New rules for P1 registration could widen home search for parents eyeing popular schools

CHIJ (Katong) Primary School (centre) and Tao Nan Primary School (left) seen surrounded by private properties on Sept 11, 2026.

Published Sep 11, 2026, 09:21 PM

Updated Sep 11, 2026, 09:21 PM

SINGAPORE - Parents hoping to get their children into 12 sought-after primary schools might now cast their property search wider, following new rules which will set aside spots for children who live more than 2km away from the school.

But property analysts do not expect demand for homes near these schools to drop.

Many of the 12 schools are located in prime districts - such as Bukit Timah and Marine Parade - that remain popular among buyers for reasons beyond their proximity to schools, said Eugene Lim, key executive officer of property agency ERA Singapore.

Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at property firm Realion (OrangeTee & ETC) Group, added that demand within 2km of these schools may remain firm, as parents may perceive that they face less competition in this pool, compared with the islandwide pool for those living farther away.

“However, the robust demand is not likely to cause prices to escalate, as parents will not need to live as close to the school as possible now,” Sun said.

From the 2027 Primary 1 registration exercise, 12 schools will adopt a two-track system under Phase 2C, with 30 places reserved for children living within 2km of the school and another 30 for those living farther away.

These schools were picked because public housing makes up less than 40 per cent of homes within a 2km radius from the school, with the aim to widen access to schools and improve social mixing.

Phase 2C is for children without prior ties to the school and where the distance between the child’s home and school plays a role in admission.

However, for the 12 selected schools, home-school distance will not be considered within each track, meaning that a child living within 1km of the school will have no priority over another living between 1km and 2km.

For almost all schools - except those with smaller intakes - the number of places reserved for Phase 2C will increase from 40 to 60.

Head of research and content at property agency PropNex, Wong Siew Ying, felt it is too early to tell how these changes will affect the property market , but there may be a “slight moderation or redistribution of school-driven demand” around the 12 schools.

It could reduce the incentive for some families to pay a premium to live within the immediate 1km or 2km radius for registration purposes, Wong added.

The 12 schools are: Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) (Junior); ACS Primary; CHIJ (Katong) Primary; Methodist Girls’ School (Primary); Nanyang Primary School; Ngee Ann Primary School; Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School; Raffles Girls’ Primary School; Singapore Chinese Girls’ Primary School; St Margaret’s School (Primary); Tanjong Katong Primary School; and Tao Nan School.

The change is intended to broaden access to these schools.

Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at real estate agency Huttons Asia, said the new system could widen the geographical area for those looking to buy a home.

“The demand for homes near popular schools will remain but it will widen to a bigger radius,” Lee said. “The ideal distance may be between 3km and 4km, which translates to a travelling time of 10 to 15 minutes.”

Lee identified several HDB towns about 2km to 4km from the 12 schools that could become practical housing alternatives.

For ACS (Junior), these include Toa Payoh, Kallang/Whampoa and Bukit Merah, while families eyeing Nanyang Primary School could look at Queenstown, said Lee.

The four popular schools in the east could potentially draw families living in Bedok and Marine Parade.

But Wong noted that once an applicant lives beyond 2km of one of the 12 schools, the home location does not provide an advantage under the new track.

“We would not describe any particular HDB town as a direct beneficiary of this change,” said Wong.

Still, the change could give families a wider range of housing options, depending on how far they are prepared to live from one of the 12 schools.

“HDB flats could remain the more economical choice, as their median prices are notably lower than those of comparable-sized condominium units in the same area,” said Lim.

For example, the median resale price of a condominium of between 900 sq ft and 1,000 sq ft in Marine Parade is $2.13 million, compared with the median resale price of a four-room HDB flat at $632,500 in 2026, ERA data showed.

In Bedok, it was $1.43 million for a resale condo, compared with $600,000 for a resale four-room flat. For Toa Payoh the median resale price of a four-room HDB flat is half the price of a resale condo between 900 sq ft and 1,000 sq ft.

These are town-wide medians and do not represent the prices of flats at specific distances from the 12 schools.

A Realion Research study of resale condominiums found some condos near popular schools saw a higher price increment compared with their district average. This means their prices appreciated more than their counterparts in the vicinity, said Sun.

For example, prices of units within 1km of Nanyang Primary School rose 18.2 per cent between the first half of 2022 and the first half of 2026, compared with a 12.4 per cent rise for the wider District 10 (Tanglin, Holland, and Bukit Timah).

The fastest growth was observed for resale condos near Roysth School, which grew 46.8 per cent. Prices of resale condos near Nan Chiau Primary School, Maris Stella High School and Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School grew by over 30 per cent. Only one of these schools - Pei Hwa Presbyterian - is in the list of 12.

Looking ahead, Sun said new growth areas with many new Build-To-Order flats could also benefit from the Phase 2C changes.

For instance, future Tengah residents could apply for ACS (Primary) under the beyond-2km track, while families in Mount Pleasant could consider schools such as Raffles Girls’ Primary and Singapore Chinese Girls’ Primary. Those in Bayshore could apply for Tao Nan School, said Sun.

