Nearly Five In 10 HDB Owners Aspire To Upgrade

PropNex's 2026 sentiment survey reveals a property ladder that is simultaneously well-worn and increasingly difficult to climb: 55.1% of HDB flat owners still aspire to private housing, yet close to half are content to stay put, and those who do dream of upgrading face a stiff wall of high home prices and government cooling measures (PropNex, 2026).

Key takeaways

• 55.1% of surveyed HDB owners aspire to eventually own private housing, but close to half have no intention of moving up from their current flat (PropNex, 2026).
• Aspiration is not the same as dissatisfaction: 73.9% of respondents agree their existing HDB flat adequately meets their housing needs (PropNex, 2026).
• Upgraders want convenience, not prestige. Among aspiring private homeowners, 18.3% prefer condos in the city-fringe — Rest of Central Region (RCR) — with prime-district condos low on the wishlist (PropNex, 2026).
• The longer you stay in a flat, the less you want to leave. Among those who have lived in their HDB home for more than 20 years, 63.0% have no upgrade plans (PropNex, 2026).
• The price gap is the crux: new-launch private homes averaged S$2,304 psf against S$1,595 psf for resale — a roughly 44% new-sale premium (PropAce Institutional Advisorydata, 2026).

The aspiration gap: wanting more, staying put

The survey, titled "HDB Flat Owners Sentiment Report 2026" and published on Aug 12, polled more than 1,530 HDB flat owners between February and June this year (PropNex, 2026). At first glance, the headline number appears to confirm the classic Singapore narrative: the majority of public housing owners still see a condominium as the end goal.

But scratch the surface and the picture turns contrarian. "Close to half of the people surveyed don't intend to 'move up' from their existing flat" (PropNex, 2026). That is a significant bloc of homeowners who are effectively opting out of the traditional property progression — HDB flat, then Executive Condominium, then condo, then landed house.

The most interesting contradiction sits right at the centre of the data. Despite 55.1% of survey respondents aspiring to own a private home, 73.9% agreed that their existing HDB flat adequately meets their housing needs (PropNex, 2026). That is "mostly unchanged from the 74% response rate recorded in PropNex's 2024 survey" (PropNex, 2026).

The takeaway is blunt: wanting a condo does not mean hating your flat. PropNex notes that the desire to upgrade may be driven more by evolving lifestyle needs than unhappiness with the current home (PropNex, 2026). The observation aligns with what many property observers hear anecdotally — that upgrading interest may stem from financial or status-based reasoning, such as a sense of safety in owning something that can be rightsized later, or the fear of feeling "cornered" in a small flat during a crisis (PropNex, 2026).

This suggests the "quality gap" between HDB and private housing may not be as significant as commonly assumed. "Having a pool and gym at your doorstep is a nice feature, but apparently not so nice that it makes us long to leave our flats" (PropNex, 2026).

The longer you stay, the less you want to move

The survey data reveals a clear pattern: time in a flat dampens upgrading ambition. Among respondents who had lived in their HDB flat for less than five years, 40.2% said they have no plans to upgrade (PropNex, 2026). That figure jumped to 45.0% among those who had stayed 11 to 15 years, 52.3% at 16 to 20 years, and 63.0% at more than 20 years (PropNex, 2026).

PropNex attributes this to homeowners, particularly the elderly, developing support networks and familiarity with their area (PropNex, 2026). There is also a practical financial barrier: as homeowners age, their maximum loan tenure shrinks, raising higher barriers to upgrading, especially for those who want to minimise debt in their senior years (PropNex, 2026).

The generational breakdown reinforces this. PropNex found that around 65.8% of Millennials surveyed aspire to one day own a private home, compared to just 27.9% of Baby Boomers (PropNex, 2026). The agency attributes this to younger households being in relatively stronger positions to accumulate wealth and start families, while older households increasingly prioritise rightsizing or retirement (PropNex, 2026).

As Singapore moves towards a super-aged society, this could have a broader impact on the traditional property ownership ladder. If more homeowners grow older and upgrading to private becomes less of a priority, overall demand for new private residential units could soften in the future (PropNex, 2026).

