In 2 bedroom resales from 2023 to 2025, building age showed no pattern in the premium per square foot over a unit of 1,000 to 1,500 square feet

A 2 bedroom condominium in a building finished in 1996 is priced against family-sized units in the same way as one finished in 2023. We looked for an age effect in six completion eras across three regions and found no pattern. What a 2 bedroom costs, what it rents for, its rental yield and how big it is are covered in the 2 bedroom condo guide.

Three earlier versions of this analysis each showed a pattern, and each disappeared when we examined it more closely. The section "Did three earlier findings on building age hold up?" describes each of them.

What is in this note

• Are there enough old buildings to test for an age effect?: how many 2 bedroom resales come from buildings of each completion era, and why that makes the test possible.
• Does building age change the 2 bedroom premium?: the premium a 2 bedroom carries over a family-sized unit, by completion era and region.
• Did three earlier findings on building age hold up?: what each earlier finding showed and what the current table shows.

Are there enough old buildings to test for an age effect?

When we ran this test on shoebox units the answer was also no pattern, but for a reason that closed the question: there was almost no old shoebox stock to compare. Fewer than 200 resales in 9 years came from buildings finished before 2009.

2 bedroom stock is large in every era, as the table shows.

Completed	2 bedroom resales	Projects
Before 2000	431	99
2000 to 2008	446	122
2009 to 2012	373	117
2013 to 2016	1,913	222
2017 to 2020	1,128	77
2021 onward	898	71

Every era has real volume, with 99 projects in the oldest band and more than a hundred in each of the next three. The data are enough for a genuine test.

Does building age change the 2 bedroom premium?

Across the six completion eras, no region shows a premium that rises or falls steadily with building age.

The premium compares the price per square foot of a 2 bedroom against that of a family-sized unit, where family-sized means 1,000 to 1,500 sqft. Both are medians across projects rather than across transactions, so a few busy developments cannot dominate.

Premium of a 2 bedroom over a family-sized unit, resales from 2023 to 2025, by completion era, in the core central region (CCR), the rest of central region (RCR) and outside central (OCR):

Completed	CCR	RCR	OCR
Before 2000	+1.2%	-7.3%	+1.4%
2000 to 2008	-12.9%	-0.1%	+3.3%
2009 to 2012	-9.3%	-3.7%	-5.6%
2013 to 2016	-6.0%	-0.1%	+0.2%
2017 to 2020	+4.4%	-4.4%	+5.4%
2021 onward	-4.6%	-4.6%	-4.7%

In the CCR the premium was +1.2% for buildings finished before 2000, -12.9% for 2000 to 2008, +4.4% for 2017 to 2020 and -4.6% for 2021 onward. In the OCR it ranged from -5.6% to +5.4% across the six eras, with no direction. The RCR varied least, from -7.3% to -0.1%, and also has no direction.

If building age affected the premium, it would rise or fall steadily with age in at least one region. It does not in any of the three regions.

The newest buildings, finished from 2021 onward, are the only group with any regularity: -4.6% in the CCR, -4.6% in the RCR and -4.7% in the OCR. The three regions are within a tenth of a percentage point of each other. With 49 projects behind those figures, that is more likely to be a coincidence than a finding. We mention it because it is visible in the table, and we cannot explain it.

Did three earlier findings on building age hold up?

Three earlier versions of this analysis each showed a pattern. The table below gives the figures behind each.

Completed	Median price per square foot, blended	Premium, blended	Premium, RCR
Before 2000	$1,532	+4.4%	-7.3%
2000 to 2008	$1,694	+3.0%	-0.1%
2009 to 2012	$1,700	-4.8%	-3.7%
2013 to 2016	$1,624	+0.9%	-0.1%
2017 to 2020	$1,820	-3.4%	-4.4%
2021 onward	$2,156	-6.3%	-4.6%

First, a price series that rose and fell. The median 2 bedroom price per square foot was $1,694 for buildings finished 2000 to 2008 and $1,700 for 2009 to 2012, then $1,624 for 2013 to 2016, so buildings from 2013 to 2016 looked cheaper than buildings a decade older.

In the premium table above, buildings finished from 2013 to 2016 read -6.0% in the CCR, -0.1% in the RCR and +0.2% in the OCR, with no region rising or falling steadily with age.

Second, a premium that was higher in older stock. Blended across the three regions, the premium was +4.4% for buildings finished before 2000 and -6.3% for 2021 onward.

Split by region, as in the table above, the premium has no steady direction in any of the three regions. In the CCR it read +1.2% for buildings finished before 2000, -12.9% for 2000 to 2008 and +4.4% for 2017 to 2020.

