How Much is a 3, 4, and 5-Room HDB Flat Renovation in 2025?

Stats you need to know before you plan your renovation budget.

This might be a sweeping statement, but we dare say that everyone dreams of having their own home. You make your own rules, surrounded by all you love. For those of you soon-to-be-homeowners looking into renovating your dream home, you’ll want to know how much it costs – and how long it takes.

We crunched data for both BTO and resale flats renovated in 2024 and spoke to experts to find out how things are looking. Here’s how much you can expect your HDB renovation to cost – and how long it’ll take – in 2025.

How much will a 3-, 4-, and 5-room HDB flat renovation cost in 2025?

BTO/New HDB renovation costs in 2025

*Based on a projected increase of 2-3% from 2024 medians across 259 BTO renovation projects on Qanvast. Do note that there were less than 30 data points for 3-room BTOs; while statistically insufficient for a normal distribution, figures above are indicative.

While planning the renovation for your new home, here’s how much you can expect to spend: $36,100 to $43,700 for 3-room BTO flats, $51,000 to $61,800 for 4-room BTO flats and $67,000 to $82,400 for 5-room BTO flats.

Compared to the year before, all three flat types saw an increase in renovation costs, with 5-room flats seeing a significantly bigger increase than 3- and 4-room flats.

As Wen Min from The Local INN.terior shares, one potential reason for this could be because 5-room BTO homeowners are looking to stay for the long term and invest more in quality materials and built-ins that will last.

On the flip side, 3-room flat owners may keep their home sparsely furnished with only the essentials built in so that they can upgrade their home eventually. She caveats that this ultimately varies depending on each homeowner’s requirements and choice of materials – something that Hans, Project Director of erstudio, highlighted as well.

Both Hans and Wen Min agree that aspects like material costs have stabilised since the pandemic, which explains why there is not much of a drastic increase in renovation costs year-on-year.

However, Hans estimates that there will be an overall 2-3% increase in renovation costs in 2025 for both BTO and resale flats, driven mainly by a drop in skilled labour post-pandemic when many returned to their home countries.

“The new generation of workers are still picking up the necessary skills, which results in higher costs for skilled workers. I would estimate that this will continue for a few more years until there are enough highly-skilled workers for a more competitive manpower market.”

Resale HDB flat renovation costs in 2025

*Based on a projected increase of 2-3% from 2024 medians across 302 resale renovation projects on Qanvast.
While renovation costs for 4- and 5-room resale flats increased significantly year-on-year, there was a slight decrease for 3-room resale flats based on data we looked at.

In 2025, accounting for a 2-3% increase, you can expect 3-room resale renovations to cost between $51,000 to $61,800, 4-room resale renovations to cost between $64,300 to $80,300 and 5-room resale flat renovations to cost between $$84,300 to $97,000.

According to Wen Min, one possible reason for the dip in 3-room resale renovation costs could be that some of them are already in good condition, which homeowners may not renovate extensively – but how much each homeowner spends ultimately depends on their budget, requirements and how long they plan to stay.

On the other hand, Hans’ data and experience working on projects in the last year show that renovation costs for all types of resale flats have increased: “Even for 3-room resale flats we worked on last year, the renovation costs increased, ranging between $90,000 and $110,000,” he said.

“This is usually the case when new owners decide to reconfigure the whole flat; there’s a lot of demolition work going on before new things are put up.”

Overall, Hans observes that more homeowners are willing to spend on renovating. “In the past, people would make do with whatever infrastructure was available in the unit. But as renovation technology advances, which means more complex works can be done, and homeowners have more access to new information on the internet, they tend to want more out of their space.”

“Nowadays, more homeowners spend on so-called ‘invisible’ works you don’t see in photos like rewiring the whole home and redoing the plumbing and piping for peace of mind, which can bump up the renovation cost by as much as 37%,” he shares.

Explore: Why are Resales Always More Expensive to Renovate?

How long is a 3-, 4, and 5-room HDB flat renovation in 2025?

Renovation duration for BTO flats in 2025

According to the data, the time to renovate 3-room resale flats remained consistent year-on-year in 2024, while it took longer for 4- and 5-room resale flats by about 1 to 2 weeks.

Wen Min elaborates that a potential reason for the increase in renovation durations for 4- and 5-room BTO flats could be that more homeowners are opting for more niche and organic products/materials, which is in line with the increasing popularity of wabi-sabi and Japandi-style interiors.

Adding on, she says that “5-room homeowners are typically more financially stable, so they have the means to choose more unique products/materials. That also means the suppliers’ turnaround time could be longer since such materials are more difficult to find.”

