"Condos only yield 2%." 99 projects disagree.
The average Singapore condo yields two-point-something percent — true. But averages hide a working landlord market: 99 projects with real volume clear 4%, and a dozen clear 5%. Here's where they are, and the catch behind every single one.
Farhan Adenan · 2 Aug 2026 · 9 min read
- 99 projects with 8+ recent transactions gross 4% or better; the top of the table touches 6.8%.
- The high-yield map is really four clusters — and each one has a specific catch you must price in.
- The sweet spot: $600K–$900K quantum units where rent barely differs from pricier neighbours.
- District-level: D02, D08 and D25 clear 4% median; D09/D10 languish at 2.6–2.9%. Prime is for capital, fringe is for income.
Gross yields: median annual rent ÷ median transacted value per project, URA caveats and rental contracts to 15 Jul 2026. Before maintenance, tax and vacancy.
The top of the table
99 projects clear 4%. Twelve clear 5%.
Exhibit 1. Gross yield — annualised median rent over median price. The typical district median sits at 2.9% to 3.3%, which is where the “condos only yield 2%” claim comes from. The top of the table is more than double it. Source: URA private residential caveats to 23 Jun 2026 (REALIS); POV matched-pair exit model; live listing counts at time of writing. POV analysis.
| Project | Gross yield | Median price | Median rent | 5y exits profitable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parc Imperial D05 · Pasir Panjang | 6.8% | $760K | $4,327 | 100% |
| The Hillford D21 · Jln Jurong Kechil | 6.3% | $592K | $3,089 | 98% |
| NEWest D05 · West Coast · FH | 5.9% | $2.65M | $12,925 | 100% |
| Viva Vista D05 · South Buona Vista | 5.5% | $705K | $3,244 | 95% |
| The Promenade@Pelikat D19 | 5.4% | $1.10M | $4,937 | 95% |
| Kovan Grandeur D19 | 5.2% | $820K | $3,544 | 94% |
| # 1 Suites D14 · FH | 5.2% | $730K | $3,144 | 95% |
| The Woodgrove D25 · Woodlands | 5.1% | $863K | $3,693 | 100% |
| Skysuites@Anson D02 · CBD | 5.1% | $1.48M | $6,258 | 98% |
| Guillemard Suites D14 · FH | 4.9% | $820K | $3,351 | 96% |
| Suites @ Paya Lebar D19 | 4.8% | $690K | $2,776 | 100% |
| Riverbay D12 · Kallang | 4.8% | $1.17M | $4,687 | 90% |
| Nottinghill Suites D21 | 4.7% | $748K | $2,953 | 95% |
| People's Park Complex D01 | 4.7% | $1.38M | $5,373 | 79% |
| The Plaza D07 · Beach Rd | 4.7% | $975K | $3,780 | 61% |
| Prestige Heights D12 · FH | 4.6% | $728K | $2,805 | 100% |
| Wallich Residence D02 · Tanjong Pagar | 4.6% | $2.79M | $10,776 | 50% |
| International Plaza D02 | 4.6% | $1.70M | $6,537 | 62% |
Full 99-project list available on request — this is the head of the table, volume-filtered.
Four clusters, four catches
Four clusters, and each one charges for the yield differently.
Cluster one: the compact-unit belt (Parc Imperial, Viva Vista, Kovan Grandeur, Suites @ Paya Lebar, The Hillford). Sub-$800K quantum, mostly one-bedders and lofts. The catch is exit depth — your future buyer is another investor doing the same maths, not a family. The Hillford adds its own twist: a 60-year lease from 2013, which is exactly why it grosses 6.3%. The yield is real; the lease runway is the price.
Cluster two: mixed-use strata veterans (People's Park Complex, International Plaza, The Plaza). Yields of 4.6–4.7% with CBD addresses — and exit records of 61–79%, the weakest on the page. Ageing buildings, strata politics, selective bank appetite. Income plays for cash-heavy buyers only.
Cluster three: the heartland surprises (The Woodgrove at 5.1% in Woodlands, Riverbay, Prestige Heights). Full-sized units, real tenant pools — Woodlands runs on the RTS-link and international-school catchment. The Woodgrove is the cleanest name on the whole list: 100% exit record, $863K median, 5.1% gross. The catch is modest capital growth — D25's appreciation is steady, not spectacular.
Cluster four: the CBD paradox (Skysuites@Anson, Wallich, International Plaza). D02's median yield of 4.26% is the highest of any district — because prices fell while rents held. But the exit data is brutal: only 65% of D02's five-year sellers left with a profit, and Wallich's record is 50/50. The CBD pays you rent precisely because it hasn't paid sellers capital. Income and growth are different products there.
The maths landlords actually use
Yield is a ratio. Most people quote the wrong denominator.
