Should You Renovate Before You Sell Property? Pros & Cons
Whether it's moving to upgrade, moving into a better suited home or just simply cashing in your investments, everyone has their own reasons when it comes to selling their properties, and one of the most commonly asked questions by our clients planning to do so is, should we do renovations before selling our property? And to answer this question, it really depends on the situation.
To help you decide whether should you renovate your property before placing it property up for sale, we’ll go through the different pros and cons of either path:
Pros of Renovating Before Selling in Singapore
1. Higher Selling Price
Renovated properties, especially those with modern kitchens, bathrooms, and quality finishes, tend to command a premium.
Buyers are often willing to pay more for move-in-ready homes to avoid high renovation costs and time constraints.
2. Faster Sale
Well-presented homes typically sell faster because they appeal to a wider pool of buyers, especially for young couples and HDB upgraders.
With intense competition in some segments, an updated look can help your unit stand out.
3. Positive First Impressions
In Singapore’s hot and humid climate, issues like mold, water damage, or aging aircon systems can be a major turn off for buyers. Addressing these through renovation can create a better viewing experience.
4. Eligibility for Higher Valuation
For HDB flats, a better interior condition can influence the valuation report and increase the amount that the buyers are willing to pay.
For private properties, a well-renovated unit may appraise higher, influencing the bank loan amount for buyers.
Cons of Renovating Before Selling in Singapore
1. High Upfront Costs
Renovation costs in Singapore are high — even basic refurbishments can run into tens of thousands of dollars.
You might not recover the full renovation cost in the sale price, especially in a buyer’s market.
2. Time Delays
Renovations can take weeks to months, delaying your ability to list the property.
This might not be ideal if you're trying to cash out quickly or upgrade to another property.
3. Changing Tastes
Buyers may not share your design preferences. Over-renovating or going for niche styles may limit appeal.
Some buyers prefer to do their own renovations anyway, especially in older resale properties.
4. Regulatory Constraints
For HDB flats, you must comply with HDB renovation guidelines (e.g. no removal of structural walls).
With all the pros and cons listed down, it's time to decide whether doing renovation is the right choice for you.
So when does Renovating Make Sense in Singapore? :
The property is very dated or in poor condition, if your property hasn’t been properly maintained.
You're targeting young families or professionals who value convenience, if your targeted buyers are those with high buying power and prioritise convenience more than value, then renovating can be.
You're in a competitive segment, if the location of your property is high on buyer demand, you may need to use renovation for your property to stand out from the competition.
When can you the renovation process?:
You need a quick sale, if you’re moving, upgrading, or cashing out on your property investments, so there’s isn’t a need
The property is already in decent or neutral condition, if the property doesn’t have any major damages you can consider just conducting some minor repairs and doing touch ups
Buyer demand is already strong (e.g., for well-located newish condos or rare HDB types like jumbo flats or maisonettes).
You’re in a rising market, where buyers are less picky, making it much easier to sell without any extra effort or investments.
If you were to design and renovate the property to your own liking just to sell it, the majority of the time you won't be getting back the amount of money spent into the renovation. Sure, a well renovated property will have a higher value than those without, but this might actually backfire as people would rather buy the property at a lower price and renovate themselves to better suit their own needs, possibly making it harder to find a willing buyer if renovations are done and not to mention it comes with an added cost.
Personally, we think that doing a full renovation for your property just to sell it is overkill for most cases, other than situations where renovations are required to restore the conditions of a property to be presentable, a full renovation might be an inefficient use of time and resources. So instead of going down the renovation rabbit hole, we recommend that owners looking to sell their properties should just do minor touch ups.
Alternative - Minor Touch ups
Instead of going through with a full blown renovation, you might want to consider doing some minor touch ups to improve the condition of your property, this method can both be done much faster and requires less investments out of your pockets, and may bring a similar effect in terms of improving the conditions and the chance of selling your property.
Some of the things you can start is by repainting your interiors in neutral tones, using colours such as white, gray or light blue can immediately transform the looks of your property, giving interested buyers a clean slate, allowing them to start imagining and plan with your property as their future home, it will also give them a better view of the space and the overall conditions of the house after you finish up the rest of the touch ups.
Replacing faulty lights or plumbing fixtures are also cheap methods of improving the condition of your property, fixing that leaky faucet and changing out a burnt lightbulb will mean that the buyers will have one less issue to bring up when negotiating prices. Also consider changing your bright white light bulbs with a warmer light to make it look and feel more comfortable.
Polishing floors or deep-cleaning tiles, whether you have wooden floors or ceramic floor tiles, it's a good idea to patch up damages and do some maintenance to make them look and feel as new as possible, replace broken tiles with new ones and polish your wooden floors with some varnish to make them shiny and new.
And finally, staging the unit to make it feel more spacious and inviting to your viewing buyers, make sure that everything is neat and tidy, make sure that there's no dust in sight, the furniture are neat and doesn’t have any smell from use, the toilet and bathroom dry and kitchen clean from oil. Do note that this is not a complete guide on how you can do touchups or renovations, so you can do more or do less depending on your own situations.
Although this may all sound like tedious work, and some steps may look unnecessary, do remember that each minor issue you can fix and each aspect of the property you could improve, just might be the deciding factor between the viewing buyer from saying “we’ll take it!” or “we’ll think about it” when selling your property. When doing any touch up, Remember to set a budget for materials and equipment!
If you’re still having a hard time deciding which route you should take, maybe consider consulting a trusted valuer or local property agent like David & Audrie who understands the demands of buyers within the property market. These professionals can advise if conducting renovation will increase your selling price or demand high enough to justify the cost and time spent.
Whether you're planning to sell your property renovated or not, let David & Audrie help you find the perfect buyer in Singapore! Let us help you negotiate the best prices and conditions for your beloved property! giving you a stress free experience to sell your property.
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