How Do You Identify Profitable CCR Developments ?

Can You Actually Make Money Buying a Condo in the CCR?

With several new CCR launches in 2025 and 2026 and more expected through 2027, the common assumption among investors today is that CCR developments are not good investment property and that they carry a track record for loss-making, especially when compared to the bright picture being painted for RCR and OCR developments.

The goal of this article is to dive deeper into that assumption and uncover whether there are gems to be found within the CCR region.

As a pretext, we believe this blanket assumption could be preventing investors from overlooking several opportunities that the CCR region can provide, especially with the tightening price gap between CCR and RCR developments.

What is the average annualised price appreciation across CCR condos?

Across the 170 CCR developments we analysed with TOP from 2005 onwards, the average annualised price appreciation stands at 1.46%. On the surface, that number tells a modest but positive story. Look closer, and it conceals more than it reveals.

The CCR is not one market. It is two.

The first comprises residential-focused neighbourhoods where families live, schools anchor the community, and owner-occupiers form the dominant buyer base. The second comprises commercial and mixed-use neighbourhoods oriented around the CBD, investor demand, and transient tenants.

These two cohorts produce materially different results, and averaging them together produces a figure that accurately describes neither. The residential cohort averages between 3.00% and 3.60% annualised gains with zero negative developments across all four neighbourhoods. The commercial cohort averages between -0.11% and -1.13%, putting them in negative territory across the board.

Table: Average Annualised Gain by District and Neighbourhood – CCR

How many CCR condos are making losses – and what does negative price appreciation look like across the market?

The aggregate loss picture across the CCR is not evenly distributed. Of the 170 developments analysed, 34 recorded negative annualised price appreciation. That is 1 in 5 developments across the entire CCR universe.

We split the underperforming CCR developments into two groups. The first are those producing annualised gains below the CCR average of 1.46% – positive on paper, but delivering returns that trail the market. The second are developments recording outright negative annualised price appreciation, where resale sellers are exiting at a loss.

Table: CCR Developments with Below-Average Annualised Gains (Below 1.46%)

Nassim and Ardmore is the standout anomaly here. Despite carrying one of the most prestigious addresses in Singapore, the ultra-luxury segment consistently underdelivers on investment returns. Premium pricing compresses the buyer pool at resale to a level where transactions are thin and price growth is constrained.

Four of the five neighbourhoods in negative territory are commercial CCR. Sentosa Cove sits at the bottom at -1.13%, driven by a collapse in foreign buyer demand following successive ABSD rounds. Marina Bay and Cairnhill follow a similar pattern – investor-driven precincts where the exit buyer pool has structurally shrunk. Grange and Tanglin is the sole residential outlier, where a small number of ultra-luxury developments have dragged the neighbourhood average into negative territory.

Table: CCR Developments with Negative Annualised Price Appreciation

Which CCR condos are actually performing well and outperforming the 3% benchmark?

This is an often-overlooked aspect of CCR developments. The blanket assumption that CCR cannot meet average price appreciation benchmarks is contradicted by the data.

Of the 170 CCR developments analysed, 41 individually beat the 3% annualised gain benchmark. That is nearly 1 in 4 developments producing returns that comfortably outpace the CCR average of 1.46%. Every single one of them sits in a residential CCR neighbourhood. Not one commercial CCR neighbourhood averages above 3% at the aggregate level.

A closer look at the developments within these neighbourhoods reveals a pattern. The strongest performers share a common set of attributes – they sit in residential CCR neighbourhoods, they tend to be freehold or 999-year tenure, and their most profitable transactions are concentrated among owners who have held for longer durations. We will examine each of these factors in detail in the sections that follow.

Table: CCR Neighbourhoods Beating the 3% Annualised Gain Benchmark

Can CCR condos actually be profitable – and can they potentially outperform the average performance of a condo development?

The answer is yes – CCR condos can be profitable, and the right ones can outperform the average condo development. The data across 170 developments makes this clear.

