Data Insight
The Price of a High Floor
How much more a high-floor 4-room HDB flat costs per square metre, computed from recent resales with the lease effect held constant.
Key finding
Within the same town, a 4-room on the 16th floor or higher sells for about 13% more per square metre than one on floors 1–6 — roughly 1% per floor. The islandwide gap looks far bigger (+84% for the 31st floor and up), but that is mostly because tall blocks sit in expensive central towns.
Islandwide: median 4-room $/sqm by floor, vs floors 1–3
The jump above the 21st floor is huge. It is not really about height.
4-room resales with 78+ years lease, Jan 2024 – Aug 2026. Source: Resale Flat Prices, HDB.
Within-town premium: 16th floor and up vs floors 1–6
Percentage difference in median 4-room $/sqm. Sembawang is the one below zero — its high floors sold slightly lower.
4-room resales with 78+ years lease, Jan 2024 – Aug 2026, by town. Source: Resale Flat Prices, HDB.
What that looks like in dollars
Median 4-room resale price by floor group, three towns.
| Town | Floors 1–6 | Floors 7–12 | 16th floor and up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queenstown | S$908,888 | S$958,000 | S$1,050,000 |
| Bukit Batok | S$610,000 | S$660,000 | S$720,888 |
| Punggol | S$634,000 | S$675,000 | S$705,000 |
Median resale price, 4-room, 78+ years lease, since Jan 2024. Source: Resale Flat Prices, HDB.
The shape of the premium
- The climb is gentle up to about the 12th floor — roughly 1% per floor, near S$70 per sqm per floor, about S$6,000 for a 90 sqm flat.
- The 16th-floor-and-up band is where a clearer step shows up, averaging +13% over a low floor across 18 towns.
- The percentage compounds with price: 13% of a S$1M Queenstown flat is a much bigger cheque than 13% of a S$550k Woodlands one.
- It is not universal — Sembawang high floors sold slightly below low ones over this period, and Sengkang and Toa Payoh show only a small premium.
Data sources
- Resale Flat Prices — HDB. Coverage: 4-room resales with 78+ years lease, Jan 2024 – Aug 2026 (14,018 transactions). retrieved 2026-08-29.
Published 2026-08-29