P1 Registration Changes 2027: 60 Phase 2C Places, a Two-Track Scheme at 12 Schools, and What It Means for Homes Near Schools

Last updated: 10 September 2026. Figures verified against MOE's press release "Enhancing the Primary One Registration Framework for Greater Access and Inclusivity" (10 September 2026), its Annex A and Annex B, and MOE's current P1 registration guidance.

For many Singapore families, the 1km circle around a popular primary school has been the most expensive line on the property map. At 12 schools, that line has just been redrawn.

From the 2027 Primary One Registration Exercise, MOE will raise the reserved places in Phase 2C from 40 to 60 in every primary school except those with fewer than 180 P1 places, and at 12 schools where public housing makes up less than 40% of homes within 2km, it will split Phase 2C equally between families living within 2km and families living beyond 2km, with no distance priority inside either track (MOE, 10 September 2026).

The list includes Nanyang Primary, Raffles Girls' Primary, Methodist Girls' School (Primary), Singapore Chinese Girls' Primary, both ACS primary schools and Tao Nan. If you are buying, holding or selling a home near any of them, this changes the maths.

What exactly did MOE change?

Two things change from the 2027 exercise, which is for children starting Primary 1 in 2028. Phase 2C gets 20 more reserved places at most schools, and 12 schools get a new Two-Track Scheme that stops rewarding homes within 1km over homes 1km to 2km away in Phase 2C.

MOE says the extra 20 Phase 2C places come from the earlier registration phases. Families eligible for Phases 2A and 2B still get priority ahead of Phase 2C, but with fewer places left for them before the open phase begins.

Which 12 schools are on the Two-Track Scheme?

The 12 schools are the ones where public housing accounts for less than 40% of dwelling units within 2km of the school. Nationally, about 8 in 10 residents live in HDB flats, so these are schools sitting in unusually private-housing-heavy neighbourhoods.

Geographically, that is two clusters: the Bukit Timah, Holland and Newton belt in Districts 10 and 11, and the Katong and Marine Parade belt in District 15, plus St. Margaret's near Dhoby Ghaut. MOE will review the list periodically but says it does not expect frequent changes, since housing profiles do not shift quickly. Our District 9, 10 and 11 prime condo guide covers the first cluster in more detail.

How does the Two-Track Scheme actually work?

At a Two-Track school, Phase 2C places are split in half. One track is for children living within 2km of the school, the other for children living beyond 2km. Inside each track there is no home-school distance priority, so a family 300m away and a family 1.9km away enter the same ballot.

MOE's worked example uses a school with exactly 60 Phase 2C places: 30 go to the within-2km track and 30 to the beyond-2km track. The key rules:

• Balloting inside each track. If Singapore Citizen applicants in a track exceed its places, that track is balloted.
• Unused places flow across. If one track has places left after all its SC applicants are admitted, the remainder goes to SC applicants in the other track.
• Odd numbers favour the near track. If Phase 2C places cannot be split evenly, the extra place goes to the within-2km track.
• Citizens still come first. All SC applicants in both tracks are admitted before any Permanent Resident. Remaining places for PRs are again split equally between the two tracks.
• More than 60 is possible. If earlier phases do not use all their places, the surplus flows into Phase 2C and the whole pool is still split equally.

Home-school distance is measured from the school boundary to your building's outline, and MOE advises checking it on OneMap's School Query in the year you register, because it can change when building plans or school boundaries change.

Is the 1km property premium dead?

No, but at these 12 schools it has lost most of its Phase 2C value. For the roughly 170 other primary schools, nothing about distance priority has changed, and 20 more Phase 2C places means families within 1km of those schools arguably have slightly better odds than before.

The reason buyers have paid more for homes within 1km of a popular school is simple: in an oversubscribed Phase 2C, the 1km band was balloted first. At the 12 Two-Track schools, that edge now disappears in Phase 2C. A condo 1.8km from Nanyang Primary is in exactly the same Phase 2C ballot as a condo 400m away. At the same time, half of Phase 2C now belongs to families who live more than 2km away, so nearby families are competing for a smaller share of the open phase.

Three honest caveats before anyone reprices a home:

• Distance still matters outside Phase 2C. The Two-Track Scheme applies only to Phase 2C. In Phases 2A and 2B, where balloting uses citizenship and then home-school distance, living within 1km still ranks ahead. Parent volunteers in Phase 2B keep that advantage.
• Many of these homes carry other premiums. Bukit Timah, Holland and Katong are priced on land scarcity, freehold stock, lifestyle and prestige, not just school catchments. We covered in our earlier piece on property values near popular schools that the school-proximity premium is real but selective and often blurred by overlapping catchments.
• The other schools nearby are not on the list. Henry Park, Kong Hwa and Red Swastika, for example, keep standard distance priority, so a home near several schools may retain most of its catchment appeal.

