Would you pay S$2.15 million for a condo with only around 46 years left on its lease?
Someone did in Q2 2026. A 1,442 sqft unit at Orchard Court, whose lease began in 1973, changed hands for S$2.15 million. And it was not the only decades-old leasehold property to find a buyer during the quarter.
But older condos can come with obvious trade-offs, particularly as their remaining leases get shorter. Yet buyers are still willing to put substantial sums into some of them. So, what are they seeing in these older homes – and are older condos still worth buying today?
Table of contents
- Older leasehold condos are still changing hands in Q2 2026
- First, just how much more space can an older condo buy?
- The lower psf comes with a shorter runway
- Financing can become part of the equation too
- But location can still carry a lot of weight
- Rental buyers may see the equation differently
- Could the new en bloc proposals make older condos more attractive?
- So, are older condos worth it?
Older leasehold condos are still changing hands in Q2 2026
| Developments | Approx. remaining lease in 2026 | No. of transactions | Unit sizes | Transacted prices | Unit prices |
| Orchard Court | 46 years | 1 | 1,442 sqft | S$2.15 M | S$1,491 psf |
| Neptune Court | 48–49 years | 5 | 1,270 – 1,637 sqft | S$1.25 M – S$1.829 M | S$984 – S$1,118 psf |
| Lagoon View | 50 years | 2 | 1,647 sqft | S$1.838 M – S$1.891 M | S$1,116 – S$1,148 psf |
| Lutheran Towers | 51 years | 1 | 1,916 sqft | S$2.15 M | S$1,122 psf |
| Beauty World Centre | 52 years | 1 | 1,872 sqft | S$2.05 M | S$1,095 psf |
| Lakepoint Condominium | 56 years | 3 | 1,001 – 2,218 sqft | S$970K – S$1.77 M | S$784 – S$969 psf |
| Pine Grove | 57 years | 2 | 1,324 – 1,700 sqft | S$1.32 M – S$1.68 M | S$988 – S$997 psf |
| Ivory Heights | Around 59 years | 2 | 1,700 – 1,701 sqft | S$1.825 M – S$1.94 M | S$1,073 – S$1,141 psf |
Transaction data of the oldest condos recorded in Q2 2026. Unit sizes are converted from the recorded strata area and rounded to the nearest sqft.
Singapore’s private resale market remained active in Q2 2026, with 3,813 resale transactions recorded, up from 3,225 in the previous quarter. Resale properties accounted for 62% of all private home transactions during the quarter.
Among the older leasehold transactions recorded during the quarter were homes at Orchard Court, Neptune Court, Lagoon View, Lakepoint Condominium, Pine Grove and Ivory Heights. Their leases began between 1973 and 1986, which means these properties were already around 40 to more than 50 years into their original tenure when they changed hands.
Yet buyers were still willing to pay substantial amounts for them.
Across the 17 older transactions examined, the median selling price was S$1.81 million, while the median price worked out to about S$1,095 psf. Meanwhile, the median unit size was approximately 1,647 sqft. In fact, 12 of the 17 homes were at least 1,500 sqft, while 13 changed hands for S$1.5 million or more.
So, while an older lease may bring a lower psf in some cases, these properties are not necessarily “cheap”. Instead, buyers appear to be making a trade-off between remaining lease, price, space and location.
First, just how much more space can an older condo buy?
Perhaps the clearest case for an older condo can be seen in River Valley. A 667 sqft 2-bedroom unit at Irwell Hill Residences, which has a 99-year lease from 2020, changed hands for S$2 million or S$2,997 psf in May 2026.
During the same month, a 1,442 sqft unit at Orchard Court sold for S$2.15 million or S$1,491 psf. Its lease, however, started in 1973, leaving around 46 years remaining in 2026. In other words, the Orchard Court buyer paid just 7.5% more in total, but received about 2.2 times as much floor area. The unit price was also about 50% lower.
This is only one comparison and should not be taken as a market-wide rule. Nevertheless, it captures the basic appeal of many older condos: a buyer may not necessarily spend less overall, but the same budget can stretch much further.
However, a low psf alone does not make a property cheap, nor does a large home automatically make it good value. Instead, buyers need to ask why that discount exists.
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The lower psf comes with a shorter runway
The first consideration is the remaining lease.
When buyers purchase a leasehold property, they are not only buying the home itself. They are also buying the right to use the land for however much of the lease remains.
Therefore, a 1,700 sqft unit at S$1,000 psf and a newer 1,000 sqft unit at S$2,000 psf should not be compared on floor area and unit price alone. The newer property may have many more decades left on its lease, while the older home may have around 50 to 60 years remaining.
As the remaining lease gets shorter, that difference becomes increasingly important.
