AsiaOne : Bargain houses in Singapore‏

$135k for a terrace house in Kallang area

The catch? Most of these houses are on short leases.

Mon, Feb 01, 2010
The New Paper

WHAT can you buy for $135,000?

A two-room flat in Lorong Lew Lian (Upper Serangoon), perhaps.

But how about a double-storey terrace house in the Kallang area' One terrace unit in Upper Boon Keng Road was sold for that price in October last year, according to URA statistics.

It sits on a land area of about 725 sq ft with a built-up area of about 1,300 sq ft. How is this even possible?

The catch - the house has only 10 years remaining on its lease.

There are at least 250 such terrace houses here and most of them are on short leases.

Settled down

For Mr C Y Koh, this 'cheap' estate has been his home for the last 50 years. He and his wife settled there after their kampung was burnt down in 1961.

The Kohs currently live in their two-bedroom double-storey house with their son, who is in his 40s, and their two grandchildren, aged 13 and 10.

Speaking to The New Paper in a mix of Mandarin and Hokkien, the 71-year-old retiree said: 'It's very safe here, everyone knows each other. In the past we didn't even have to lock our front doors.'

He bought his unit for about $5,000, paying the sum off with monthly instalments of about $30. According to residents, they were given the option to resettle there in double-storey terrace houses with leases of 60 years. Their homes are on State land which is zoned as residential under the Master Plan 2008, on the URA website.

His wife, Mrs A I Koh, 70, said that she would live there until the lease runs out.

The estate is a 15-minute walk from Kallang MRT Station and a 10-minute drive away from the city centre. The Upper Boon Keng wet market is also a five-minute walk away.

Despite the range of amenities, many of the Kohs' neighbours have moved out. Almost all of them have moved in with their children, said Mrs Koh.

Many units there have been converted to temples or rented out to contractors, who use them to house foreign workers. This is because it's cheap to buy the houses there.

Mr Koh estimated that foreign workers now occupy half of the houses there.

Sell or rent out

Mr Nicholas Mak, a real-estate lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, said of the estate's transformation: 'Many of these owners would either sell or rent out the place to contractors or labour brokers who would then house foreign workers.

'The contractors might find it flexible to house their workers there rather than in a dormitory.'

He added that with so many foreign workers living there, the estate would become less appealing and less desirable to Singaporeans.

Many of the residents agreed with his sentiment.

Mrs Ou Mei Xia, who is in her 70s and has lived there since the 1960s, said: 'The kampung atmosphere has diminished. Even though the foreigners don't disturb us, they make a bit of noise occasionally.'

Madam Phyllis Koh, Mr Koh's sister who used to live in the estate, said: 'It's quite sad. It is very difficult to find areas like these with such a communal spirit in Singapore these days.'

- Danson Cheong, newsroom intern


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$500k for a terrace house?

MRT station, coffee shops and supermarket just a walk away. But there's a catch.

Mon, Feb 01, 2010
The New Paper

HIS two-storey home is well-renovated, with a lush garden and ample parking space.

The 72-year-old, who wanted to be known only as Mr He, had bought his double-storey terrace house in Jalan Chempaka Kuning, a little cul-de-sac in Bedok, six years ago for $600,000.

The retiree said he rejected a $600,000 offer for his home - about 2,200 sq ft big - a few months ago.

Property agents we spoke to valued homes like his at under $500,000 today.

This is even cheaper than some five-room HDB flats in prime areas.

The catch?

Only 26 years remain on the lease of the land his home is sitting on.

However, this does not bother Mr He.

He told The New Paper in Mandarin: 'It's hard to find such nice and quiet places in Singapore now.

'At $600,000, I'll be hard pressed to find even a five-room flat.'

Having paid the full amount for his home, Mr He is not tied down by a home loan.

Three generations of his family live under one roof.

Mr He said that the proximity to many amenities and the ample space for gardening were also big draws for him.

Conveniences

The terrace houses in the Jalan Chempaka Kuning cluster are a 15-minute walk away from the Tanah Merah MRT station. Conveniences like a supermarket, a few 24-hour coffee shops and a petrol station are a brisk five-minute walk away.

Among the homes in the area, about 140 terrace and semi-detached houses are leasehold properties.

They sit on a large plot of freehold land which belonged to Mr Koh Sek Lim, a property owner in the east who has since died, The New Paper reported in Feb 2006.

Mr Koh sold a 70-year lease for the land in the 1960s to several developers who built and marketed the houses there.

It's unclear what will happen to this estate when the lease runs out.

But the residents we spoke to said that the short lease does not bother them.

The main draw of these properties are its low prices and the space available for gardening. For $600,000, you can perhaps get a five-room HDB flat in nearby Marine Parade.

Prices of five-room flats in Marine Parade averaged about $625,000, according to HDB statistics in the last quarter.

Prices of landed properties also jumped by 8.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and 7.7 percent for the whole of 2009, according to recent URAdata.

Mr Eric Cheng, CEO of ECG Property, said that even though properties in the Jalan Chempaka Kuning cluster may be cheap, buyers would have to pay in cash as banks usually will not approve loans for properties with fewer than 30 years left on the lease.

Banks generally take their cue from the CPF Board's 30-year cut-off against use of members' savings to pay for mortgage.

This is not really a problem for some of the residents here, who are mainly cash-rich retirees.

Mrs Y M Ye, 75, a retiree, said: 'Most of the residents in the area are retired and enjoy living in the area.

'It is convenient - I can walk to the market at Simpang Bedok and I have space for gardening.'