Convenience matters more than prestige

Where do aspiring upgraders actually want to live? The answer contradicts the assumption that prime-district addresses top the wishlist.

Among aspiring private homeowners, condos in the city-fringe — or Rest of Central Region (RCR) — were the most popular choice, with 18.3% leaning in that direction (PropNex, 2026). Prime-district condos, by contrast, seemed to be low on their wishlist (PropNex, 2026).

The preference makes financial sense when you look at the price architecture. PropAce Institutional Advisorydata shows prime-core (CCR) homes have averaged S$2,443 psf, city-fringe (RCR) S$2,078 psf, and suburban (OCR) S$1,552 psf across the private transaction record (PropAce Institutional Advisorydata, 2026). Choosing RCR is a rational middle path — closer to the city than the suburbs, without paying the full CCR premium.

This is a notable shift in the upgrading mindset. The well-worn narrative assumes the end goal is a prime address. But a chunk of today's upgraders appear to be making a trade-off: location and convenience in the city-fringe, over prestige and a prestigious district postal code.

The price of the ladder

The survey flags "high home prices and ABSD as key challenges to upgrading" (PropNex, 2026). The PropAce Institutional Advisorydata explains why.

Islandwide private prices of S$2,038 psf in 2026-Q2 sit 6.8% below their S$2,186 psf peak, yet remain 33.3% above the S$1,529 psf trough (PropAce Institutional Advisorydata, 2026). HDB prices, meanwhile, tell a similar story of resilience: S$652 psf in 2026-Q2, exactly at their peak, and 57.5% above the S$414 psf trough (PropAce Institutional Advisorydata, 2026).

The gap between the two markets is where the upgrade friction lives. New-launch private homes averaged S$2,304 psf against S$1,595 psf for resale — a roughly 44% new-sale premium (PropAce Institutional Advisorydata, 2026). For a typical HDB owner, that premium is a significant hurdle, made steeper by the Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty that applies to those acquiring a second property.

The survey's findings suggest that rather than stretching to clear that hurdle, many HDB owners are choosing to stay — or to make a lateral move within the public housing segment.

A worked example: when a five-room flat is the smarter upgrade

One case in the survey's ecosystem illustrates the mindset. A family living in a five-room Build-To-Order flat at Skyline II @ Bukit Batok, launched as part of the March 2012 BTO sales exercise and completed in 2018, reached their Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) in 2023 (PropNex, 2026). Rather than pursuing a new launch or a younger resale condominium, they chose to upgrade to a resale HDB unit (PropNex, 2026).

Based on an estimated purchase price of S$1 million, on a loan tenure of 25 years, the instalment would have worked out to about S$3,200 per month (PropNex, 2026). If they had opted for a two-bedroom condo unit that sold for around S$1.8 million, their mortgage repayment would have been around S$5,000 each month (PropNex, 2026).

The family's priority was settling their immediate housing needs in a unit they could comfortably afford and live in for the next five to 10 years (PropNex, 2026). This is a rational, data-driven response to a market where the premium for private housing now carries a five-figure annual cost differential.

Who is buying million-dollar flats?

The same PropNex research operation has also shed light on who is active at the top of the HDB resale market — a group that overlaps with the upgrade story.

A consumer survey by PropNex of recent million-dollar flat buyers, conducted by agents who closed 110 million-dollar HDB resale transactions in 2025, found that four-room resale flats were the most popular type of million-dollar deal, accounting for 42.7% of transactions, followed by 35.5% for five-room flats, 20% for executive flats, and 1.8% for jumbo flats (PropNex, 2026).

The typical buyer profile is younger than the narrative suggests. About 71% of transactions were from buyers aged 30–39 and 40–49 years old, and about 7-in-10 were white-collar professionals in PMET (professional, managerial, executive, technical) roles (PropNex, 2026).

