According to URA guidelines, terrace houses should be part of a row of at least three units. The middle units share party walls with their neighbours on both sides, while the corner or end terrace houses are only attached to one other neighbour. In this instance, the middle unit is termed as inter-terrace while the other 2 end units are termed as corner-terraces.

URA guidelines requires that the land size of an inter terrace house be at least 150sqm with a frontage of at least 6m wide.

As for the land size for a corner terrace, it should be at least 200sqm with a frontage of at least 8m wide.

Semi-detached houses are a pair of houses built side by side, sharing a common wall called a party wall. Usually they are mirror images of each other in layout and facade.  Semi-detached houses are also termed as “semi-d” here in Singapore.

URA guidelines requires that the land size of a semi-detached house be at least 200sqm with a frontage of at least 8m wide.

In Singapore, a detached house is commonly called a bungalow, whether it is a single-storey structure or not. Good Class Bungalows (see previous type) are generally classified as detached houses.

A detached house is a free-standing structure within the plot of land. It does not share a common wall or roof with its neighbours.

Detached houses come in many styles: Colonial bungalows (also fondly known as black-and-white houses) that are not big enough to be GCBs, or not located in designated GCB districts, are also considered detached houses. Modern bungalows are also detached houses.

URA guidelines requires that the land size of a detached house be at least 400sqm with a frontage of at least 10m wide.

Good Class Bungalow, or GCB in short, is the epitome of landed residential status in Singapore.

It is estimated that there are only approximately 2,800 good class bungalows in Singapore.

There are two main defining factors for these homes: location and size.
A good class bungalow needs to be within the 39 areas gazetted by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and also need to have a minimum plot size of 1,400sqm and cannot exceed the maximum building height of two storeys. The bungalow must not occupy more than 35 per cent of the plot area.

URA guidelines requires that the land size of a GCB be at lease 1,400sqm with a frontage of at least 18.5m wide and 30m depth.

List of 39 gazetted GCB areas:
1) Belmont Park (D10)
2) Bin Tong Park (10)
3) Binjai Park (D21)
4) Brizay Park (D10)
5) Bukit Sedap (D10)
6) Bukit Tunggal (D11)
7) Caldecott Hill Estate (D11)
8) Camden Park (D11)
9) Chatsworth Park (D10)
10) Chee Hoon Avenue (D11)
11) Chestnut Avenue (D23)
12) Cluny Hill (D10)
13) Cluny Park (D10)
14) Cornwall Gardens (D10)
15) Dalvey Estate (D10)
16) Eng Neo Avenue (D11)
17) Ewart Park (D10)
18) First Avenue / Third Avenue (D10)
19) Ford Avenue (D10)
20) Fourth Avenue / Sixth Avenue (D10)
21) Gallop Road / Woodlerton Park (D10)
22) Garlick Avenue (D10)
23) Holland Park (D10)
24) Holland Rise (D10)
25) Kilburn Estate (D21)
26) King Albert Park (D21)
27) Leedon Park (D10)
28) Maryland Estate (D10)
29) Nassim Road (D10)
30) Oei Tiong Ham Park (D10)
31) Queen Astrid Park (D10)
32) Raffles Park (D11)
33) Rebecca Park (D10)
34) Ridley Park (D10)
35) Ridout Park (D10)
36) Swiss Club Road (D11)
37) Victoria Park (D10)
38) White House Park (D10)
39) Windsor Park (20)

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Shophouses are simply mixed-use terrace houses where the ground level is used for commercial purposes, such as a cafe, retail outlet or office, and the upper levels are used as residences. These terrace houses became known as shophouses because the ground level was, historically, a shop.

Most of the remaining Singapore shophouses are now gazetted conservation shophouses, and are required to preserve their historical exterior, whether or not they maintain shops on the ground level and residence on the upper levels.