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Can CCR Condo Profits Actually Match – or Beat – What RCR and OCR Buyers Are Making?

Now that we have established that CCR condos can actually be profitable and some of them can even beat the benchmark, let’s consider if the right CCR development can be comparable to some of the best performers in the RCR and OCR areas. More specifically, let’s consider if selecting the right CCR development can actually beat top-performing developments in OCR and RCR.

What profits are strong-performing RCR and OCR condo developments producing?

Now let’s examine the performance of top-performing developments from RCR and OCR condos. Note that this data is extracted from a separate article on attributes of high-growth new launch developments, a separate research article written by Decoupling Expertise, and a separate article on new launch profitability.

The top-performing RCR and OCR developments produced average profits ranging from $460,000 to $604,950 over holding periods of 4.5 to 6.1 years. These are strong numbers by any measure and represent the benchmark that any CCR development would need to clear to be considered a genuine alternative.

Artra in Redhill leads the RCR pack at $604,950 in average profit over 5.7 years, followed closely by Parc Esta in Geylang at $594,000 over just 4.5 years. Stirling Residences in Queenstown and Whistler Grand in Clementi both cleared $550,000 in average profit within 5 years. At the lower end of the table, Daintree Residence in Beauty World produced $460,000 in average profit over 4.6 years.

Table: Top Performing RCR and OCR Developments by Average Profit

What profits are strong-performing CCR condo developments producing?

Now let’s look at what the top-performing CCR developments are actually producing. The figures below are drawn from our own resale transaction research across developments in residential CCR neighbourhoods.

Sky@Eleven in Thomson stands out as the strongest performer in the dataset, producing an average profit of $2,180,000 per transaction over an average holding period of 13 years. The Trizon in Bukit Timah follows at $1,090,000 over 9.7 years, and Tribeca in River Valley at $899,000 over 11.6 years. These are not outliers – they represent a consistent pattern of strong absolute profit production among freehold CCR developments in residential neighbourhoods.

Even at the lower end of the table, the numbers hold up. D’Leedon in Bukit Timah, a leasehold development, averaged $598,000 in profit over 9.8 years with a near-perfect win rate. Sturdee Residences in Farrer Park averaged $377,000 over 7.3 years with zero loss-making transactions across 58 resale pairs.

Table: Top CCR Developments by Average Profit

How do the profits of top CCR developments compare against the top RCR and OCR developments?

Comparing the two datasets side by side, the top-performing RCR and OCR developments produced average profits of $460,000 to $604,950 over holding periods of 4.5 to 6.1 years. The top-performing CCR developments produced average profits of $377,000 to $2,180,000 over holding periods of 7.3 to 13.0 years. The holding duration required is longer, but the profit quantum at the upper end is in a different league entirely.

When the right CCR development is selected, it does not just match the best performers in RCR and OCR. It exceeds them.

Can CCR condo profits actually match – or even exceed – what RCR and OCR developments produce?

Yes, the right CCR condo can match and exceed the profits produced by top-performing RCR and OCR developments. The data shows that selected CCR developments in residential neighbourhoods have produced average profits of up to $2,180,000 per transaction – more than three times the average profit of the best-performing RCR developments. The trade-off is a longer holding duration, but for investors with the right time horizon, the profit quantum is unmatched.

If you are currently weighing CCR against RCR or OCR developments and would like to work through how the numbers compare against your budget and holding horizon, drop us a text.

Which Factors Have the Biggest Impact on Whether a CCR Condo Is Profitable?

Having established that CCR condos can be profitable and that the right ones can outperform the best performers in RCR and OCR, the next question is what separates the winners from the losers. Across our research of 170 CCR developments with TOP from 2005 onwards, three factors consistently emerge as the most influential in determining whether a CCR condo produces a profit or a loss.

• Neighbourhood character: Whether the development sits in a residential or commercial CCR precinct.
• Tenure: Whether the development is freehold or leasehold.
• Tenure combined with holding duration: A composite factor where freehold status and a longer holding duration work together to produce the highest absolute profit quantum.

