More young Singaporeans rushing into private property in 2026, but not for the reasons you might think

A recent Straits Times article highlighted a growing trend: More Singaporeans under 35 are buying private properties, with some saying they entered the market for investment.

Kudos to them, because before I turned 35 years old, I didn’t know what I’d order for lunch that day, let alone what condo to buy and when to sell. 

On paper, it does sound like a sign of growing wealth and financial confidence among younger Singaporeans.

Think how impressive it would be during Chinese New Year when you can tell everyone your 25-year old son or daughter is buying a condo, and they’re deciding between Great World or River Valley, or some other equally impressive CCR district. 

(That’s not too implausible these days, with developers keeping the quantum lower.) 

It’s also been reported that between 20224 and 2025, DBS posted a 40 per cent jump in home loans from borrowers who are under 35 years old. OCBC says that it saw a rise in singles buying private homes for investment.

From my experiences on the ground though, the emotional undercurrent here doesn’t feel like greed or even ambition. It’s more like a buzzing, unpleasant sense of anxiety and fear. 

I’ve been following the market long enough to recall previous property peaks, like the surge in 2013. That year is widely regarded as the turning point that created ever-intensifying property cooling measures. 

However, the market sentiment leading up to the government measures in 2013 was very different compared to what we see going around today. 

Back then, home loans were relatively affordable (and much cheaper than HDB loans for close to a decade at that point), financing restrictions were fewer, and there was a buoyant sense of confidence that whatever property you bought stood a good chance of bringing in the dough. 

That’s not to say I agree with everything that took place during that era, or that I somehow want a return to those heydays. 

If the government had let that exhuberance carry on, I might be writing this in a tent under the ECP by now. 

But if there was a period associated with optimism and run-away ambition (and okay, yes, greed), I would associate it with the run-up years leading to 2009 to 2013, as the world recovered from the Global Financial Crisis.

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Today feels different.

The younger buyers I speak to don’t usually sound euphoric. They sound worried. 

They’re worried that if they wait another three or five years, prices may move even further ahead. For the singles, or those who cannot get their flats yet, they’re worried that rents will continue climbing. 

Many are also worried that certain locations or lifestyles may permanently slip out of reach.

In the past, entering the private market was seen as an achievement that followed a career, marriage, children, and years of accumulated savings. 

Today though, some younger buyers seem to feel pushed to secure the asset first, and figure out life around it later; otherwise “in a few more years I will have no chance” they say.

Part of this anxiety likely comes from the track record of the property market over the past few years. 

The Covid-19 pandemic may have altered how we benchmark and perceive housing prices and price growth. 

In its aftermath, many Singaporeans watched prices surge across almost every segment: HDB resale flats, ECs, private condos, and even the rental market.

For younger Singaporeans, those years may have left a strong lasting impression.

Many are now in their late twenties or early thirties, which means that some of their most formative memories of the property market (for those paying attention) involve watching prices accelerate much faster than expected.

If I have to give another example of this kind of generational ‘trauma’ so to speak, I’d point to how millennials reacted to financial securities and other financial products after the Global Financial Crisis. 

Remember how personal finance sites mushroomed after that, and it was fashionable for a time to bash institutional finance? 

Well in the same way, we may be looking at a generation reacting to the experiences within their lifetime. 

The current environment does a lot to fuel the fear 

BTO flats remain heavily subsidised, and have never been anywhere close to a million dollars. But even so, the steady stream of million-dollar resale flats creates a very powerful emotional effect.

Nuance is often lost amidst the anger and alarm. Quite often, I meet people who don’t distinguish between BTO flat prices, and a resale transaction at Pinnacle@Duxton or Sky Terrace @ Dawson. 

The emotional takeaway simply becomes: “Any decent HDB flat costs over a million dollars now.”

Then there’s the contribution from parents, many of whom share and add to the agitation. 

Increasingly, I meet parents who are convinced their children will be priced out of the housing market. Some even believe this about HDB flats, let alone private housing. 

Just last week, I met a couple considering selling their ageing flat and buying another flat of roughly the same size, despite being second-timers. 

The reason behind this idea was that, if they held on too long, their children might one day inherit a flat with too little lease left to be genuinely useful. 

So they were considering resetting the lease now while they still could, as a form of future-proofing for the next generation.

That’s quite a striking mindset shift. Back in the mid 2000’s, parents helping children buy homes was often framed as wealth transfer, or giving them a head start in life. 

In 2026, it’s framed more as a defensive necessity: “If we don’t help now, will they live in the big dumpster behind NEX in future?”

Because of that, some parents no longer just fund their children’s condo purchases; they may proactively push for it. 

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Once enough families begin thinking this way, it changes the tone and motivation behind buying property altogether. 

It shifts from aspiration and toward preservation, and can be more powerful than just the usual sense of FOMO or exuberance. That comes from optimism: people buy because they expect to profit, upgrade, or improve their lifestyles. 

That can be cured with the traditional bit of Singaporean wisdom called “Wake up your idea okay!” shouted loud enough. 

But when buyers begin acting from a sense of survival or fear of exclusion, behaviours become much harder to change. 

It explains some of the contradictory behaviours we’re seeing today:

Young people who scrimp and save with incredible discipline and diligence; but the end-goal is an overstretched one-bedder purchase. 

Young adults pooling resources with partners or family, in far savvier ways than their parents — but then using it to overstretch by getting a four-bedder instead of a three-bedder. 

I don’t think it’s a matter of ignorance. Most of the young buyers I’ve met are very aware that large mortgages can affect career choices, relationships, and so forth; even if they’re able to service the bills. 

But they feel compelled to do it, lest they end up priced out later. 

So while the headline story was that younger Singaporeans are becoming more active “property investors,” I feel this may be the wrong lens. 

It’s more a case of young Singaporeans acting on anxiety, and feeling they literally can’t afford to wait. 

Now to be clear, I’m not saying ALL of this is fear. 

I do acknowledge that younger buyers genuinely do have stronger incomes, and are in a position to “go private” earlier.. 

Smaller unit sizes and lower entry quantums also play a very big role, as we saw in new launch sales from 2025. 

But even accounting for those factors, the emotional atmosphere still feels noticeably different from previous cycles. 

The buyers I meet today don’t usually speak as people trying to get rich; they speak more like they’re  afraid of being left behind. 

Whether that fear is justified or not is debatable — but once so many begin acting on it, it starts to shape the market. 

Weekly Sales Roundup (04 – 10 May)

Top 5 Most Expensive New Sales (By Project)

Top 5 Cheapest New Sales (By Project)

Top 5 Most Expensive Resale

Top 5 Cheapest Resale

Top 5 Biggest Winners

Top 5 Biggest Losers

Top 5 Biggest Winners (ROI per cent)

Top 5 Biggest Losers (ROI per cent)

Transaction Breakdown