Staying put

Mrs Ye, who has lived in her two-storey, three-bedroom terrace house with her family for more than 20years, has no intention of selling her home.

Most of the residents we spoke to shared her views.

Mr Cheng added: 'For retirees who do not wish to be tied down by a loan, properties in the area are very attractive. It is a very good place to live in, based on the price.'

Jalan Chempaka Kuning is not just a sleepy, retirement enclave though.

There were a number of young residents out-and-about making use of the nearby park and playgrounds in the area.

Student Richard Quek, 18, lives with his parents in the area.

He said: 'I've lived here for seven years, I love the number of eating places nearby. It is very convenient.'

- Danson Cheong, newsroom intern


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Haig Road flats up to $100,000 less

Close to beach, yet much cheaper than flats at Marine Parade.

Mon, Feb 01, 2010
The New Paper

By Elysa Chen

HER block of flats is sandwiched between clusters of condominiums and landed property.

A brisk 10 minutes' walk can take her to the Geylang Serai market, while East Coast Park is just a few minutes away by bus. Her home is also just a 10 to 15-minute walk from Paya Lebar MRT station.

It is no wonder that after living in the Haig Road estate for more than 30 years, Madam S Salimah's 78-year-old mother is reluctant to sell her flat.

But she is getting frail, so she is moving in with Madam Salimah, 58, a retiree who lives with her husband in a three-room flat in Ang Mo Kio.

Madam Salimah's family had first rented a home in the estate before her mother bought the three-room second storey flat for $27,000 in 1982. Their 635sqft flat was recently valued at about $233,000.

A reasonable price if you compare it with flats in Marine Parade, a premium beachfront neighbourhood nearby. A similar-sized three-room flat in Marine Parade was sold for $280,000 around August last year, according to information on HDB's website.

In other words, the Marine Parade flat cost about $50,000 more, and is seven years older.

Madam Salimah said: "Given the choice, we wouldn't sell. Even President S R Nathan lives nearby, on Ceylon Road."

The community centre is just across the road from their home, there is a kindergarten at their void deck, and several good schools in the area.

With easy access to malls like City Plaza and Tanjong Katong Shopping Centre, she rarely needs to travel to town. If she wants to get to the city, there are several direct buses and it takes only half an hour, said Madam Salimah.

The beach is also just a short bus ride away, and Madam Salimah goes there with her family twice a month.

Mr Azhar Johar, a PropNex agent who is helping Madam Salimah to sell her home, said that flats in Haig Road are a good, and cheaper, alternative to those in Marine Parade.


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Green light for red-light district living

Family of four unfazed by negative connotations of living in Geylang.

Mon, Feb 01, 2010
The New Paper

By Danson Cheong, newsroom intern

IT'S barely a 10-minute drive from town. The Paya Lebar MRT station is just a brisk five-minute walk away.

And it's smack in the middle of a food hub, with delicious local fare like beef kway teow and hokkien mee just around the corner.

The average price of a 1,200 sq ft condo unit in this condominium is about $688,000, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority resale data.

The price is certainly attractive in today's market, but some may baulk at the location because the Aston Mansions condominium is located in Lorong 42, Geylang.

Not Mr Simon Lim and his wife Irene, a couple in their late 40s.

In 1995, they bought a unit in the 99-year leasehold condo for $750,000. They live there with their two adult children, aged 22 and 25.

Mrs Lim, who works in a head-hunting firm, said: "The Geylang name carries with it a certain negative connotation. But before we moved in, we made sure there were no pubs, novice and no drinking near the condo."

But with a current price tag of below $700,000,one can hardly complain. This is almost as cheap as some five-room flats in some prime areas.

For example, the median price of a five-room flat in Queenstown was around $645,000 last month, according to HDB resale statistics. The size of the five-room flat and the condo unit is almost similar.

A similarly sized condo unit at The Trumps in Kembangan, two train stops away, was sold for $913,000 in October.
The rental yield for private property in Geylang is quite decent too, because of its low capital cost.

Property agent Angeline Lim estimated that the rent of a 1,200 sq ft apartment at Aston Mansions will be around $3,500. That gives a rental yield of about 5 per cent.

Mr Eric Cheng, CEO of ECG Property, said that condos in the Geylang area are cheaper than those in other areas because the demand for such properties is not very high.

He also said that for properties in the Geylang area, some banks may not give the normal 80 per cent of the property value as a loan.

He believes this is because if the property market dips, these properties would probably be the most difficult to sell.

Mr Lim, who works in the property industry himself, said he was looking for a home in a more central area with easy access to the city centre when he bought his Geylang condo.

No regrets

His family had earlier lived in a maisonette in Yishun, which they bought for $100,000 in the 1980s. They sold it for $400,000 in 1995.

Mrs Lim added: "Then, Yishun was not a mature town yet. The location here is much better. "And of course, it's close to a lot of good food."

And they haven't regretted their decision to move to Geylang. The city centre, which is a 10-minute drive across Nicoll Highway, is also where Mrs Lim works.

Geylang is also highly accessible by bus, with 19 different services - including one night service.

The Lims' son, Derrick, 22, who is currently doing national service in the police force, said: "It is easy for me to get to the station and back with all the bus services nearby."

The New Paper had a look around the area and found it to be peaceful, with none of the usual dubious characters one would associate with the area. This condo has the usual facilities like a swimming pool, a jacuzzi and underground parking space.

But being so close to the red-light district admittedly does have its drawbacks. Mrs Lim said:

"There used to be a number of suspicious characters who rented some of the neighbouring units. It's much better now - the management is very strict."