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Bala’s Curve helps illustrate this trade-off. Commonly used as a reference for leasehold land values, it shows that the value attached to a remaining lease does not fall evenly over time, with the decline becoming more pronounced as the lease gets shorter.
That does not mean an older condo immediately loses its appeal once it reaches a certain age. After all, location, condition, rental demand and the attractiveness of the individual development still matter.
However, buyers should recognise that a lower psf may partly reflect the market pricing in fewer years of ownership.
This is especially important for someone hoping to hold the property for another 10, 15 or 20 years. A condo with 50 years left today will have only around 30 years remaining two decades from now, and the next buyer will have to assess the property under very different circumstances.
Financing can become part of the equation too
A shorter remaining lease can also affect how future buyers finance the property.
Under CPF rules, the remaining lease generally needs to cover the youngest buyer until at least age 95 for the maximum allowable CPF usage. If it does not, CPF usage is pro-rated. Meanwhile, CPF savings cannot be used to purchase a property with 20 years or less remaining on its lease.
Banks may also become more conservative when financing homes with much shorter remaining leases.
As a result, the issue is not only whether you can afford an older condo today. It is also worth thinking about who might be able to afford and finance it when you eventually want to sell.
For example, a relatively young buyer may still see plenty of runway in a project with 55 or 60 years remaining. However, after a long holding period, a shorter lease could narrow the next pool of buyers, particularly among households that rely heavily on financing.
But location can still carry a lot of weight
Lease length is important, but homes are not valued on tenure alone. For older condos in particular, location can play a major role in how attractive the development remains over time.
A well-located older condo may continue to appeal to both buyers and tenants when it offers convenient transport links, established amenities and access to neighbourhoods that are still improving. In some cases, the surrounding area may have changed considerably since the condo was first built, giving residents access to infrastructure that did not exist when the development was completed.
Neptune Court is one example. Its Q2 2026 transactions ranged from S$984 to S$1,118 psf, with units of around 1,270 to 1,637 sqft changing hands for between S$1.25 million and about S$1.83 million.
Beyond the amount of space available, the development benefits from its location in Marine Parade. Marine Terrace MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line is around 450 metres away, providing residents with a more direct rail connection towards areas such as Marina Bay and the CBD. Meanwhile, East Coast Park can be reached via nearby pedestrian links, while Parkway Parade and the wider Katong and Marine Parade areas offer plenty of dining, retail and everyday amenities.
For buyers who value both space and lifestyle, this means an older home can still provide convenient access to transport, recreation and an established neighbourhood even as its remaining lease gets shorter.
While Neptune Court benefits from an already established neighbourhood, Beauty World Centre shows how upcoming improvements can add to an older development’s appeal. A 1,872 sqft unit changed hands for S$2.05 million, or S$1,095 psf, in Q2 2026.
The upcoming integrated transport hub is expected to bring Beauty World MRT station together with a new air-conditioned bus interchange and more retail options. Nearby, the planned Bukit Timah Community Building will also bring facilities such as a market and hawker centre, public library, sports facilities and community services. Together, these additions could make everyday travel and access to amenities more convenient for residents.
As a result, residents stand to benefit from easier transfers between rail and bus services, along with more everyday amenities within the neighbourhood. For an older development, these improvements can help strengthen the appeal of the location even though the lease itself continues to run down.
Ivory Heights presents another variation of the same story. Two units of around 1,700 sqft changed hands for S$1.825 million and S$1.94 million, or S$1,073 and S$1,141 psf respectively.
The development is located near Chinese Garden MRT station and is also within reach of the Jurong East transport and commercial hub. In the longer term, it sits close to the wider transformation of Jurong Lake District, which is planned as a major business and lifestyle district in western Singapore.
That could make the area increasingly convenient for residents who work, shop or spend time in the west, while stronger employment, transport and leisure options nearby may also help keep the neighbourhood relevant to future buyers and tenants.
Of course, these improvements do not reset the lease or remove the effects of lease decay. What they can do is give an older condo more reasons to remain attractive. In that sense, two older condos with similar remaining leases can have very different prospects. One may sit in an established or improving neighbourhood with strong transport links and amenities, while another may have fewer location advantages to offset the trade-offs that come with age.
Rental buyers may see the equation differently
For an investor, the question can also look quite different from that of a buyer focused mainly on resale gains. Tenants generally care more about the home’s monthly rent, location, usable space, condition and accessibility than whether the property has 50 or 80 years remaining on its lease.
At the same time, because an older condo may have a lower purchase price relative to the amount of space offered, rental yields can sometimes look attractive. For instance, 99.co estimates a gross rental yield of around 3.64% at Neptune Court and 3.37% at Ivory Heights, showing that some older developments can still generate reasonable rental returns despite their shorter remaining leases.