Primary 1 registration

2026年9月11日，圣婴女校（加东）（中）和道南小学（左）被私人房产包围。

发布于 2026 年 9 月 11 日晚上 9:21

更新于2026年9月11日晚上9:21

新加坡——根据新规，希望子女进入12所热门小学的家长们现在可能需要扩大购房范围，因为新规将为居住在距离学校2公里以外的儿童预留学位。

但房地产分析师预计，这些学校附近的房屋需求不会下降。

新加坡房地产代理公司 ERA Singapore 的主要执行官 Eugene Lim 表示，这 12 所学校中有很多都位于黄金地段，例如武吉知马和马林百列，这些地区之所以受到购房者的欢迎，除了靠近学校之外，还有其他原因。

Realion（OrangeTee & ETC）集团首席研究员兼策略师孙克莉丝汀补充说，这些学校2公里范围内的需求可能会保持强劲，因为家长们可能认为，与居住在更远地区的家长相比，他们在这2公里范围内面临的竞争较小。

“然而，强劲的需求不太可能导致价格上涨，因为家长们现在不需要住在离学校尽可能近的地方了，”孙说。

从 2027 年小学一年级入学登记开始，12 所学校将在第二阶段 C 部分采用双轨制，其中 30 个名额预留给居住在学校 2 公里范围内的儿童，另外 30 个名额预留给居住在更远地方的儿童。

之所以选择这些学校，是因为在学校方圆 2 公里内，公共住房占比不到 40%，目的是扩大入学机会，改善社会融合。

第二阶段 C 适用于与学校没有先前联系的儿童，并且儿童家庭与学校之间的距离是入学的一个因素。

然而，对于选定的 12 所学校，每个班级都不会考虑家庭到学校的距离，这意味着住在学校 1 公里以内的孩子不会比住在 1 公里到 2 公里之间的孩子享有优先权。

除了招生人数较少的学校外，几乎所有学校在第二阶段C期预留的学位数量将从40个增加到60个。

房地产代理公司 PropNex 的研究和内容主管黄秀英认为，现在判断这些变化将如何影响房地产市场还为时过早，但这 12 所学校周边地区可能会出现“轻微的缓和或重新分配”的“学校驱动型需求”。

黄先生补充说，这可能会降低一些家庭为了登记而支付额外费用住在距离登记地点 1 公里或 2 公里范围内的积极性。

这 12 所学校分别是：英华小学 (ACS)；英华小学；圣婴女校（加东）小学；卫理公会女校（小学）；南洋小学；义安小学；培华长老会小学；莱佛士女校小学；新加坡女子小学；圣玛格丽特学校（小学）；丹戎加东小学；以及道南学校。

这项改变旨在扩大这些学校的入学机会。

房地产经纪公司 Huttons Asia 的数据分析高级总监 Lee Sze Teck 表示，新系统可以扩大购房者的地理范围。

李说：“人们对热门学校附近房屋的需求依然存在，但需求范围会扩大。理想的距离可能在3到4公里之间，这意味着通勤时间在10到15分钟之间。”

李指出，距离这 12 所学校约 2 公里至 4 公里的几个组屋区可以成为实际的住房替代方案。

李先生表示，对于ACS（小学部）来说，这些学校包括大巴窑、加冷/黄埔和武吉美拉，而有意就读南洋小学的家庭可以考虑女皇镇。

东部的四所热门学校可能会吸引居住在勿洛和马林百列的家庭。

但黄指出，一旦申请人居住地距离 12 所学校中的任何一所超过 2 公里，那么在新规则下，家庭住址就不再具有优势。

黄先生说：“我们不会将任何特定的组屋区描述为这一变化的直接受益者。”

不过，这一变化可能会为家庭提供更广泛的住房选择，具体取决于他们愿意住在离这 12 所学校之一多远的地方。

林先生表示：“组屋仍然是更经济的选择，因为它们的房价中位数明显低于同一地区同等大小的公寓单元。”

例如，ERA数据显示，马林百列面积在900平方英尺至1000平方英尺之间的公寓转售价格中位数为213万新元，而2026年四房式组屋的转售价格中位数为632500新元。

在勿洛，一套转售公寓的价格为143万新元，而一套转售四房式组屋的价格为60万新元。在大巴窑，一套四房式组屋的转售价格中位数仅为面积在900至1000平方英尺之间的转售公寓价格的一半。

这些是全镇范围内的房价中位数，并不代表距离这 12 所学校特定距离的公寓价格。

Realion Research的一项二手公寓研究发现，一些靠近热门学校的公寓价格涨幅高于所在区域的平均水平。孙先生表示，这意味着这些公寓的价格升值幅度高于附近其他公寓。

例如，2022 年上半年至 2026 年上半年，南洋小学 1 公里范围内的单位价格上涨了 18.2%，而更广泛的第 10 区（东陵、荷兰和武吉知马）的单位价格仅上涨了 12.4%。

罗伊斯学校附近的二手公寓价格涨幅最大，达到46.8%。南侨小学、玛丽斯·斯特拉中学和培华长老会小学附近的二手公寓价格涨幅均超过30%。这三所学校中，只有培华长老会小学位列12所学校之列。

展望未来，孙先生表示，许多新建的预购组屋所在的新兴增长区域也可以从第二阶段C期的改革中受益。

例如，未来居住在登加（Tengah）的居民可以申请两公里以外的英华小学（ACS Primary），而居住在芒特普莱森特（Mount Pleasant）的家庭可以考虑莱佛士女子小学（Raffles Girls' Primary）和新加坡女子小学（Singapore Chinese Girls' Primary）等学校。孙先生表示，居住在海湾（Bayshore）的居民可以申请道南学校（Tao Nan School）。

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