We will examine each of these factors in detail in the sections that follow.

What was the research approach used to identify the factors that define a profitable CCR condo?

Our research is based on a dataset of 170 CCR developments with TOP from 2005 onwards. The TOP 2005 filter was applied deliberately – annualised gain figures that include 20 to 40 year holding periods are not representative of what a modern investor can realistically replicate today. Here is how the research was conducted.

1. Dataset construction: 170 CCR developments with TOP from 2005 onwards were identified and compiled into a working dataset.
2. Primary metric: Annualised price appreciation was tracked for each development as the primary performance metric.
3. Neighbourhood classification: All 170 developments were mapped to their neighbourhood and classified as either residential or commercial CCR.
4. Transaction-level deep dive: 8 developments were selected for deeper analysis, examining 459 individual resale pairs to compute the absolute dollar profit or loss per transaction.
5. Quantum profitability: Absolute dollar profit or loss per transaction was adopted as the secondary metric, giving a ground-level view of what sellers actually walked away with.

Which specific factors have the most outsized influence on CCR condo profitability?

Across our research, three factors consistently emerge as having the most outsized influence on whether a CCR condo produces a profit or a loss. Each factor is examined in detail in the sections that follow.

• Factor 1: Neighbourhood character. Residential CCR developments average 2.19% in annualised gains versus 0.24% for commercial CCR developments – a gap of 1.95 percentage points.
• Factor 2: Tenure. Freehold developments in residential CCR average 2.18% in annualised gains versus 0.20% for leasehold developments in commercial CCR – a gap of 1.98 percentage points.
• Factor 3: Tenure combined with holding duration. Freehold developments held for 10 years or more average $2,520,000 in absolute profit versus $893,000 for freehold developments held for less than 5 years – a difference of $1,627,000 in profit quantum.

Table: Factor Summary – Impact on CCR Condo Profitability

Factor One – The CCR Neighbourhood You Buy Into Has the Biggest Influence on Price Appreciation and Resale Demand

Of the three factors we identified, neighbourhood characteristics has the single biggest influence on whether a CCR condo appreciates in value or loses it. It is also the factor most commonly overlooked by investors who rely on district codes as a proxy for quality. A D9 address does not tell you whether you are buying into a residential community or a commercial precinct.

What is the difference between a residential CCR neighbourhood and a commercial CCR neighbourhood?

The CCR spans a wide range of neighbourhood types, and not all of them are built around the same buyer. Residential CCR neighbourhoods are defined by the presence of reputable schools within the immediate catchment, amenities oriented around families and long-term residents, and developments occupied by mainly owner-occupier owners purchasing for family own stay. These are areas where people live, not just invest. Commercial CCR neighbourhoods, by contrast, are oriented around the CBD, business parks, and transient working populations. Footfall is driven by the office crowd during working hours. After hours, these precincts are quiet. The buyer profile skews heavily toward investors seeking rental yield rather than owner-occupiers seeking liveability.

Table: Residential vs Commercial CCR – Neighbourhood Traits

This distinction matters because the resale buyer pool for a residential CCR development is fundamentally different from that of a commercial CCR development. In a residential neighbourhood, the exit buyer is typically an affluent local family, an HDB upgrader moving toward the city fringe, or an upgrader from RCR looking for a better school catchment. In a commercial neighbourhood, the exit buyer is more likely an investor – and that pool has structurally shrunk since successive rounds of ABSD have reduced foreign buyer participation.

What is the difference in profitability between a residential CCR neighbourhood and a commercial CCR neighbourhood?

The performance gap between residential and commercial CCR is not marginal. Across our dataset of 170 developments, residential CCR averaged 2.19% in annualised gains with an 8% negative rate. Commercial CCR averaged 0.24% with a 41% negative rate. That is a difference of 1.95 percentage points in average annualised gains and a fivefold difference in the proportion of developments making losses.