That said, gross yield is only the starting point of the calculation.
Older developments can come with higher maintenance needs, while ageing lifts, piping, roofs, common areas or other building systems may eventually require more spending. If the management corporation’s reserves are not sufficient, owners could also face additional contributions for major works.
As a result, investors should not assume that a higher headline rental yield automatically translates into a better return. The more useful question is what remains after maintenance fees, repairs, vacancy and other ownership costs are taken into account.
Could the new en bloc proposals make older condos more attractive?
There is also a newer question hanging over the market: could an older condo eventually be sold en bloc?
The Government has proposed lowering the collective sale thresholds for ageing developments. Under the proposed changes, developments aged 40 to 59 years would require 70% consent by share value and strata area, down from the current 80%. For developments aged 60 years and above, the requirement would fall further to 65%. Meanwhile, the thresholds would remain unchanged at 80% for developments aged 10 to 39 years and 90% for those below 10 years old.
Read more: Older condos could get lower en bloc consent thresholds
At first glance, that could make collective sales appear more achievable for some older developments. Yet the proposal also introduces tighter safeguards. These include shortening the period available to collect the required signatures from 12 months to six months, as well as extending the restriction period following a failed attempt from two years to three.
More importantly, reaching the required consent level is only one part of a successful en bloc sale.
A developer still needs to see enough value in the site at the price owners are asking for. Large projects can require substantial capital outlays, while developers must also consider how many new homes could eventually be built and whether there would be enough demand to sell them within the required timeline.
Developers purchasing residential land also face Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) obligations and deadlines for developing and selling the new homes. From 29 July 2026, qualifying large en bloc sites that can produce 700 to 1,399 homes may receive a six-year completion and sales timeline, while qualifying mega sites with at least 1,400 homes may receive seven years. Even with the longer timelines, developers still take on considerable financial and sales risks when acquiring very large sites.
Past attempts also show why lower consent thresholds alone may not be enough.
Pine Grove provides a useful reminder. Despite its size and location in District 21, its S$1.78 billion collective sale tender in 2024 closed without a bid. This shows that even an established project in a sought-after area may struggle to attract a buyer if the land price, redevelopment potential or market conditions do not work for developers.
Ivory Heights tells a similar story. The Jurong East project pursued a collective sale during the 2017 to 2018 cycle, but the attempt did not go through before market conditions shifted following the July 2018 cooling measures.
Taken together, the proposed lower consent thresholds could improve the chances of some ageing developments reaching the owner approval needed for a collective sale. They do not, though, automatically make every older condo an en bloc candidate.
Paying a premium today because a development “might go en bloc” means placing part of the investment case on an outcome that depends on owner support, developer interest, land value and market conditions – all of which can change.
So, are older condos worth it?
They can be, but usually for a very specific reason – or rather, for certain groups of buyers.
Who could an older condo make sense for?
For owner-occupiers, an older condo may be worth considering when space and location carry more weight than long-term capital growth.
A family that wants a 1,500 sqft or 2,000 sqft home, for instance, may find that an older development gives them considerably more room within their budget. This could be especially useful for larger households, buyers working from home or families living across several generations.
It may also work for buyers who intend to stay for a long time and are less concerned about selling the property again within a few years. Similarly, some older buyers or right-sizers with more existing home equity may be comfortable purchasing a shorter-lease property if it meets their lifestyle needs and leaves sufficient lease for their planned period of occupation.
Investors, meanwhile, may find selected older condos interesting where the entry price is relatively low but rental demand remains supported by location and unit size.
Who may want to be more cautious?
An older condo becomes harder to justify when a buyer needs both maximum financing and strong resale flexibility.
For younger households, a shorter lease may matter more because they could still own the property decades later. Moreover, if they intend to sell after another 10 or 15 years, their eventual buyer will be evaluating an even shorter remaining lease.
Buyers should also be careful with developments where major repairs have repeatedly been postponed or where the MCST has limited funds for future works.
Finally, paying a premium merely because a development looks like an en bloc candidate can be particularly risky. Collective sales depend on owners, regulations, land value, development potential and developers’ appetite at that point in the market. Age alone is not enough.
About Sophiyanah David
Sophi, a seasoned copywriter specialising in Singaporean real estate and property, is one of the minds behind 99.co's informative articles. Like her colleagues at 99.co, Sophi is dedicated to keeping you informed about the ever-changing world of real estate so you can find your forever home. When off the clock, you can find her giggling and kicking her feet as she reads her romance novels, watching anime - if FMBA is not your fave, she might fight you (but you'll probably win) and looking up latest skincare trends.
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