additional buyer's stamp duty, which these cases leave out. With it, the price of the cheapest 4-bedroom would need to rise about 27% before a sale covers the costs, before counting any loan interest.

More on this: the costs of buying and selling here · 4-bedroom launch prices and how their buyers did

What a landlord pays

Over the 5 years from the keys to a sale, on the cheapest 4-bedroom at $8,100 a month:

	Renting it out	Living in it
Rent, if let every month from the first tenant	$469,800	–
Months without a tenant, 1 in every 24	−$19,575	–
Property tax, 5 years	−$120,960$24,192 a year	−$40,300$8,060 a year
Agent's commission and GST	−$21,337	–
Rent after costs	$307,928	–

Property tax rates rise in steps as the annual value goes up, so a higher rent pays tax at a higher rate on its top slice. These costs take more than a third of a 4-bedroom's rent here, against about 29% of a 3-bedroom's and about a quarter of a 2-bedroom's.

Not counted, for either use: maintenance fees, which the developers have not yet set; income tax on the rent, which depends on the owner's other income; furnishing, repairs and insurance. Every $100 a month of maintenance fees over those 5 years adds up to $6,000 and lowers the return by about 0.3 percentage points.

Sold 5 years after buying

The buyer sells in October 2031, 8 months after the keys. Property tax runs from the keys, and a landlord collects 6 months of rent.

Case	Price after 5 years	Living in it	Renting it out
Low−0.74% a year	−3.6%	−$427,000−35.3%	−$394,000−32.5%
Middle6.20% a year	35.1%	$856,00070.7%	$890,00073.4%
High12.45% a year	79.8%	$2,338,000192.9%	$2,372,000195.7%

To break even, the price would need to rise 1.79% a year for an owner living in it, or 1.60% a year for a landlord.

Sold 5 years after the keys

The buyer sells in February 2036, about 9 years and 4 months after buying. Property tax runs for 5 years, and a landlord has a tenant for 58 months.

Case	Price after 9 years 4 months	Living in it	Renting it out
Low1.49% a year	14.8%	−$39,000−2.2%	$309,00017.0%
Middle3.69% a year	40.2%	$804,00044.2%	$1,152,00063.3%
High5.95% a year	71.5%	$1,839,000101.2%	$2,188,000120.3%

To break even, the price would need to rise 1.60% a year for an owner living in it, or 0.57% a year for a landlord.

The table counts no benefit for living in the home. An owner living in it does not pay rent elsewhere. At $8,100 a month, that is $486,000 over those 5 years.

How much the rent matters

The middle case, sold 5 years after the keys, for a landlord, at four rents: the lowest and highest 4-bedroom median among the four comparison condos, their combined median, and the median for 4-bedrooms close in size to Thomson Reserve's.

Rent	Rent after costs	Return
$6,500Thomson Grand, the lowest	$257,770	60.6%
$8,0004-bedrooms of a similar size	$304,793	63.2%
$8,100the four condos combined	$307,928	63.3%
$8,700Jadescape, the highest	$326,738	64.4%

A difference of $2,200 in monthly rent changes the return by about 4 percentage points. The three price cases change it by about 103 points.

At other prices and sizes

Most 4-bedrooms at the launch will cost more than the cheapest, but this note has no rent figure that rises with the price. The return 5 years after the keys, at the three price levels and for the two bigger 4-bedroom layouts:

Home and price	Middle, living	Middle, renting	Low, renting
1,238 sq ft, $2,737 psf$3.388M, the starting price	44.2%	63.3%	17.0%
1,238 sq ft, $2,700 psf$3.343M	44.2%	63.6%	17.3%
1,238 sq ft, $3,000 psf$3.714M	44.0%	61.4%	15.2%
1,238 sq ft, $3,300 psf$4.085M	43.8%	59.6%	13.5%
1,367 sq ft, $3,000 psf$4.101M	43.8%	59.6%	13.5%
1,485 sq ft, $3,000 psf$4.455M	43.7%	58.1%	12.1%

At a higher price, an owner living in it gets almost the same return, because its gains and its costs both grow in step with the price. A landlord's return falls, because the same rent is a smaller share of a bigger price. In the low case, a landlord still ends with a gain at every price shown, because the low case for this hold is a rise of 1.49% a year.

At the keys: earlier launches

The price per square foot of 4-bedrooms at earlier launches near here, at launch and in the 2 years after their keys were handed over. The launch price is the typical 4-bedroom price in the first year each launch sold at least 20 new homes.