When it came to monthly household income, 35.5% of buyers — the largest single band — earned between S$10,001 and S$16,000 a month (PropNex, 2026). A further 20.0% earned S$16,001 to S$20,000, while 3.6% earned S$20,001 to S$25,000 and 2.7% earned above S$25,000 (PropNex, 2026). PropNex cautioned that these income ranges should be viewed as indicative, since their salespersons were unsure of household income or the buyer did not disclose such details (PropNex, 2026).

Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research and Content at PropNex, notes that flats — even million-dollar flats — serve different purposes based on the buyers' life stages (PropNex, 2026). "For younger buyers, a million-dollar resale flat may be an aspirational first home. For mid-career families, it could be an upgrading pathway that stays within the public housing segment," says Wong (PropNex, 2026).

There is also a significant contingent of buyers heading in the opposite direction — down from private housing. Among buyers aged 50 to 59 who purchased as retirement homes, comprising 24.5% of transactions, 30.8% had downsized from a private home, while 15.4% had relocated from a larger HDB flat (PropNex, 2026). For buyers aged 60 and above, mostly retirees, 71.4% had downsized from a private home before purchasing their million-dollar HDB resale flat as a replacement home (PropNex, 2026).

The million-dollar resale flat market is therefore not just an upgrade story. It is also a rightsizing story — and a reminder that for many, the "top" of the property ladder is not a landed house, but a well-located flat with cash in the bank.

The bottom line

The PropNex survey paints a picture of a market in transition. A slim majority of HDB owners still aspire to private housing, but the path is narrowing. High prices, the ABSD, and the simple passage of time are all working to keep people in their flats.

The traditional property ladder is not broken. But it has become optional. The 73.9% of respondents who say their flat adequately meets their needs are making a calculation — and increasingly, they are concluding that staying put is the better deal.

FAQ

What share of HDB owners aspire to upgrade to private housing?

55.1% of surveyed HDB owners aspire to eventually own private housing (PropNex, 2026). However, close to half of the people surveyed do not intend to "move up" from their existing flat (PropNex, 2026).

Statutory Source: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) — Stamp Duty Rates & Payment Guidelines

Are HDB owners unhappy with their current flats?

No. 73.9% of respondents agreed that their existing HDB flat adequately meets their housing needs, mostly unchanged from the 74% recorded in PropNex's 2024 survey (PropNex, 2026). This suggests the desire to upgrade may be driven by evolving lifestyle needs rather than dissatisfaction (PropNex, 2026).

Statutory Source: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) — Stamp Duty Rates & Payment Guidelines

Which location do aspiring upgraders prefer for their next home?

The city-fringe, or Rest of Central Region (RCR), was the most popular choice, with 18.3% of aspiring private homeowners leaning in that direction (PropNex, 2026). Prime-district condos seemed to be low on their wishlist (PropNex, 2026).

Statutory Source: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) — Stamp Duty Rates & Payment Guidelines

Who is least likely to want to upgrade?

Homeowners who have lived in their flat the longest. Among those who had stayed in their HDB flat for more than 20 years, 63.0% have no plans to upgrade, compared to 40.2% for those who had lived there for less than five years (PropNex, 2026). Only 27.9% of Baby Boomers surveyed aspire to private housing, versus 65.8% of Millennials (PropNex, 2026).

Statutory Source: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) — Stamp Duty Rates & Payment Guidelines

How expensive is the upgrade from HDB to private?

Islandwide private prices sat at S$2,038 psf in 2026-Q2, while HDB prices sat at S$652 psf (PropAce Institutional Advisorydata, 2026). New-launch private homes averaged S$2,304 psf against S$1,595 psf for resale private homes — a roughly 44% new-sale premium (PropAce Institutional Advisorydata, 2026). High home prices and ABSD were cited as key challenges to upgrading (PropNex, 2026).