The sharpest illustration of this gap sits within District 9 itself. Tribeca in River Valley and Scotts Square in Cairnhill both carry a D9 address. The similarity ends there.

Tribeca is situated in the residential pocket of River Valley – within catchment of River Valley Primary School, walkable to Great World City, and surrounded by an established owner-occupier community. Across 17 resale transactions in our dataset, Tribeca recorded a 100% win rate and an average profit of $899,000 per transaction.

Scotts Square sits in the Cairnhill and Orchard pocket of D9 – a commercial precinct dominated by retail, hotel, and investor-grade product with no meaningful school catchment and a buyer profile historically dependent on foreign demand. Across 19 resale transactions, Scotts Square recorded an 84% loss rate and an average loss of $629,000 per transaction.

Same district code. A $1,528,000 difference in average outcome per transaction.

Table: Development-Level Profitability – RES vs COM CCR

Marina One Residences in Marina Bay tells a similar story. Despite being one of the most prominent integrated developments in Singapore, it recorded a 95% loss rate across 63 resale transactions, with an average loss of $315,000 per transaction. The development is well-built and well-located by conventional measures – but it sits in a commercial precinct where the resale buyer pool has never recovered from the structural decline in foreign investor demand.

How do you ensure the CCR development you are buying into possesses the traits of a residential CCR neighbourhood?

One practical implication of the RES versus COM framework is that it does not map neatly onto district boundaries. A development in D9 can be residential or commercial depending on which pocket of D9 it sits in. Two developments currently on the market in D5 – Bloomsbury Residences and Hudson Place Residences – sit within the One-North and Media Circle precinct, a technology and biotech cluster that exhibits every trait of a commercial CCR neighbourhood despite not carrying a traditional CCR district code. Investors relying on district codes alone would miss this entirely.

The traits to look for on the ground are consistent across all residential CCR neighbourhoods. Reputable primary schools within a 1km radius is the single most reliable indicator – it signals that the surrounding community is built around families, not investors. River Valley has River Valley Primary. Bukit Timah has Nanyang Primary and Raffles Girls’ Primary. Newton has Anglo-Chinese Primary and St Joseph’s Institution Junior. Novena has SJI Junior and ACS Junior. Holland Village has Henry Park Primary. These school catchments anchor a resident buyer base that persists across market cycles.

Table: 2025 and 2026 New Launches – Residential vs Commercial CCR Character

The classification above is based on neighbourhood character, not district boundary. Bloomsbury and Hudson Place sit in D5 but exhibit the same commercial CCR traits that our data consistently associates with underperformance. An investor applying the residential CCR screen to these two developments would pass on both – and the data suggests that is the right call.

If you are evaluating a specific CCR development and are unsure whether it sits in a residential or commercial precinct, drop us a text. We apply this classification framework as part of every CCR investment assessment we run for clients.

Factor Two – Does Freehold or Leasehold Tenure Have a Role to Play in CCR Condo Profitability?

The second factor is tenure. The conventional wisdom in Singapore property is that freehold is always preferable to leasehold – and in the CCR specifically, that assumption runs deep. Many investors believe that a freehold address in the CCR commands a meaningful resale premium and that leasehold CCR developments carry an inherent disadvantage at the point of exit. The data tells a more nuanced story.

The Common Assumption – CCR Resale Buyers Prefer Freehold Over Leasehold

The preference for freehold in the CCR is not without basis. Freehold developments typically command a 10% to 15% premium in PSF over comparable leasehold developments. In a market where buyer profiles skew toward affluent owner-occupiers and succession-minded purchasers, freehold status carries significant psychological weight. This is particularly true in residential CCR neighbourhoods where old wealth is concentrated – affluent parents who already own property in Bukit Timah, Thomson, or Balmoral often support their children in purchasing a unit nearby, and this demographic has a strong and consistent preference for freehold status. For these buyers, a freehold title is not just a financial consideration. It is a generational one.

Does freehold tenure actually produce higher annualised gains and average profitability than leasehold in the CCR?

