Residential classification

Classifying residential property by type and land size: condominium vs apartment (site-area threshold), Good Class Bungalow parameters, landed vs strata.

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Question 1

A salesperson is working through the way residential property is classified, because a client has asked him to place two very different homes in the right categories. He explains that residential property divides first into public and private, and that private property divides again into landed and non-landed. The two homes the client has in mind are a condominium unit in a high-rise block and a terrace house in an older estate. The salesperson must say, for each of them, whether it is landed or non-landed private property, and he is aware that getting the two the wrong way round is a common slip.

Which statement is correct?

A. The condominium is non-landed; the terrace house is landed private property.
B. The condominium is landed; the terrace house is non-landed private property.
C. Both are non-landed, differing only in whether they share facilities.
D. Both are landed, a terrace and a condominium each sitting on their own ground.

Show the answer and full explanation

Answer: A

The rule. Residential property divides into public and private, and private into landed and non-landed. A condominium is non-landed private property; a terrace house is landed private property.

Why A is correct. The condominium is non-landed; the terrace house is landed.

The other options.

B reverses the two.
C makes both non-landed.
D makes both landed.

Exam note. Landed against non-landed is the private-property split. A terrace sits on its own ground; a condominium unit does not.

Residential property divides into public and private, and private into landed and non-landed →

Question 2

An agent is asked to state the property type of a unit that a developer has marketed as a "dual-key SOHO with a loft", the buyer believing that one of those three labels must fix what kind of property it is for the purpose of buying and selling. The buyer wants to know which of the labels determines the unit's classification, and how a foreigner's eligibility to buy it would be judged.

Which statement is correct?

A. The "SOHO" label fixes the type; the unit is classified as a SOHO on that basis.
B. The "dual-key" label fixes the type; the loft and SOHO labels are mere marketing.
C. None of the labels fixes the type; the title and zoning govern instead.
D. The labels fix the type together, the three forming a recognised property class.

Show the answer and full explanation

Answer: C

The rule. "SOHO", "loft" and "dual-key" are marketing terms or design features, not property types. What governs classification — and a foreigner's eligibility — is the unit's actual title and zoning.

Why C is correct. None of the three labels classifies the unit; they are marketing, and the real type is fixed by the title and zoning.

The other options.

A and B each promote one label to a property type.
D treats the three together as a recognised class.

Exam note. Strip the marketing words away. A "dual-key SOHO with a loft" is classified by what its title and zoning say, not by the advertisement.

What governs classification — and a foreigner's eligibility — is the unit's actual title and zoning →

Practise it under exam conditions

Single questions test whether you know a rule. The paper tests whether you can find it in a scenario, at speed, with three plausible alternatives in the way. Start with the free 20-question half-paper.

Free 20-question paper The papers in PDF

Looking for past-year papers? CEA doesn't publish them — here's what it does publish.

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