In 2025, you can expect that 3-room BTO renovations will take 8 to 10 weeks, 4-room BTO renovations will take 9 to 10 weeks and 5-room BTO renovations will take 10 to 12 weeks.

Renovation duration for resale HDB flats in 2025

As for how long renovations took for resale HDB flats, the data showed that the time to renovate 4- and 5-room resale flats remained consistent year-on-year in 2024, while it took less time for 3-room resale flats by about 1 to 2 weeks. Both Hans and Wen Min observed similar numbers.

Wen Min shares that one potential reason for the drop in time taken for renovating 3-room resale flats is that their owners might have chosen to keep the flat’s structure intact without doing extensive layout changes or renovation works, particularly if the flat is in good condition.

In general, she has observed that the renovation durations have dropped since the pandemic, and expects the numbers to remain stable – if not continue dropping.

Hans has similar expectations. He highlights that currently, a key bottleneck for renovation timelines links back to the lower number of skilled workers when it comes to more complex renovation works.

“As more skilled workers come into the market, I believe that the renovation duration will eventually decrease over the years, to the point where we can expect a 5-room resale to take 8 to 10 weeks to renovate.”

With that in mind, you can expect that 3-room resale renovations in 2025 to take 8 to 10 weeks, 4-room resale renovations to take 10 to 12 weeks and 5-room resale renovations to take 10 to 12 weeks.

Renovation outlook for 2025

Hans and Wen Min are hopeful that renovation demand will remain steady in 2025.

Wen Min underscores factors such as younger couples being more creative and willing to invest in newly-launched BTO flats, and couples who work from home and want to make their home more homey and personalised (be it BTO or resale).

“With property prices increasing, there are also more homeowners who may choose to refresh their current home instead of waiting to purchase a new one.”

Hans shares similar views that renovation demand will stay the same, though he hopes that lower bank rates in 2025 could encourage homeowners to buy new homes and/or renovate existing ones. He does, however, point out that factors like the ABSD ruling introduced in 2023 may slow it down somewhat.

Tips for renovating your BTO/resale HDB on a tight budget

The cost of living continues to rise, and/or you might be prioritising other purchases while you’re planning your renovation. You’re not alone if you’re tightening your pursestrings – so here are some tips to help you decide what to invest in for your renovation.

Hans recommends doing a two-phase renovation, wherein you sort out your "infrastructure" first; this means doing all the necessary maisonry and wetworks. The latter refers to the piping (both water and electrical), aircon piping and wall, floor and ceiling finishes.

Wen Min similarly underscores doing what is absolutely necessary – so the kitchen, bathroom and storage wherever you need it. In the first few years, you can “make do with loose furniture or loose items from IKEA OR Taobao, for example”, says Hans.

And in a couple of years after you’ve saved up more, you can move on to the second phase with more extensive carpentry and other works to beautify your home, like adding a striking feature wall.

How to ensure a smooth HDB renovation timeline

While there are many unforeseen troubles that could crop up during a renovation, there are some things you can do on your end to make for a smoother renovation timeline – and these could help with saving you a good amount of money too!

For instance, Wen Min highly recommends doing sufficient research at the start to get a clear idea of how much budget you’d need to allocate for your appliances, soft furnishings and furniture. This will give you a big-picture idea of your overall renovation budget, and helps you also figure out whether you need to reach out to vendors early on to get your items in time.

Hans also emphasised the importance of doing research on all your ideal kitchen appliances and sanitaryware and accessories in advance.

“Not everything you see on Instagram is applicable for a local home. And some of these products have major discounts, but these usually come with a longer waiting time. If you spend about three to four weekends doing your research early, you can save up a fair bit, especially if you’re sourcing globally.

Imagine you realise you need something in the middle of the renovation: you’ll be pressured to buy what can only be sourced locally, and you’d need to pay a premium to get the items fast.”

Finally, both Hans and Wen Min recommend reaching out to interior designers at least 2-4 months in advance to ensure sufficient time for meetings to discuss your requirements and consider the quotes.

In fact, we at Qanvast recommend doing so 6 months prior to key collection because many homeowners we've spoken to shared that they ended up speaking with multiple firms for months before finally deciding on one.

Looking for an interior designer to renovate your home?

We’ve got you covered. Simply tell us your renovation requirements – like your budget and design preferences – and you’ll get free personalised renovation quotes from local interior design firms.

By doing so, you’ll also be eligible for the Qanvast Trust Programme, which includes a $50,000 Qanvast Guarantee that safeguards your deposits.

All prices are accurate at the time of publishing, on 15 January 2025.

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