A $1.65M Bishan maisonette is Singapore's priciest executive flat

An executive maisonette at Block 192 Bishan Street 13 has sold for $1.65 million, according to HDB resale data registered in August. No executive flat in Singapore has ever sold for more, and no HDB flat in Bishan, of any type, has ever sold for more.

The flat sits in Bishan Spring, between the 22nd and 24th storeys, with 162 sq m of space across two levels, about 1,744 sq ft. That works out to roughly $946 psf. Its lease started in 1987, so the buyer paid a record price for a 39-year-old flat with about 60 years left.

The sale also puts the maisonette among the five priciest HDB resale transactions ever recorded, based on HDB data going back to 2017. The national record remains a 5-room flat at 96A Henderson Road, which sold for $1.728 million in April. The other seats at that table belong to young 5-room flats at Dawson Road in Queenstown. The Bishan flat is the odd one out: decades older, and a flat type HDB no longer builds.

Four of the five priciest HDB resales are young 5-room flats in central estates. The Bishan maisonette is the only executive flat, and the only one pushing 40. Source: HDB resale transactions via data.gov.sg

The record has moved three times in 13 months

Bishan’s executive flats have been rewriting their own ceiling at a steady clip. A maisonette at Block 194 Bishan Street 13, next door to this one, set the previous benchmark of $1.588 million in July 2025. Block 135 Bishan Street 12 took it to $1.6 million in November 2025. This sale adds another $50,000 on top.

All three record flats share the same profile: maisonettes on the 22nd to 24th storeys of Bishan’s tallest point blocks. Buyers at this level are paying for a specific combination that has become scarce, and it shows in the premium. Executive flats in Bishan have averaged about $796 psf across 21 resales in 2026. The record flat cleared $946 psf, roughly 19% above its own town’s average for the type.

Three record prints in 13 months, all high-floor maisonettes between the 22nd and 24th storeys. Source: HDB resale transactions via data.gov.sg

Why old flats keep setting new records

The supply argument is simple. HDB no longer builds executive flats, so the stock only shrinks as leases run down. Anyone who wants 1,700 sq ft of HDB space in a central estate is choosing from a fixed and ageing pool, and Bishan’s high-floor maisonettes are the top of that pool.

Against that stands the lease. Sixty years covers any owner-occupier’s horizon, but financing and resale get harder as the countdown continues. CPF usage and bank loan limits tighten once a lease gets short relative to the buyer’s age, and the pool of future buyers who can pay $1.65 million in cash and CPF for a then-50-year lease is anyone’s guess. The buyer here is betting that space and location will keep outweighing lease decay for at least another cycle. The three record prints in 13 months say the market currently agrees.

What this means for you

• If you own an executive flat in a mature central estate, this is a strong data point for your exit value, with a caveat: records are set by the best units, high floors and full-length maisonettes. A mid-floor unit in the same town still trades near the $796 psf average, not at $946.
• If you are eyeing one as a buyer, price the lease honestly. A 39-year-old flat at $1.65 million only works if you value the space for your own long stay. Buying at a record and counting on the next buyer to pay more is a speculation, not a plan.
• Sellers of large 5-room flats in Bishan, Toa Payoh and Queenstown benefit from the same scarcity story. The top of the HDB market is being set by space and centrality, and each record resets what the next serious buyer considers normal.