Statutory Source: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) — Stamp Duty Rates & Payment Guidelines

By the numbers

``` HDB PSF momentum by town — QoQ %

Queenstown +7.3% ██████████████████████ Toa Payoh +7.0% █████████████████████ Marine Parade +3.6% ███████████ Pasir Ris +2.9% █████████ Bedok +2.9% █████████ Bukit Merah +2.4% ███████ Serangoon +1.8% █████ Choa Chu Kang +1.1% ███ Clementi +0.4% █ Punggol +0.4% █ ```

_Data: PropAce Institutional Advisory analysis of URA/HDB transaction data — rolling 3-month average PSF, HDB, 2026-06..2026-08. Directional; confirm before acting._

Sources

• URA caveat data, compiled by PropAce Institutional Advisory— 2026-Q2.
• URA caveat data, compiled by PropAce Institutional Advisory.

References

• Propnex (2024) 'PropNex's Survey Of HDB Flat Owners Shows That Nearly Five In 10 Respondents Aspire To Upgrade From Their Existing Flat; High Home Prices And ABSD Seen As Key Challenges To Upgrading'.
• Stacked Homes (2026) 'A New Survey Reveals What 77% Of HDB Owners Want Most In Their Next Home — And It’s Not Price Or Space'. Available at: https://stackedhomes.com/a-new-survey-reveals-what-77-of-hdb-owners-want-most-in-their-next-home-and-its-not-price-or-space/ (Accessed: 29 August 2026).

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Frequently Asked Questions

What share of HDB owners aspire to upgrade to private housing?

55.1% of surveyed HDB owners aspire to eventually own private housing (PropNex, 2026). However, close to half of the people surveyed do not intend to "move up" from their existing flat (PropNex, 2026). Statutory Source:** Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) — Stamp Duty Rates & Payment Guidelines

Are HDB owners unhappy with their current flats?

No. 73.9% of respondents agreed that their existing HDB flat adequately meets their housing needs, mostly unchanged from the 74% recorded in PropNex's 2024 survey (PropNex, 2026). This suggests the desire to upgrade may be driven by evolving lifestyle needs rather than dissatisfaction (PropNex, 2026). Statutory Source:** [Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) — Stamp Duty Rates & Payment Guidelines](https://www.iras.gov.sg/taxes/stamp-duty/for-property/buying-or-acquiring-a-property/rates

Which location do aspiring upgraders prefer for their next home?

The city-fringe, or Rest of Central Region (RCR), was the most popular choice, with 18.3% of aspiring private homeowners leaning in that direction (PropNex, 2026). Prime-district condos seemed to be low on their wishlist (PropNex, 2026). Statutory Source:** Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) — Stamp Duty Rates & Payment Guidelines

Who is least likely to want to upgrade?

Homeowners who have lived in their flat the longest. Among those who had stayed in their HDB flat for more than 20 years, 63.0% have no plans to upgrade, compared to 40.2% for those who had lived there for less than five years (PropNex, 2026). Only 27.9% of Baby Boomers surveyed aspire to private housing, versus 65.8% of Millennials (PropNex, 2026). Statutory Source:** [Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) — Stamp Duty Rates & Payment Guidelines](https://www.iras.gov.sg/taxes/stamp-duty/

How expensive is the upgrade from HDB to private?

Islandwide private prices sat at S$2,038 psf in 2026-Q2, while HDB prices sat at S$652 psf (PropAce Institutional Advisorydata, 2026). New-launch private homes averaged S$2,304 psf against S$1,595 psf for resale private homes — a roughly 44% new-sale premium (PropAce Institutional Advisorydata, 2026). High home prices and ABSD were cited as key challenges to upgrading (PropNex, 2026). Statutory Source:** [Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) — Stamp Duty Rates & Payment Guidelines](https

Statutory References & Citations

• Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) (2026). Stamp Duties Act 1929. Singapore: Government of Singapore.
• Housing & Development Board (HDB) (2026). Housing and Development Act (Cap. 129). Singapore: Ministry of National Development.
• Singapore Land Authority (SLA) (2026). Land Titles Act (Cap. 157) & Conveyancing Registration Framework. Singapore: SLA.

Statutory Disclaimer: This guide is published for strategic, educational, and institutional planning purposes only and does not constitute formal legal, taxation, or financial advice. All property transactions, stamp duty remissions, and financing structures should be formally verified with qualified Singapore legal counsel and certified tax advisors.