Once you have the budget to buy a home or invest for rent or resale, it’s a pretty weighty decision to choose where to put your money. For those wanting to buy a home, there are factors such as family size and surrounding amenities to consider. If you’re an investor, you’d be interested in whether the property will appreciate and what the rental return rates are.

As such, this article will focus on the pros and cons of both landed and high rise properties. Of course, there is no direct answer as to which is better as both options have their plus points and their downsides.

Financial concerns


Of course buying condominiums, service apartments or flats would be cheaper on your loan and financial burdens than landed property. However, landed properties do have better appreciation rates compared to condos and sell much higher if you are planning to sell in the short term. However if you are planning to rent your property out, it is advisable to obtain a condo as their rental rates are more stable and increase faster than landed property. Also the rental rates of condos are a bigger percentage of the total property value.

In terms of maintenance costs, if you own a high rise, usually there will be a monthly maintenance fee collected. Now the rate of maintenance fees vary with how posh your high rise is, and can amount up to several hundred a month on average Maintenance fees in apartments and condos will go towards repairing things like lift breakdowns, faulty lights, security systems, paying guards, hiring cleaners and many other things. On the other hand, if you own a landed property, there is no communal maintenance fee, unless you stay in a gated and guarded community, whereby you have to pay a small monthly security charge.

Personal maintenance costs in Condos are pretty much cheaper and easier since things like piping, roofing, water tanks and others are shared and will be covered by the communal maintenance fee. In contrasts, as a landed home owner, even though you don’t have to pay a communal maintenance fee, you often have to source your own services and repairmen, often with risks of fraud or overcharging.

Homeowner concerns


Those who are thinking of buying a home for themselves or their families have other concerns, including more space if they are planning to have many children. Also, it is important to consider landed property with some front or side lawn for growing children to play in. If the homeowner loves gardens and has a green thumb, then condos would be a bad choice since you would have no plot of earth to grow your own plants. Although some high rise homeowners do try and grow plants from pots and containers, it should be remembered that not all high rise condos or apartments allow this practice as it is believed to encourage the propagation of pests
such as mosquitoes.

Another important aspects that homeowners want to consider is the amount of privacy available. In Condos and apartments, you may sometimes have to put up with noisy neighbours and this will be difficult to solve if it is a high density area. The probability of meeting inconsiderate neighbours is definitely higher compared to if you only have a neighbour on the left and right.
However, high rise properties do have their plus side when it comes to amenities like swimming pools, gyms, convenience stores and the like. Landed property owners would most probably have to drive out of the neighbourhood to access these things but in Condos, these involve only a trip downstairs.

Final thoughts
The considerations for buying a property can differ between whether you are doing it merely as a profit investment or want it as a home. Different people may offer advice based on these preferences.However, it if of course the prerogative of the homeowner to enquire with friends, family and acquaintances just to gauge other personal experiences before making a final decision.


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