The tiny size of the country dictates the shape of the city and its buildings. Homes are built high up into the sky rather than sprawl out in large sized plots of tropical gardens as it was custom in the colonial era. But Singapore still offers a large selection of different types of homes depending on your budget!

What are Landed Homes?

Landed property is opposed to high rise property a building with its own land and does not share the ground with other parties in the building. Some either have their own facilities or share them with other landed property.

Semi-Detached Town Houses

These houses are joined and have one common wall with the neighbor. Most semi-detached are 2 store homes and they are popular with families with smaller children who need a small place to play outside.

Shop houses are traditional houses either restored or in need of renovation. They were originally purpose built for shop  owners who used to live above their shop. These homes feature a very small but long floor area and a built-up area of about 3 -4 levels. Fitting your furniture may be difficult, unless you plan to buy furniture in Singapore on purpose.

The houses were traditionally designed for natural ventilation and have high ceilings. Conversions with fully fitted air condition units have been successful, but the units need to be powerful and produce high electricity bills.

The layout of restored houses is very unconventional, meaning the bedroom may be in front as well as in the back of the house and the bathroom on another floor. Lot s of healthy climbing the stairs will keep you fit!

Not recommended for families with small children or elerly family memebers visiting often. When you view shop houses watch out for signs of leakage as they tend to be prone to this. Maintenance cost of shop houses can be high.

Terraced Houses

Terraced houses have common walls with both neighbors unless they sit at the corner. Terrace houses do not have a garden (unless at the corner).

Detached Homes

Detached homes do not share any wall and are either bungalows with single. Double or three stories or old colonial single or two story houses with white walls and black woodwork often are referred to as Black and Whites.

These houses try to keep their old structure and often come without air conditioning. You will enjoy all pros and cons of a tropical life as in the good old days. Many have huge gardens and extra small houses for servants (servant s quarters).

As a tenant you are responsible for repairs and maintenance and need to sign the lease under the existing conditions, which may be quite an adventure.

Note: Black White Homes/Colonial Houses are rented out by the government and can be viewed online at the web site below.

Cluster Homes (detached)

Cluster homes are detached houses that share various facilities (garden, pool, etc.) with a few other landed homes. Cluster homes are hard to get as they are all recently built and occupied by the owners.

What are High Rise Buildings

There are many high rise buildings with apartments for rent in Singapore. They are often referred to as Condominium. High rise buildings with share of facilities are often marketed as homes with full condo facilities . They feature either some or all of the following available shared facilities: