The Cheapest & Most Expensive BTOs In Singapore From 2016 – 2019

With several Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise launching, I am sure that many couples are seeking out the best place to live. However, there is also the issue of cost, with property prices predictably fluctuating every year.

I never thought that I’d have to look at numbers in my job as a writer, but after extensive research, I present to you the most affordable and the most expensive BTO options. For this comparison, I use the average prices of the estate in the year, and will only be comparing the three-room, four-room and five-room units. 

Cheapest Three-Room BTOs In Singapore

Woodlands wins in the cheapest three-room category with the price of a three-room unit going from S$145K in 2017 and S$140K in 2018.

Although the price of a three-room unit here increased by S$20K to S$165K earlier this year, Woodlands still ranks the cheapest in the three-room category amongst the other estates.

In 2016, as Woodlands did not have any BTO units to offer, Ang Mo Kio takes the win at S$142K.

Winner: Ang Mo Kio

Cheapest Four-Room BTOs In Singapore

Woodlands would have won the four-room category with prices of  S$230K in 2017 and S$225K in 2018, that is until 2019, when Jurong West showed up to upstage them.

Jurong West has BTO units going from S$237K, a sizeable S$7K cheaper than Woodlands’ offering.

In 2016 however, Sembawang takes the win at S$237.5K.

Winner: Sembawang

Cheapest Five-Room BTOs In Singapore

In the five-room category, Sembawang had the most affordable BTO at S$312K in 2016.

From 2017 onwards, however, Woodlands takes the cake for the cheapest five-room units with S$312K in 2017, S$279K in 2018 and S$336K in 2019.

Winner: Woodlands

Most Expensive Three-Room BTOs In Singapore

The most expensive three-room unit goes to Kallang/Whampoa from S$350K in 2016, and S$380.5K this year.

In 2017 and 2018 however, as Kallang/Whampoa did not have any units up for BTO, Toa Payoh has the most pricey three-room units at S$328K in 2017, while Geylang sits comfortably at the top at a price of S$429K in 2018.

Winner: Geylang

Most Expensive Four-Room BTOs In Singapore

In the four-room category, Kallang/Whampoa has always been a cut above the rest of the Singapore BTOs in the years that they’ve had BTO launches, at a stunning S$47K above the second place Toa Payoh for a grand sum of S$497K on average.

If you thought that difference was big, you should look at the difference in 2019 – Kallang/Whampoa flats transacted at S$233.5K, while flats in  Tengah, sold for S$542.5K 

Toa Payoh and Geylang, once again emerge as the most expensive four-room units in 2017 and 2018 respectively, with four-room flats going for S$475K in Toa Payoh in 2017 and S$429K in Geylang in 2018.

Winner: Tengah

Most Expensive Five-Room BTOs In Singapore

The winner of this category goes to none other than the home of the legendary dragon playground, Toa Payoh.

Kallang/Whampoa does not qualify for the most expensive five-room unit, and that is because, in my period of calculation from 2016-2019, there weren’t any Kallang/ Whampoa five-room units up for BTO. 

For the two years (2016 and 2017) that Toa Payoh has offered five-room BTO units, they have always sat at the top in the mid-high S$500K range with S$546K in 2016 and S$579K in 2017.

In 2018 however, mature estate Tampines showed up the other estates at S$437K, ranking first for the most expensive five-room BTO unit that year.

Among all the other five-room BTO units we’ve seen in 2019, the win goes to new estate Tengah, at S$415K.

Winner: Toa Payoh

Estates That Were Up For BTO Every Year (2016-2019)

For Sengkang, the prices of their BTO was from S$171K, 267K and S$324K in 2016 for the three-room, four-room and five-room units respectively in 2016.

2017 saw a slight decrease in prices for the three-room and four-room units, going for S$168.5K and S$258.5K respectively; and a slight increase in the five-room units at an average of S$326.5K.

From 2018 to 2019, there was a jump for all three categories – S$187K for the three-room units, 274.5K for the four-room units, and S$364K for the five-room units.

Tampines started out at S$202K for their three-room units, S$289K for their four-room units and S$398K for their five-room units in 2016.

2017 saw a sizeable fluctuation as the price of the three-room units dropped to S$161K. There’s also an increment to S$311K and S$417.5K for the four-room and five-room units respectively.

In 2018, the three-room units had a huge increment of S$61.5K, costing S$222.5K. The four-room and five-room units have also shown increments, although not as much, going from S$320K and S$437K respectively. 

Punggol is the last area that HDB is constantly churning out BTO launches.

In 2016, the prices of the three-room, four-room and five-room units went for S$164K, S$258K and S$329K.

In 2017, the price for the four-room and five-room units increased to S$272K and S$370K respectively.

In 2018, the prices in all three flat sized increased to S$188K, S$286K and S$393K respectively. 

Up-And-Coming BTO Estate

Tengah is a new estate that HDB has been working on. It first appeared in 2018 with three-room units going for S$193K, four-room units going for S$290K and five-room units going for S$397K.

This year, although we only have May’s launch prices of S$192K for the three-room units, S$309K for the four-room units and S$415K for the five-room units, more BTO units will be launched for August and November.

TLDR;

Of course, looking at this numbers may be too hard to digest in one go, so I’ve taken the liberty of coming up with this chart for you to refer to that collates the prices of all the estates since 2016 for your easy reference.

Take note that these numbers are the lowest number in the range HDB has provided, and are exclusive of any HDB grants. The cheapest areas for each year are coloured green, and the most expensive are coloured red.

Happy house hunting!