The practical read: the "must be within 1km" premium is likely to soften most for homes whose value leaned heavily on one of these 12 schools, and the 1km to 2km ring around them becomes relatively better value for school-motivated buyers. We would treat that as a gradual repricing of what buyers are willing to pay, not a sudden price drop, and we have not seen transaction data yet that shows it.

What this means if you are buying now

If your child was born between 2 January 2021 and 1 January 2022, the 2027 exercise is yours and the new rules apply to you. MOE has not yet published the 2027 dates. The 2026 exercise opened on 30 June 2026, so families should expect a similar mid-year window.

If you are targeting one of the 12 schools: paying extra for 1km over 2km no longer buys Phase 2C priority. Within 2km is the line that counts in Phase 2C. And if you live beyond 2km, including in an HDB estate, you now have a dedicated track and a real chance you did not have before.

If you are targeting any other popular school: the 1km band still works as before, and the larger Phase 2C gives it a little more room.

Timing matters as much as distance. Under MOE's current rules:

• New launch address: you can register with a property still under construction only if its vacant or delivery possession date falls within 2 years of your child's P1 entry. For the 2026 exercise, the cut-off was 31 December 2028. On the same rule, a 2027 registration would need possession by 31 December 2029, though MOE will confirm the exact date. The 30-month stay starts from the day you move in.
• Resale address: you can register with a resale property you are buying (for private property, the exercised OTP and stamp duty certificate), and must live there from the start of the P1 school term. The 30-month stay runs from that date.
• Getting it wrong is costly. If the 30-month stay is not met, MOE can transfer your child to any school at its discretion.

Here is how that plays out on a live example. Amberwood at Holland sits within 1km of Methodist Girls' School (Primary), one of the 12 Two-Track schools. Before this announcement, a 1km address there was the top Phase 2C band. From 2027, it simply puts a family in the within-2km track alongside everyone else inside 2km. Its vacant possession date is June 2030, which on MOE's current two-year rule falls after the likely cut-off for the 2027 exercise but would suit a family registering in the 2028 exercise. That is exactly the kind of detail worth checking before you commit.

If you are weighing a new launch against a resale home partly for school timing, run both paths through our new launch versus resale calculator, and check the cash each stage demands with our progressive payment guide.

What this means if you already own near one of the 12 schools

Do not panic-sell, and do not assume nothing has changed.

Your home still sits in the within-2km track, still enjoys distance priority in Phases 2A and 2B, and still carries whatever location, tenure and lifestyle value it had yesterday. What changes is the story you can tell a school-motivated buyer. "Within 1km of Nanyang" used to be a headline. For P1 purposes it is now closer to "within 2km of Nanyang, plus the other schools nearby". Sellers who priced in a strong school premium should expect sharper buyers asking about it.

If you are planning to sell and upgrade in the next 12 to 24 months, our sell first or buy first comparison walks through the cash flow and ABSD exposure, and the affordability calculator will show your realistic next budget.

Who gains, and who should not over-read this

Clear winners: families without school connections, especially those living more than 2km from the 12 schools. Many of them live in HDB estates and now have a protected share of Phase 2C places.

Modest winners: families within 1km of the other popular schools, who get 20 more open places to ballot for.

Likely losers: families within 2km of a Two-Track school hoping to get in through Phase 2C, who now share half the pool, and alumni or Phase 2A and 2B families at popular schools, who have fewer places left before Phase 2C opens.

Not changed: sibling priority, citizenship priority over PRs, and the 30-month stay requirement.

Still unconfirmed

• The dates and phase schedule for the 2027 P1 Registration Exercise
• The exact possession-date cut-off for new property addresses in the 2027 exercise
• Whether prices near the 12 schools actually adjust, which will only show in transaction data over the coming quarters

We will update this page against MOE releases as they are published.

The practical next step

If a school is part of why you are buying, the useful question is no longer "is it within 1km?" It is "which school, which phase, which track, and will I have the keys in time?" Get those four answers right and you avoid paying a premium for priority that no longer exists.

Talk to PropertyNet.SG for an independent read on your own situation. No listings agenda, no developer script. Just a clear view of how these P1 changes affect your shortlist, your timeline and the price you should be willing to pay.

Sources: Ministry of Education press release "Enhancing the Primary One Registration Framework for Greater Access and Inclusivity" (10 September 2026), including Annex A (list of 12 schools) and Annex B (revised framework); MOE guidance on how distance affects priority admission and the address used for registration. Policy details are accurate as at 10 September 2026, and readers should confirm current rules on moe.gov.sg before acting.