Launch	Launch, 4-bed psf	After the keys, 4-bed psf	Change	Market, same years
The Gardens at Bishan2000, keys 2004	$552	$49613 sales	−10.1%	−16.2%
Bishan Point2002, keys 2005	$506	$47115 sales	−6.9%	+13.6%
Clover by the Park2008, keys 2011	$757	$1,10819 sales	+46.5%	+15.0%
Sky Habitat2012, keys 2015	$1,739	$1,4467 sales	−16.8%	−4.6%
Jadescape2018, keys 2022	$1,653	$2,29712 sales	+39.0%	+32.9%

At 2 of the 5 launches, 4-bedrooms resold after the keys for more per square foot than at launch, and at 3 for less. Against the market, they did better at 3: by 31.5 percentage points at Clover by the Park, and by 6.1 at The Gardens at Bishan and at Jadescape. They did worse at Bishan Point, by 20.5 points, and at Sky Habitat, by 12.2. With 7 to 19 sales a launch, a few sales can move these figures a long way.

Few 4-bedrooms at these launches were resold just before their keys. From 2011, seller's stamp duty applied to homes sold within 3 or 4 years of buying, so launch buyers rarely sold before the keys. Thomson Reserve's keys are expected 4 years and 4 months after the launch, after a launch buyer's seller's stamp duty period has ended.

What the numbers cannot weigh

With few 4-bedrooms leased near here, the tenants looking for one are few too. A landlord may wait longer for a tenant, or take a lower rent, than the typical figures here assume. Families renting a 4-bedroom often sign for school years, so a lease that ends at the wrong time of year can mean a longer wait. A buyer who lives in it may value things no table counts: being near family, a school or work, room for a household that will grow, and a newer home with a fresh lease.

What this tells you

4-bedrooms near Thomson Reserve are mostly lived in by their owners: about 5 in 100 are leased in a year, against about 9 for 3-bedrooms and 21 for 2-bedrooms. A landlord here would be renting into a small market, at a yield of about 2.87% from 2031, within what a resale 4-bedroom nearby yields today. Held for 5 years after the keys, renting it out raises the middle return from 44.2% to 63.3% and keeps the low case at a gain, though property tax takes more than a third of the rent. An owner who lives in it instead saves about $486,000 of rent at today's level, which the tables do not count. In every case here, the price moves the return far more than the rent does, and the price cases rest on 81 past owners.

What this does not tell you

• Your net rent. Maintenance fees, income tax on the rent, furnishing and repairs are not deducted.
• Your property tax. IRAS sets each unit's annual value; this note uses a year's rent instead.
• Whether prices or rents will rise. Every figure here comes from past markets. The cases are not a forecast.
• Your own costs. The cases assume a Singapore citizen's first home and a 75% loan at 2%. Your stamp duty, loan and holding period may differ.

Method and data notes

Rent. URA's records of private leases held by Realila, at the four comparison condos, October 2024 to September 2026: 24 months, because over the latest 12 months only one of the four condos had the 5 4-bedroom leases a median needs. The rate of leasing uses the latest 12 months, October 2025 to September 2026. Similar size: 1,238 sq ft, give or take 10%.

Resales and yields. 4-bedroom resales over the 24 months to 11 October 2026, at condos with at least 5 resales and 5 leases. Yield: 12 months' rent over the price, before costs.

Buyer, loan and costs. The 4-bedroom starting price, $3,388,000; buyer's stamp duty, legal fees and mortgage duty; a 75% loan over 25 years at 2% a year, drawn in the standard stages for a home under construction; on the sale, commission of 2% with 9% GST, and $3,000 in legal fees. A sale 5 years after buying comes before the last 15% of the price is due, so it is settled from the sale. For a sale 5 years after the keys, the last 15% is taken as drawn from the loan a year after the keys. These are the same costs and loan as in the series' note on the costs of buying and selling.

Cases. For a sale after 5 years: 4-bedrooms within 2.5 km of Thomson Reserve bought from 2000 to 2020 and resold 4 to 6 years later. For a sale after about 9 years: those bought from 2000 to 2017 and resold 8 to 11 years later. Each case is the 10th, 50th or 90th percentile of their yearly price change, applied to the starting price.

Landlord. A first tenant 2 months after the keys; 1 month in 24 without a tenant; the agent's commission at half a month's rent per year of lease, plus GST. Property tax at IRAS's 2026 rates on an annual value taken as 12 months' rent, from the keys to the sale.

At the keys. Each condo's first recorded lease month stands for the handover of its keys. 4-bedroom sub-sales and resales in the 24 months from it, shown with at least 5 sales.

Places. Within 2.5 km means a condo's point within 2.5 km of Thomson Reserve's, in a straight line.