Third, a steady fall in one region. Combining the six eras into three, the RCR premium was +3.7% for buildings finished before 2009, -2.1% for 2009 to 2016 and -4.5% for 2017 onward. That is a steady fall with building age in one region, which is what an age effect would look like.

At six eras the RCR premium ranged from -7.3% to -0.1%, rising and falling with no steady direction.

The three-era version had combined the pre-2000 and 2000-to-2008 groups. Their separate figures are -7.3% and -0.1%. Combined they gave +3.7%.

An average of two negative numbers cannot be positive, so combining was not simply averaging. A project only enters this analysis when it has at least three sales in a size band in the window. Widen the band of years and different projects clear that bar. The combined group is not the two smaller groups put together; it is a different set of buildings.

So where the era boundaries fall changes which buildings the analysis includes.

What this tells you

A 2 bedroom's price per square foot, compared with that of a family-sized unit in buildings of the same age and region, shows no pattern with building age. We checked six completion eras in each of the core central region (CCR), the rest of central region (RCR) and outside central (OCR), using resales from 2023 to 2025, and in none of the three regions does the premium increase or decrease steadily as buildings get older. In the CCR the premium was +1.2% for buildings finished before 2000, -12.9% for 2000 to 2008 and +4.4% for 2017 to 2020. The RCR varies least and also has no direction.

The data are enough for a real test. Unlike shoebox stock, 2 bedrooms have volume in every era: 431 resales from buildings finished before 2000 and 898 from buildings finished since 2021, with 99 projects in the oldest band and more than a hundred in each of the next three.

The newest buildings are the only group with any regularity: all three regions land between -4.6% and -4.7%. On the 49 projects behind those figures, that is more likely coincidence than a finding.

Three earlier versions of this analysis each showed a pattern, and the table above shows none of them. A price series that dipped for buildings from 2013 to 2016 does not appear in the premium by region, which read -6.0% in the CCR, -0.1% in the RCR and +0.2% in the OCR for that era. A premium blended across the three regions read +4.4% for buildings finished before 2000 and -6.3% for 2021 onward. By region, the oldest era reads +1.2% in the CCR, -7.3% in the RCR and +1.4% in the OCR, and the newest era reads -4.6% in the CCR, -4.6% in the RCR and -4.7% in the OCR. And a steady fall in the RCR, +3.7%, -2.1% and -4.5% across three eras, is not there at six: across six building eras the RCR premium ranged from -7.3% to -0.1%, rising and falling with no steady direction.

So when a buyer weighs a 2 bedroom against a larger unit, the age of the building does not change the answer. A 2 bedroom in an old block and one in a new block are priced against the family-sized units around them in the same way. Building age also does not explain the way prices differ between regions or the premium freehold carries over leasehold. The three false starts are a reminder of how easily a pattern appears: each one disappeared when the data were split more finely.

What this does not tell you

• Anything about a specific building. These are medians across projects within an era and a region. A particular development may price its 2 bedrooms well above or below its larger units for reasons no median can see.
• How the premium has moved over time. This is a snapshot of resales from 2023 to 2025, grouped by when buildings were finished. It is not a trend, and a building finished in 2022 has no earlier history to compare against.
• Whether the pattern in the newest buildings means anything. Three regions at -4.6%, -4.6% and -4.7% is either the market pricing recent stock consistently or a coincidence on thin counts. We cannot separate those.
• Anything about buildings whose 2 bedrooms rarely sell. A project enters only with at least three sales in a size band, which excludes small developments and those where owners hold.

Method and data notes. Data to 4 August 2026.

Private non-landed resale caveats, condominium and apartment. Executive condominiums and collective sales excluded.

2 bedroom is 700 to 900 sqft, a size band rather than a bedroom count; the other articles in this series, which draw on sale records only, define a 2 bedroom by resolved bedroom count instead. Family-sized is 1,000 to 1,500 sqft, matching the comparison used in our shoebox work so the two series can be read against each other.

Completion era is the year the project was finished. Regions are URA's Core Central Region, Rest of Central Region and Outside Central Region, shortened to CCR, RCR and OCR.

The window is resales from 2023 to 2025. A project qualifies for a group when it has at least three transactions in that size band in the window. Medians are taken across projects rather than pooled across transactions, so a development with many sales does not dominate its group.

The premium compares 2 bedroom and family-sized medians drawn from each region and era, not from within a single building. Because the qualifying threshold is applied to each group separately, dividing the years differently produces a different set of projects, and the groups cannot be combined arithmetically.

Data to 4 August 2026.

30 October 2026. This note placed homes in market segments by postal district. URA places them by planning area, which moves about one in seven private sales between regions. The figures by region here use the earlier segments and differ from what the same records give now. How regions are set: How we measure prices and sales.