17 July 2026, Singapore - A survey of PropNex salespersons who transacted 110 units of million-dollar HDB resale flats in 2025 suggests the segment is serving very different needs across age groups, from first-time homebuyers in their 30s to seniors right-sizing out of private residential property. The HDB resale flat transactions evaluated were priced from $1.0 million to about $1.659 million. About 42.7% of the deals were for 4-room resale flats, 35.5% for 5-room flats, 20.0% for executive flats, and 1.8% were jumbo flats, based on the survey findings.

Buyer motivations

Among buyers aged 30 to 39, about 4-in-10 were reported to have bought the flat as their first home, while 46.3% of those aged 40 to 49 were said to be upgrading from a smaller HDB flat, according to observations from the salespersons.

Drilling into the first-time homebuyer cohort who were aged 30 to 39, it was found that units purchased by this group comprised 4-room, 5-room, executive, and jumbo flats - in towns such as Bukit Merah, Kallang Whampoa, Queenstown, and Toa Payoh - with transacted prices ranging from $1.0 million to $1.659 million. Meanwhile, upgraders in the 40 to 49-year-old age band bought 5-room and executive flats priced from $1.0 million to $1.38 million - in locations including Bishan, Bukit Merah, Clementi, Geylang, Serangoon, Tampines, and Toa Payoh.

Overall, buyers in the 30-39 and 40-49 age bands made up around 71% of the 110 transactions tracked in the study. Meanwhile, those aged 50 to 59 years, and 60 years and above represented about 24.5% of the sales.

Mr Kelvin Fong, CEO of PropNex said, "There is no shortage of transaction data on million-dollar resale flats, but almost nothing on who bought them or why. As Singapore's largest real estate agency, we took the initiative to find out rather than speculate. We reached out to our salespersons who closed these deals in 2025 and gathered responses reflecting 110 such transactions, a modest base that we hope to build on and sharpen over time. We would not overstate the findings, but they nonetheless offer useful ground-level perspectives on this buyer group."

Of note, a sizable proportion (71.4%) of buyers aged 60 years and above - mostly retirees - were said to have purchased the million-dollar HDB resale flat as their replacement home after downsizing from a private home, as per salespersons' responses. The million-dollar resale flats purchased by this group of buyers are 4-room flats with resale prices ranging from $1.0 million to $1.328 million, according to the findings. In the same vein, some 30.8% of buyers aged 50 to 59 years had downsized from a private home, while another 15.4% had relocated from a larger HDB flat.

Ms Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research and Content at PropNex, said, "The findings suggest these flats may serve quite different purposes depending on life stage. 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. Meanwhile, for older buyers, it may often be a right-sizing move, one that potentially trades unit size for location and convenience, whether they are coming from a private home or a larger flat."

Based on the salespersons' observations, the majority of the buyers (about 69.1%) did not pay Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) for the million-dollar HDB resale flat purchased. Meanwhile, around 11.8% of the buyers paid COV of below $40,000, about 6.4% forked out COV of between $40,000 and less than $80,000, while 3.6% of the buyers paid $80,000 to $100,000 in COV for their flat. Some 5.5% of the buyers reportedly paid COV topping $100,000. (Note: Respondents were unsure of the COV for 3.6% of the deals.) That most of these flats transacted without COV indicates that the million-dollar HDB resale prices are being supported by valuation.

When asked what drew buyers to the specific flat transacted, salespersons pointed to interest in the particular town or neighbourhood, proximity to an MRT station, and a high floor as the leading attractions. Proximity to good schools, the physical condition of the flat, and being priced out of private homes in the same locale emerged as the least instrumental factors. The limited weight given to school proximity could be partly explained by the substantial share of two-person households among the buyer cohort at 31.8%.

Occupation and monthly household income

Overall, the findings showed that more than 7-in-10 of the million-dollar HDB resale flat buyers held PMET (professional, managerial, executive, technical) jobs, based on salespersons' responses.

On monthly household income, salespersons reported that 35.5% of buyers earned between $10,001 and $16,000 a month - the largest single band. A further 20.0% earned $16,001 to $20,000, while 3.6% earned $20,001 to $25,000, and 2.7% earned above $25,000. At the other end, 11.8% earned between $5,000 and $10,000, and 0.9% below $5,000. These proportions should be viewed as indicative as salespersons were unsure of the household income, or the buyer did not disclose it, in a quarter of cases (25.5%).

Million-dollar HDB resale flats are becoming a more established feature of the resale landscape, and there may be greater interest in understanding the profile of who is buying them. In the year-to-16 July 2026 period, there were 1,002 HDB flats resold for at least $1 million as per transaction data - on track to meet or exceed the record 1,593 such flats resold in the whole of 2025.

Download the full Million-dollar HDB Flat Survey Report 2026 HERE