At the aggregate level, the answer is no – or at least, not in the way most investors expect. Across our dataset, freehold developments in residential CCR averaged 2.18% in annualised gains. Leasehold developments in residential CCR averaged 2.24% – marginally ahead. The aggregate gap between FH and LH within the same neighbourhood type is negligible.

What the aggregate numbers do not capture is the difference in absolute profit quantum between freehold and leasehold developments within the same residential CCR neighbourhood. We will examine this in detail in the section on holding duration that follows.

Table: Aggregate FH vs LH by CCR Zone

Table: Development-Level – Same Neighbourhood FH vs LH Pairs

Why do modern leasehold developments in the CCR have a chance to compete against freehold developments?

The leasehold stigma in the CCR has diminished meaningfully over the past decade, and for good reason. Modern leasehold developments in residential CCR neighbourhoods are built to a higher specification, with more efficient floor plates and unit sizes calibrated to the affordability threshold of local owner-occupier demand. The transition away from foreign investor buyers – who historically placed greater emphasis on freehold status as a store of value – means that the resale buyer pool today is dominated by local families for whom liveability, school catchment, and purchase quantum matter more than tenure.

Within a realistic 5 to 10 year holding horizon, the lease decay on a 99-year leasehold development is negligible. A buyer purchasing a leasehold CCR development today will resell with approximately 85 to 94 years remaining on the lease – well above the threshold for lease decay concerns. For investors with a defined exit horizon, leasehold in a strong residential CCR neighbourhood remains a viable and well-supported choice.

If freehold does not have an absolute profitability edge, what advantage does it actually provide to a CCR condo buyer?

The freehold advantage in the CCR is not in annualised gains. At the aggregate level, as we have shown, leasehold in residential CCR keeps pace. The freehold edge lies in the ability to hold for longer without concern. A freehold development eliminates lease decay as a consideration for future resale buyers entirely. An owner of a freehold CCR development can hold for 10, 15, or 20 years and present their unit to the next buyer with no lease decay objection to overcome. This facilitates longer holds with confidence, and as the data shows, longer holds in freehold residential CCR developments produce materially higher absolute profit quantum.

Table: FH vs LH Across Short, Medium, and Long Holding Durations

The Trizon averaged $1,250,000 in profit for short holds and $997,000 for long holds – the floor never drops below $997,000 regardless of holding duration. D’Leedon, its leasehold neighbour in the same neighbourhood, averaged $363,000 for short holds and $653,000 for long holds. The gap between the two at equivalent holding durations is $492,000 per transaction in favour of freehold. Sky@Eleven in Thomson illustrates the long-hold compounding effect most clearly – averaging $893,000 for short holds and $2,520,000 for long holds, with zero losses across all 17 transactions.

Factor Three – Does Holding a Freehold CCR Condo for Longer Produce a Higher Absolute Profit?

The third factor is the composite effect of freehold tenure combined with holding duration. We have established that neighbourhood characteristics is the primary driver of whether a CCR condo makes money or loses it, and that freehold tenure facilitates longer holds without lease decay concerns. This section examines what happens to absolute profit quantum when those two variables work together over time.

What is the greatest advantage that freehold status provides to a CCR condo owner – and how does holding duration amplify it?

The data across our transaction pool makes a clear case. Freehold developments in residential CCR neighbourhoods do not just produce profits – they produce profits that grow materially with time. The longer the hold, the higher the absolute quantum.

The comparison between The Trizon and D’Leedon in Bukit Timah is the most instructive data point in the entire analysis. Both developments sit in the same neighbourhood. Both have virtually identical average holding durations – 9.7 years for The Trizon and 9.8 years for D’Leedon. The difference is tenure. The Trizon, freehold, averaged $1,090,000 in profit per transaction. D’Leedon, leasehold, averaged $598,000. Same neighbourhood, same holding duration, a $492,000 difference in average profit – attributable entirely to tenure.

