Property Unpacked: 'Four-Bedroom' vs 'Four-Room' with the help of floor plans

By Elizabeth Choong

/ EdgeProp Singapore |

January 2, 2024 5:35 PM SGT

A four-room HDB flat does not have four bedrooms unlike a four-bedroom condo unit. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - Welcome to the first instalment of our 'Property Unpacked' series, where we strive to demystify and simplify fundamental property concepts and theories. Kicking off our series, we will delve into the distinction between 'Four-Bedroom' and 'Four-Room' (as well as properties with other room counts), illustrated with the help of detailed floor plans. Some buyers may think that the terms 'four-bedroom' and 'four-room' can be used interchangeably, but we aim to correct this misconception.

A four-bedroom condo unit has four bedrooms

The Reserve Residences, J’den, and Lentor Hills Residences are among the top-selling new projects that were launched last year. An examination of the four-bedroom units in the three projects indicates that the majority of such units range in size from 1,345 sq ft to 1,625 sq ft.

The four-bedroom units in Lentor Hills Residences have a fairly typical floor layout. The main door opens into a small foyer, which leads to the living and dining areas and a balcony. The foyer is also adjacent to the kitchen, yard, and household shelter. The bedrooms and bathrooms are clustered together on the other side of the unit.

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Source: EdgeProp Research

A thoughtful detail that buyers should note is that all four bedrooms have an attached bathroom. The master bedroom has an en-suite bathroom. Bedroom 4 has a bathroom that opens directly into the bedroom as well as the common corridor. Bedrooms 2 and 3 have a jack-and-jill configuration that allows both bedrooms to share a bathroom that is only accessible via the bedrooms.

The floor layouts for four-bedroom units in J’den and Lentor Hills Residences are similar in that the bedrooms and bathrooms are clustered together on one side of the unit. The master bedroom in J’den has an en-suite bathroom while the other three bedrooms share a common bathroom. The units in Lentor Hills Residences have three bathrooms. However, the 1,485-sq ft units in J’den feature a private lift, which is not found in the 1,356-sq ft units in Lentor Hills Residences.

Source: EdgeProp Research

The four-bedroom units in The Reserve Residences are larger than the four-bedders in the other two condos. The larger size could be because the units in The Reserve Residences have a junior master bedroom with an attached bathroom. The second en-suite bedroom makes the units more convenient for multi-generation families because it allows the grandparents and parents to each occupy an en-suite bedroom, while the children occupy the remaining two bedrooms and share the common bathroom.

Source: EdgeProp Research

After examining the layouts of four-bedroom units in the three popular condos, we can conclude that there are minor differences in the layout of the four-bedroom units in each project, but all of them feature four bedrooms, which includes an en-suite master bedroom.

But a four-room HDB flat has only three bedrooms

According to the latest annual report from HDB, four-room flats account for 42.1% of the total stock of HDB flats. Unlike four-bedroom condo units, a four-room HDB flat only has three bedrooms, including a master bedroom with an attached bathroom. The ‘fourth’ room refers to the living/dining area. Other than the number of bedrooms, the layout of a typical four-room HDB flat is similar to the layout of a four-bedroom condo unit.

Source: HDB Annual Report 2022/2023

Another key difference is the size. Based on the four-room flats available for application in the latest Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise, four-room flats range in size from 958 sq ft to 1,012 sq ft. This means that newly launched four-room HDB flats are smaller than the four-bedroom units in the recently launched condo developments cited above.

Likewise, a five-room HDB flat also has only three bedrooms, but such flats have larger living and dining areas, thus allowing the owner to create a study area. Based on the latest BTO exercise, five-room flats are approximately 1,216 sq ft, making them larger than four-room HDB flats but still smaller than four-bedroom condo units.

Source: HDB Annual Report 2022/2023

Conclusion

Buyers should note that 'four-bedroom units' refer to condo units with four bedrooms. Floor layouts for such condo units tend to vary despite having the same number of bedrooms. However, a 'four-room flat' refers to a specific HDB flat type, and the number does not indicate the number of bedrooms in the flat. A typical four-room HDB flat only has three bedrooms and a living/dining area. Furthermore, a four-bedroom condo unit is much larger than a four-room or even a five-room HDB flat.

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