Buying in a 1,000-Unit Condo? When You Sell, You May Be Competing With Your Neighbours.

One Chuan Grove has 1,056 homes. Thomson Reserve has 1,268. Sembawang Road EC has about 265. The size of the project you buy into changes who you sell against, what you pay to run it and how quickly you can get out.

What the data says about size

Source: Stacked Homes, May 2025, resale transactions since 2015. The averages are close for the one-, two- and three-bedrooms most buyers look at. The gap opens in four- and five-bedroom units, and Stacked notes that one project, High Park Residences, drives much of it. Remove it and the five-bedroom gap falls from about 10.5 points to 2.4.

EdgeProp's review of 24 mega developments reached a similar view: size seems to have limited impact on resale price, and location matters more (EdgeProp, February 2025). Treasure at Tampines recorded 487 profitable sales and 1 unprofitable one since launch. The Sail @ Marina Bay recorded 1,131 profitable and 230 unprofitable.

What a mega condo gives you

More buyers know the name, so there is steady resale activity and plenty of comparable sales to price against. Facilities are bigger, and the cost of running them is spread across more owners.

Timing also matters more in big projects. Stacked found early buyers tend to do better than late ones in large condos, and that the difference is less visible in small ones (Stacked Homes, April 2025).

What a mega condo costs you

You sell against your neighbours. In a 1,000-unit project, several owners of the same layout may list in the same year, often as soon as the seller's stamp duty period ends. Buyers then compare you with the cheapest identical listing, not with the brochure.

Governance is harder too. An AGM with a thousand owners is slow to agree on anything, from a by-law change to a major repair, and a large sinking fund still has to cover large, ageing facilities.

What a smaller condo gives and costs you

A project of around 300 units or fewer has fewer competing listings and a council that can actually meet and decide. The trade-off is fewer facilities, fewer comparable sales for valuers and buyers, and fixed costs such as lifts, security and the pool shared across fewer owners. Small projects can also suit owners who want to know their neighbours, which matters more than it sounds when a building needs a vote on a major repair.

The maintenance bill

Per-unit fees depend on what the facilities cost to run and how share values are set, not on unit count alone. Big projects spread costs widely but often carry more pools, clubhouses and lifts. Small projects carry less, but split it among fewer people.

Ask for the projected budget, the sinking fund contribution rate and the facility list, not just the monthly fee. If the project includes shops, my integrated development guide explains how shared costs are split.

How the 2027 launches line up by size

If you plan to sell within a few years of completion, ask how many units share your layout, because that is your competition. If you plan to stay ten years, the governance and the maintenance curve matter more than the unit count.

The track record: location beat size

EdgeProp's review of mega developments shows why size alone does not decide the outcome. Four of the biggest names moved in very different directions.

Source: EdgeProp, February 2025. The suburban mega project rose by a third while the two Marina Bay ones fell. That matches the wider market over the same period: suburban condos rose 41.9% since 2019 while city-centre condos rose 3.5% (EdgeProp). Size gave each project liquidity. Location decided the direction.

My view

I would pay little extra for size alone. I would pay for a stack that stands out within a big project, such as a better facing or a quieter side, because that is what separates you from the identical unit listed the same week. At Thomson Reserve, more than 45% of stacks face the nature reserve, which tells you how much of the project shares the same selling point.

Questions readers ask

Sources