Exhibit 2. Share of five-year matched-pair exits above purchase price, for the same ten projects. High yield is usually assumed to mean weak capital performance. On this list it does not: every project clears 94%. The yield is being paid for small unit sizes and unfashionable addresses, not for a broken asset. Source: URA private residential caveats to 23 Jun 2026 (REALIS); POV matched-pair exit model; live listing counts at time of writing. POV analysis.
Take The Woodgrove's numbers: $863K in, $3,693/month rent = $44.3K a year, 5.1% gross. Now deduct reality: maintenance ~$300/month, property tax on an investment property, an agent month every two years, a vacancy month somewhere. You land near 4.1–4.3% net before financing — which still beats every T-bill-and-forget alternative with leverage available on top, and that is the entire case.
Run the same honesty on a 2.6%-gross D10 unit and you land close to 1.8% net — you are not a landlord there, you are a storage facility for capital appreciation hopes. Neither is wrong. But know which game your unit is playing, because the districts have already chosen: D02/D08/D25/D14 pay income, D09/D10/D06 pay (you hope) growth.
The gains obsession has quiet losers
Chasing gains has a cost, and it is paid monthly.
Singapore’s property culture worships capital gains and treats rent like loose change. So look at what the worship costs: a D10 landlord grossing 2.6% is collecting roughly $26,000 a year per million — while his D08 counterpart collects $44,000 on the same money. The difference isn’t risk. It’s prestige, running as a subscription fee.
And the regime shifted under the gains crowd. Since foreigner ABSD went to 60% in April 2023, the marginal buyer who used to deliver prime’s capital gains is largely gone — but the tenant demand behind the 4% club never depended on him. Rent is the return you bank twelve times a year regardless of what the index does. In a flat market, the 4% club wins by default; in a rising one, it wins twice.
Who this affects
One table, and two entirely different reasons to read it.
If you own
If you own one of these, you are being paid to be patient
A gross 4.8% to 6.8% covers considerably more of a mortgage than the 2.9% to 3.3% a typical district median produces, and it does so every month rather than at an exit you have to time.
The thing to watch is the denominator. These yields are computed on today’s median price. If your entry was materially higher, your yield is lower than the table — the table is about the asset, not about your position in it.
If you invest
If you are buying for income, the entry price is the whole decision
Rent does not scale with what you paid. Overpay by 15% and you have bought a 5.9% asset at 5.1%, and no amount of good tenanting recovers it.
If this is a second property, add 20% ABSD for a Singapore citizen and the Buyer’s Stamp Duty on top, then recompute the yield against the total that actually left your account. A 5% headline is closer to 4% once the duty is in the denominator, which is still good — but it is a different number from the one on the poster.
The 4% club is real. The membership fee is knowing the catch.
- Cleanest all-rounder: The Woodgrove — 5.1% gross, perfect exit record, family-sized units, sub-$900K.
- Pure income, eyes open: the compact-unit belt and the strata veterans — price the exit thinness in.
- The paradox to respect: the CBD now out-yields the heartlands because it stopped appreciating. Income and growth have divorced — pick your side deliberately.
Want the net-yield math on a unit you're eyeing?
I'll run the full landlord file — rent record, vacancy pattern, exit depth, financing — on any project on or off this list. Twenty minutes, real numbers.
The yield map: where 4% is real — and where it's a myth
D02 yields 4.26%, D10 yields 2.62%. The district-by-district yield map, and what prime buyers actually pay for.
D8: city-fringe at $1,804 psf — the cheapest RCR entry in Singapore, with one catch
The cheapest city-fringe median in Singapore, 4–5% yields, and one asterisk that explains the discount.
How to check us: every number in this piece is computed from the primary record — URA caveats to 15 Jul 2026 — not from third-party estimates or hearsay. The links below are the official policy and news record behind the contextual claims.
- URA private residential transaction data (REALIS) — the caveat record every table in this article is computed from
- MAS · MOF · MND — "Measures for a Sustainable Property Market" (26 Apr 2023) — the official announcement lifting foreigner ABSD to 60%
Dataset — Gross yields: median annual rent ÷ median transacted value per project, URA caveats and rental contracts to 15 Jul 2026. Before maintenance, tax and vacancy.
Methodology & honesty notes. Gross yield = median annual rental contract value ÷ median transacted price per project, computed from URA caveat and rental data to 15 Jul 2026, minimum 8 sale transactions in 24 months. Net-yield illustrations use typical maintenance and tax assumptions stated in the text — verify against the specific unit. Exit records from POV's matched-pair five-year model. High gross yields frequently signal short leases, small units or strata risk; this article names the catch per cluster rather than hiding it. POV Realty and Farhan Adenan are not the marketing agents for any project or listing referenced, and nothing here is financial advice — it's a starting point for your own due diligence, which is exactly how we'd use it.
Farhan Adenan · CEA Registration R068636D · Senior Associate Division Director, Huttons Asia Pte Ltd (Estate Agent Licence L3008899K).