Glossary

This refers to the rental per month (expressed in dollar per square foot) of a private residential project, of which 25% of the rental contracts are at this level or lower.

This refers to the rental per month (expressed in dollar per square foot) of a private residential project, of which 75% of the rental contracts are at this level or lower.

The approval granted by the Commissioner of Building Control in respect of building plans and specifications submitted in accordance with the prescribed building regulations in force.

A caveat is a legal document lodged with the Singapore Land Authority by a purchaser to protect his/her interests after an option to purchase is exercised or a Sales & Purchase Agreement is signed.

We use information from caveats with "options exercised" to compute our property price indices. The transaction database in REALIS may not reflect all the units sold directly by developers, as the lodgement of caveats is voluntary, and there is usually a time-lag of a few months from the point of purchase of a private residential unit direct from a developer to the lodgement of a caveat for that unit.

The Core Central Region is made up of postal districts 9, 10, 11, Downtown Core Planning Area and Sentosa. A map of the Central Region showing the Core Central Region (CCR) and the Rest of Central Region (RCR) is available here [PDF, 1.3 MB].

Executive condominiums were introduced by the government in 1995 to meet the housing aspirations of the growing number of graduates and young professionals. They are strata-titled apartments built by the private sector and has similar facilities to a private condominium.

There are restrictions for the first few years such as eligibility conditions similar to those for HDB flats, and a minimum occupation period before the flat can be sold.

This is the year in which the whole project will be given the Temporary Occupation Permit. Developers or architects give the expected TOP year. Projects with 'NA' means consent for release was not given by the developer.

This refers to the licence a developer requires to sell uncompleted residential projects of more than 4 units. The licence is issued by the Controller of Housing and is one of the pre-requisites for sale. Other pre-requisites include the approval of the building plans of the development. See Pre-Requisites for Sale.

This refers to detached houses, semi-detached houses, terrace houses, townhouses, strata bungalows and cluster housing.

The private residential property market in Singapore is divided into 3 geographical market segments:

• Core Central Region (CCR)

• Rest of Central Region (RCR)

• Outside Central Region (OCR)

A map of the three market segments is available here [PDF, 1.3 MB].

For detached, semi-detached and terrace houses, the median price per square foot is calculated based on their land area. For strata sub-divided properties, such as apartments, condominiums, cluster housing and townhouses, the median price per square foot is calculated based on their strata floor area.

This refers to the rental per month (expressed in dollar per square foot) of a private residential project, of which 50% of the rental contracts are at this level or lower.

Refers to apartments and condominiums.

This comprises of areas in Singapore outside the Central Region:

• East Planning Region

• North East Planning Region

• North Planning Region

• West Planning Region

The requirements that developers of residential projects have to obtain the Housing Developer Sale Licence and Building Plan Approval before they can sell their residential units.

These refer to projects in which construction has not started. These include:

• projects with planning approval or are under consideration 

• public projects, and projects on Government Land Sales sites where plans have not been submitted to URA for planning approval.

The price agreed between the purchaser and the vendor for property and land. It excludes stamp duties, agency fees, legal and other professional fees.

Provisional permission is the approval by the competent authority under section 17 of the Planning Act (Cap. 232). The competent authority may authorise the carrying out of specified preliminary works following the grant of provisional permission. Where all conditions contained in a provisional permission has been complied with during its validity, the competent authority shall grant the final permission (which is deemed to be a written permission) subject to such further conditions as he thinks fit.

The gross rent per month including service charge but excluding Goods and Services Tax (GST).

This comprises the area within the Central Region outside of postal districts 9, 10, 11, Downtown Core Planning Area and Sentosa.

A map of Central Region showing the Core Central Region (CCR) and the Rest of Central Region (RCR) is available here [PDF, 1.3 MB].

A unit is considered sold when the developer has given the purchaser the option to purchase, after the purchaser pays a booking fee.

This refers to the supply of space in approved or planned projects which are currently under construction, or construction has not begun yet.

A project is deemed to be under construction when the Commissioner of Building Control issues a permit to commence building works.

Written permission is the approval granted by the competent authority under section 14 of the Planning Act (Cap. 232) to authorise development of land, works within a conservation area, or subdivision of land. A written permission may be granted either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as the competent authority considers fit.