Build-to-Rent in Singapore: A Bridge for Young Couples, If the Rent Works

In land-scarce Singapore, renting is often seen as an expensive option that gives you nothing back. So it says something that the Government is now looking at homes built only to be rented.

As The Straits Times reported on Nov 2, the Government has been exploring build-to-rent models to offer more housing options. National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat said in August that the authorities were looking to meet younger Singaporeans’ demand for flexible accommodation, such as build-to-rent, co-living and long-stay serviced apartments.

A Ministry of National Development (MND) spokesman told ST that home ownership “remains a key tenet of our housing policy”. The ministry also recognises demand for “flexible, longer-stay rental housing”, including from younger Singaporeans who wish to live independently or rent before buying.

This is still at the exploring stage. MND did not say if build-to-rent is likely to be handled by the public or the private sector, only that it has been monitoring developments here and overseas. Its spokesman said private long-stay serviced apartments, introduced in 2023, are one form of build-to-rent housing. Since December 2023, two government land sales sites allowing for them have been awarded, and another 21 applications on private land have been approved.

I have spent 17 years helping families make housing decisions they will live with for a decade or more, often with parents and children in the same conversation. This idea is worth reading from both sides of that table.

What would build-to-rent actually be?

Unlike BTO flats, private build-to-rent models overseas are designed and built for rental only. Savills’ Emily Fell said they are typically run by professional operators, and no units are ever sold. Co-living is different: typically studio rooms with shared kitchens and living spaces, taken on shorter stays.

Fell pictures mainly studios and one-bedders of 350 sq ft to 550 sq ft here, with some two-bedders for friends or young couples. She said it could fill a gap for young people “who want their own front door, kitchen and some privacy”.

That gap is real. Today, the most affordable rental options are an HDB room for about $1,000 a month, or $2,000 to $3,000 for an entire flat. Realion’s Christine Sun noted that much of our public housing was designed for families, so singles wanting to live alone may find a whole unit too expensive. Condos cost more. Median rents in the first half of 2026 ranged from $3,300 for a one-bedroom unit to $5,500 for a three-bedroom unit, according to Realion Research.

Sing Tien Foo of NUS Business School said build-to-rent would supplement home ownership, serving families waiting for their flats and those who cannot yet buy, such as singles under 35.

Is renting while waiting for a BTO money down the drain?

One couple ST spoke to married in May 2024, with their BTO flat about three years from completion. They chose to rent at $2,200 to $2,500 a month, about 25 per cent of their combined take-home pay. They said it could go up to $100,000 over three years, on top of their $570,000 BTO flat. They said it would still be cheaper than a resale flat in a good location, which could cost as much as $1 million in some parts of Singapore.

Another person ST spoke to rented a room in a four-room flat at Pinnacle @ Duxton for $1,150 a month, before marrying and buying a resale flat. Their verdict: “That’s $24,000 I know I won’t get back, but it’s money well spent because I got to experience living independently before marriage.”

OCBC’s head of wealth advisory, Chez Anbu, did the arithmetic. Rent of $1,500 a month comes to $54,000 over three years and $90,000 over five. Compared with living at home and giving $500 a month towards family expenses, that could leave a young person with about $60,000 less in savings after five years.

Those are real numbers, and parents are right to raise them. But Anbu also said the decision should not be viewed purely in financial terms, citing privacy, autonomy and the chance to build household and budgeting skills.

So I would frame it differently. A couple renting while they wait for a BTO is paying for a set stretch of time, with a flat at the end of it. A couple buying resale now gets a home sooner, but resale flats usually cost more than BTO ones. Compare those two paths over the same years, with every cost included: the rent, the price gap, the moving and furnishing.

If you are the parent in this conversation, the spare room is a real saving. Sociologist Tan Ern Ser of the Institute of Policy Studies said living with parents would certainly be less expensive. But SMU’s Paulin Straughan said that giving young people more space “may actually ease the family tensions”. Both can be true in the same home.

The real rival to build-to-rent is not home ownership. It is the spare room at your parents’ place.

Can rent be kept under $2,000?

