Do Higher Floors Cost More in an HDB Flat? Nine Years of Resales
HDB resales since 2024: flats on floors 13 to 15 sold for a median 11% more per sqm than floors 4 to 6 in the same town, flat type and year.
Yes, on the whole. Take HDB resales from 2024 to Sep 2026 in the same town, flat type and year. Flats on floors 13 to 15 sold for a median 11% more per sqm than flats on floors 4 to 6.
The premium builds step by step: 2% at floors 7 to 9 and 5% at floors 10 to 12. Flats on floors 1 to 3 sold for 4% less.
How we measured it
Oct 2026 is left out because the month is not complete.
- Price per sqm. Resale price divided by floor area in square metres.
- Like with like. We grouped deals by town, flat type and year of sale. A group is one “cell”. A town with 4-room flats in 2025 is one cell.
- A reference band. In each cell we compared the median price per sqm of each storey band with the median of the 04 to 06 band. We chose 04 to 06 because it is the most common band (55,431 deals), so more cells qualify than with 01 to 03. Both the band and the reference needed at least 20 deals in the cell.
- One number per band. We took the median of the cell gaps. The 2024 to Sep 2026 view has three years of cells (2026 covers Jan to Sep). The 2017 to Sep 2026 view has ten.
HDB’s file gives storey in bands of three floors. It does not give the exact floor.
The like-for-like gap
| Storey band | 2024 to Sep 2026: gap | Cells | Deals (band / reference) | 2017 to Sep 2026: gap | Cells | Deals (band / reference) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 to 03 | −4% | 176 | 11,167 / 14,508 | −4% | 595 | 37,817 / 48,870 |
| 04 to 06 (reference) | 0% | - | - | 0% | - | - |
| 07 to 09 | +2% | 183 | 13,498 / 14,690 | +3% | 631 | 45,800 / 49,823 |
| 10 to 12 | +5% | 186 | 12,058 / 14,733 | +5% | 621 | 40,508 / 49,538 |
| 13 to 15 | +11% | 112 | 5,507 / 10,666 | +11% | 352 | 17,724 / 33,560 |
| 16 to 18 | +16% | 59 | 1,999 / 5,066 | +15% | 159 | 6,203 / 14,982 |
| 19 to 21 | +18% | 13 | 373 / 973 | +20% | 45 | 1,299 / 3,679 |
| 22 to 24 | +23% | 6 | 142 / 517 | +18% | 27 | 731 / 2,548 |
| 25 to 27 | +38% | 5 | 113 / 255 | +30% | 12 | 286 / 983 |
Source: HDB resale flat prices, as at Sep 2026 (transactions Jan 2017 to Sep 2026). Gap = median across cells of the band’s median price per sqm against the 04 to 06 median. Cells are town, flat type and year of sale. Bands above 27 had too few cells and are left out.
Source: HDB resale flat prices, as at Sep 2026. Paler bars rest on 59 cells or fewer (13 or fewer above floor 18), so treat them as rough. Height is not the only difference between the bands.
The direction is steady. Since 2024, the 07 to 09 band was dearer than the reference in 82% of its cells. The 10 to 12 band was dearer in 90% and the 13 to 15 band in 97%.
The 01 to 03 band was dearer in only 6%. The higher you go, the more the price climbs, much like the lift buttons.
The size of the gap is less certain at the top. Above floor 18 the rows rest on 13 cells or fewer since 2024.
Weight each cell by its smaller deal count, and the gap shrinks for the 16 to 18 band (+9% instead of +16%). It also shrinks for 22 to 24 (+15% instead of +23%).
Treat the top rows as rough. Using 01 to 03 as the reference instead moves the gaps up by roughly 4 to 5 points.
Four large towns, 4-room flats
Deals since 2024, 4-room flats only. The reference row shows the median price per sqm and the deals. Other rows show the gap against it, with deals in brackets.