Table: FH vs LH – Average Profit by Actual Holding Duration

Does freehold status combined with a longer holding duration consistently produce the highest absolute profits in the CCR?

The answer is yes, and Sky@Eleven in Thomson is the clearest illustration. Across 17 transactions with an average holding duration of 13 years, Sky@Eleven produced an average profit of $2,180,000 per transaction and a maximum profit of $3,680,000. The development was purchased at an average entry PSF of $1,409 and resold at an average exit PSF of $2,273 – a PSF delta of $863 sustained across more than a decade of holds.

Tribeca in River Valley and The Trizon in Bukit Timah follow the same pattern. Both are freehold and both sit in residential CCR neighbourhoods. Their dominant holding duration profile is long – 59% of Tribeca transactions and 52% of The Trizon transactions fall in the 10-year-plus bucket. It is in this long-hold bucket that the profit quantum of freehold residential CCR developments separates itself most decisively from everything else in the market.

Table: CCR Developments with Outstanding Absolute Profit – All Freehold, All Long-Hold Dominant

How does resale buyer psychology towards freehold versus leasehold CCR condos affect an owner’s ability to exit profitably?

A freehold CCR development carries a distinct advantage at the point of resale – the absence of lease decay concern for the incoming buyer. When a resale buyer is evaluating a freehold CCR development that is 15 or 20 years old, the age of the development does not trigger the same hesitation it would for a leasehold development of the same vintage.

This has a direct impact on the resale buyer’s willingness to invest in the unit. A buyer purchasing a freehold CCR development is far more likely to commit $100,000 to $200,000 in renovation costs – knowing that the freehold status of the development means that sunk cost is not in conflict with a depreciating lease. For a leasehold development of the same age, that renovation calculus changes. A buyer absorbing a significant renovation cost on a development with 75 or 80 years remaining on the lease is making a different risk calculation – and that hesitation narrows the buyer pool and compresses the price the seller can achieve.

If you already own a CCR development and are assessing your exit options, or are weighing freehold against leasehold for a new purchase, drop us a WhatsApp text. We can walk through how tenure interacts with your holding horizon and the likely resale buyer pool for the specific development you have in mind.

How Do You Screen a CCR Condo for Investment Potential Before You Buy?

The three factors we have examined – neighbourhood characteristics, tenure, and the composite effect of tenure combined with holding duration – form the backbone of a practical screener that any investor can apply before committing to a CCR purchase. The five steps below translate those factors into a repeatable evaluation process.

Step One – How do you determine if the CCR development you are looking at sits in a residential or commercial neighbourhood?

This is the first and most important filter. Everything else in the screener depends on getting this right.

The traits to look for are consistent across all residential CCR neighbourhoods. Start with schools. Reputable primary schools within a 1km radius is the single most reliable indicator of a residential CCR precinct. River Valley Primary anchors the River Valley pocket of D9. Nanyang Primary and Raffles Girls’ Primary anchor Bukit Timah. Anglo-Chinese Primary and St Joseph’s Institution Junior anchor Newton. SJI Junior and ACS Junior anchor Novena. Henry Park Primary anchors Holland Village. If the development you are evaluating does not sit within the catchment of a reputable primary school, it is almost certainly in a commercial CCR precinct.

Step Two – How do you assess whether there is genuine resale demand in that CCR neighbourhood?

Once you have established that the development sits in a residential CCR neighbourhood, the next step is to verify that genuine resale demand exists – not just at the development level, but across the neighbourhood as a whole.

The most reliable way to do this is to examine the transaction history of other developments in the same neighbourhood. Look at transaction volume over the past three to five years, the proportion of profitable resale transactions, and the consistency of price growth across multiple developments. A neighbourhood with strong resale demand will show healthy transaction volume, a high proportion of profitable exits, and price growth that is not dependent on a single outlier development.

Neighbourhoods like Farrer Park, Thomson, Balmoral, and Robertson Quay meet this standard clearly. Across our dataset, all four recorded zero negative developments at the neighbourhood average level and produced annualised gains between 3.00% and 3.60%. That consistency across multiple developments within the same neighbourhood is the signal you are looking for. It tells you that the demand is structural, not development-specific.