Anbu estimated a sustainable rent for young Singaporeans who plan to buy later at $1,200 to $1,800 a month. That is based on keeping housing costs within 25 to 30 per cent of gross monthly income, a benchmark he said should be treated as a “ceiling rather than a target”. For someone earning $5,000 a month, it comes to about $1,500. The 2025 median monthly salary for full-time employed residents aged 25 to 29 was $4,680 for men and $5,070 for women.

Savills, however, put the potential market rent for a build-to-rent studio at $1,800 to $2,500. So the market’s starting point sits about where the sustainable range ends.

Goh Boo Kui, contracts director at Unison Construction, does not think a private developer could build such a project and rent out each unit for less than $2,000 a month under current cost conditions. He said land cost is the main obstacle. A condo unit costs around $400 psf to build today, he said, and a small self-contained unit needs around 400 sq ft, before financing, marketing and agent fees. Fell added that developers usually recover their capital through unit sales within three to five years. With build-to-rent, returns come from rental income over 10 years or more.

So the ideas on the table change the terms. Fell suggested pricing government sites on rental value or shorter leases. Goh suggested HDB could build the homes and appoint a private operator, estimating basic HDB construction costs at $220 psf to $230 psf. ERA’s Eugene Lim said a discount on the median condo rent could be effective.

Lim also pointed to high demand for a recent co-living pilot under the SG Youth Plan, where over 600 Singaporeans aged 21 to 35 showed interest in more than 100 units priced at about 30 per cent below market rates.

How could build-to-rent change the rent-or-buy decision?

Today, a young couple who want their own space soon have three broad routes. A good number live with one spouse’s family or apart until they get their BTO keys, ST noted. Some buy a resale flat or condo, if they can afford it. A few rent.

A self-contained unit at a fair rent would make that third route more workable. It could mean one less reason to stretch for a resale flat just to get your own front door sooner. If you are comparing the two, I wrote recently about how to read the HDB resale market.

It would not change the long game. Sing said ownership stays dominant because families buy “not just to meet consumption needs but also to build housing wealth and provide retirement safety nets”. NUS emeritus professor Chua Beng Huat said renting tends to be transitory. I agree. For a family thinking across decades, the home you own is the base for every move that follows.

So I would treat any rental, build-to-rent or not, as a bridge. Plan for the rent to move: Lim noted that rents can be affected by policy measures, and residential rents rose sharply in 2023 and 2024. And keep saving: Anbu’s test is that rent should not stop you from keeping an emergency fund and saving more than 20 per cent of take-home income towards goals such as a home or retirement.

A bridge needs a far side. If you rent, know which home you are renting towards, and when you expect to reach it.

What could this mean for HDB rentals and private landlords?

This part is my own reasoning, not a forecast. The effect will depend on how many units are built, at what rent, and who qualifies.

HDB rooms at about $1,000 a month look like a different product: cheaper, but shared. The closer overlap is with whole-flat rentals at $2,000 to $3,000, especially where a single person or a young couple is taking more space than they need just to have privacy. A smaller, purpose-built unit priced nearby could draw some of them over time.

A one-bedroom condo at a median $3,300 a month sits well above Savills’ studio range. If you own one, or plan to buy one mainly for rental income, there is no need to panic. But long-stay serviced apartments are already approved, with more in the pipeline, and a decade-long hold should not assume your tenants will have the same options in 10 years. Stress-test that the way you would stress-test interest rates.

What should young couples and parents watch next?

Four things will tell you how real this is:

• Who builds it. MND has not said, and that may shape the rent more than anything else.
• How land is priced. Watch for any move towards rental-based pricing or shorter leases.
• Who qualifies. MND mentioned younger Singaporeans, and also those who come here to work or study.
• Where the rent lands. Closer to $1,500, it is a bridge. Closer to $2,500, it is one more rental.

Fell cited London’s East Village, the former Olympic athletes’ village converted into a large build-to-rent neighbourhood, as one possible model. “The shared lesson is that affordable build-to-rent doesn’t happen through the market alone,” she said. “It happens when the government sets the terms for land and tenure.”

Until those terms are set, every build-to-rent figure here is an estimate. I would not put off a BTO application or a resale decision for a scheme that has not been announced.

If you and your parents are weighing a few years of rent against buying resale now, and want a second view on how the numbers fit your family’s plans, I am always glad to talk it through.