The gap is the median across the town’s year cells (2024, 2025 and 2026 to Sep). A dash means no year cell had 20 deals in both bands.
| Storey band | Sengkang | Tampines | Punggol | Woodlands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 to 03 | −5% (339) | −4% (479) | −4% (282) | −3% (533) |
| 04 to 06 (reference) | S$6,538 (436) | S$6,321 (665) | S$6,944 (441) | S$5,545 (591) |
| 07 to 09 | +5% (501) | +3% (601) | +4% (476) | +2% (539) |
| 10 to 12 | +5% (469) | +7% (471) | +6% (496) | +3% (531) |
| 13 to 15 | +7% (498) | +34% (232) | +6% (453) | +15% (133) |
| 16 to 18 | +7% (210) | - | +8% (267) | - |
Source: HDB resale flat prices, as at Sep 2026 (4-room deals Jan 2024 to Sep 2026).
In every town, floors 1 to 3 are the cheapest. Floors 7 to 9 and 10 to 12 are dearer than the reference. The 13 to 15 row varies: +6% to +7% in Sengkang and Punggol, +15% in Woodlands and +34% in Tampines.
The Tampines figure shows what the data does not hold fixed.
Its 4-room flats on floors 13 to 15 had a median lease start year of 2020. Those on floors 4 to 6 had 1989. With 31 years between the medians, the two bands draw mainly on different blocks.
What is behind the higher-floor premium
The file records floors and prices. It does not record why a buyer paid more. Three explanations come up most.
The first and third are views from one source.
1. Noise, surroundings and views (a portal’s view). Stacked Homes, a property portal, reported in 2022 that low floors can sit near bin centres. They can also face noise from courts, or overlook multi-storey car parks.
It adds that views matter to some buyers in dense towns, but can fade as neighbourhoods fill with new blocks.
Its author, statistician Ian Tan, used about 71,400 resales. Our file holds no view or noise data.
2. Block age and lease. The 13 to 15 band often sits in newer blocks than the 4 to 6 band. In towns with at least three cells (all flat types, 2024 to Sep 2026), the pattern holds.
In Tampines the median lease start was 2020 on floors 13 to 15 and 1989 on floors 4 to 6, and the premium was 33%.
In Toa Payoh the starts were 2009 and 1983, and the premium was 25%. In Punggol and Sembawang the higher floors were not in newer blocks (two to three years older). The premium there was 5.7% and 3.0%.
The match is loose: Queenstown has a 19-year gap and only a 6.9% premium. A part of the premium is likely a lease premium. The data cannot say how much.
3. Which floors exist (a portal’s view). Stacked Homes says that low-rise mature estates such as Tampines offer fewer high floors.
Toa Payoh, Queenstown, Bishan and the Central Area have blocks of 30 to 40 floors or more. It ties larger premiums to taller, higher plot-ratio towns. Plot ratio is how much floor area sits on a plot of land.
Our file does not agree cleanly. In 2024 to Sep 2026, 45% of Queenstown deals were on floor 13 or higher, against 8% in Tampines.
Yet Queenstown’s premium was lower. Tall blocks alone do not set the premium.
Mixed evidence over time. In a March 2025 study of flats 10 to 19 years old, Stacked Homes found no universal rule that higher floors gain more. Some low floors in Punggol and Jurong West grew faster than high ones from 2020 to 2024. It says orientation, lease and block features can outweigh floor height.
What is not known. HDB publishes resale transactions by three-floor band, not by exact floor, view or facing. So we cannot split the premium into view, lease and location.
What the pattern does and does not mean
It does mean that, in the same town, flat type and year, flats on higher floors sold for more per sqm. The premium rose with height.
These factors also differ between flats:
- Block and location in the town. Floors in different blocks are different flats.
- Remaining lease. Newer blocks have longer leases, and lease length moves price.
- Flat model and floor area. We divide by area, but flats of different sizes and models can still differ in price per sqm.
- View and facing, and distance to the MRT.
- Condition and renovation, and any cash paid above valuation. The file shows registered prices only.
The tables compare different flats at one time. They do not follow one flat.
Our guides on choosing a BTO unit and choosing the right HDB flat cover the other factors.