Step Three – Who are the resale buyers in this CCR neighbourhood and where are they coming from?

Understanding who your exit buyer is before you enter is as important as understanding the neighbourhood itself. The resale buyer profile varies significantly across CCR neighbourhoods, and a development that is well-matched to its neighbourhood buyer profile will always be easier to exit profitably than one that is not.

In residential CCR neighbourhoods, the dominant resale buyer profiles are affluent local families purchasing for own stay, HDB upgraders moving toward the city fringe with school catchment as a primary consideration, and upgraders from RCR who are trading up in location and lifestyle. In some neighbourhoods, particularly Bukit Timah, Thomson, and Balmoral, there is also a meaningful segment of old wealth buyers, including affluent parents supporting children purchasing nearby, who have a strong and consistent preference for freehold developments in established residential enclaves.

In commercial CCR neighbourhoods, the dominant resale buyer profile has historically been foreign investors and rental yield investors. That pool has structurally shrunk following successive ABSD rounds and has not recovered. This is the structural reason why commercial CCR developments continue to record high loss rates. The exit buyer that these developments were originally built for is no longer present in sufficient numbers to support the price levels at which they were purchased.

Step Four – Does the development and unit type you are buying have product-market fit with the buyers in that neighbourhood?

Even within a strong residential CCR neighbourhood, not every development and not every unit type will be well-matched to the dominant buyer profile. Product-market fit at the unit level is the fourth filter.

The residential CCR buyer today is primarily a local family purchasing for own stay. That buyer is looking for functional layouts, efficient floor plates, and a purchase quantum that sits within a realistic affordability threshold. Units with oversized balconies, bay windows, or inefficient layouts inflate the total quantum without adding liveable space. That pushes the purchase price beyond the threshold where the dominant buyer pool can absorb it comfortably.

For 2-bedroom units, the target quantum for the residential CCR buyer sits broadly in the $1.8M to $2.5M range. For 3-bedroom units, the $2.5M to $3.5M range captures the widest buyer pool. Developments and unit types that push materially beyond these thresholds, regardless of how prestigious the address, face a meaningfully smaller resale audience. Older CCR developments with large, inefficient floor plates in the 1,200 to 1,800 sqft range for 2-bedroom units are particularly vulnerable to this dynamic, as their total quantum often exceeds what the modern residential CCR buyer is willing to pay for that bedroom type.

Step Five – Given all of the above, does it make more sense to buy a freehold or leasehold development in this CCR neighbourhood?

If the development has passed the first four filters – residential neighbourhood, genuine resale demand, matched buyer profile, and product-market fit at the unit level – the final decision is tenure.

The framework here is straightforward. If the neighbourhood is a strong residential CCR precinct and your intended holding horizon is long, meaning 10 years or more, freehold is the preferred choice. The data shows consistently that freehold in residential CCR produces materially higher absolute profit quantum over long holds, eliminates lease decay as an objection for future resale buyers, and supports a resale buyer’s willingness to invest in renovation without concern over a depreciating lease. These advantages compound over time and are most visible at the 10-year-plus holding duration.

If your holding horizon is shorter, in the 5 to 10 year range, leasehold in a strong residential CCR neighbourhood remains a viable and well-supported choice. Sturdee Residences in Farrer Park averaged $377,000 in profit over 7.3 years with zero loss-making transactions. Soleil @ Sinaran in Novena averaged $484,000 over a similar horizon. The leasehold stigma within a 5 to 10 year holding window is minimal, and the lower entry quantum of a leasehold development can make it a more accessible entry point into a residential CCR neighbourhood without materially compromising the profit outcome.

Looking to purchase a CCR unit as a second property?

Check out the following articles for more insights

• How to buy a second property in Singapore without ABSD?
• Decoupling Property Singapore – The Complete Guide