First BTO flats in Greater Southern Waterfront, Mount Pleasant to go on sale in October

Business Times

a day ago

[SINGAPORE] The first flats in two new housing estates – the Greater Southern Waterfront and Mount Pleasant – will be among 10 Build-To-Order (BTO) projects that will go on sale in October.
An assisted-living project in Sengkang, which will be the fifth of its kind in Singapore, will also be on offer.
The Housing Board will offer about 9,100 flats in Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bishan, Bukit Merah, Jurong East, Sengkang, Toa Payoh and Yishun.
The project on the site of the former Keppel Club in Bukit Merah, along Telok Blangah Road, will have about 870 units of two-room flexi, three- and four-room flats, and a pre-school.
The upcoming blocks will be between 19 and 46 storeys high, and one of them will have rental flats. The development is located between Telok Blangah and Labrador MRT stations.
It will kickstart the development of the Greater Southern Waterfront and will form part of 6,000 HDB flats and 3,000 private homes that will be built there.
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Property analysts said the project could fall under the Prime category, given its location on the city fringe, and is expected to be highly sought after.
Plus and Prime flats, which are closer to the city centre, transport nodes and amenities, come with stricter resale conditions, such as a 10-year minimum occupation period and a subsidy clawback, unlike Standard flats.
Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at Realion Group, expects high demand for the flats at the Greater Southern Waterfront as there is a lack of affordable housing in the area.
'Previously, Singaporeans intending to reside in the area would have to purchase resale condominiums, which may price out the middle-income Singaporeans,' she said.
Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at real estate agency Huttons Asia, also expects the project to be popular among flat applicants, as units on the top floors may have unblocked sea views.
A second BTO project in Bukit Merah is a 1,020-unit development along Jalan Bukit Merah and Redhill Close. It is about a 10-minute walk to Redhill MRT station.
Analysts also expect this project to fall under the Prime category as many amenities, such as hawker centres, supermarkets, coffee shops and a polyclinic are located nearby.
In Toa Payoh, a 1,350-unit project comprising two-room flexi, three- and four-room flats will be built in the new Mount Pleasant housing estate, along Thomson Road.
The development will have a pre-school, eatery, supermarket and shops. Two of its blocks will be integrated with public rental flats and one block will have rental units only.
It is a five-minute walk from the future Mount Pleasant MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line.
The project is the first of six BTO projects to be built in the 33ha estate on the site of the Old Police Academy, which will house about 5,000 flats.
A view of the new Mount Pleasant housing estate on the site of the Old Police Academy on Mar 5. PHOTO: ST
Analysts expect the Mount Pleasant project to be classified as Prime.
Sun said the project could see strong interest from families as it is located close to schools like Raffles Girls' School, Raffles Institution, CHIJ Primary and Secondary schools and SJI International School.
In Sengkang, a site bounded by Fernvale Street and Fernvale Link will house 830 two-room flexi, four- and five-room flats near Kupang LRT station.
It will also have 200 community care apartments, which come with senior-friendly fittings such as wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, as well as health and community services that are meant to help seniors live independently.
In Bishan, about 530 units of two-room flexi, three- and four-room flats will be built along Street 12, less than 10 minutes on foot from Bishan MRT station.
In Ang Mo Kio, HDB is set to launch a 1,420-unit project comprising two-room flexi, three- and four-room flats.
It will be built along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5, and the site is about 1km from Yio Chu Kang MRT station. ITE College Central and Nanyang Polytechnic are in the vicinity.
Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at property agency PropNex Realty, said she expects the Bishan and Ang Mo Kio projects - which could be classified as Plus flats - to draw healthy interest as previous BTO projects in the two towns were oversubscribed.
Two projects in Bedok and Jurong East are the only ones in the upcoming launch that will have all flat types on offer: two-room flexi, three-, four- and five-room flats as well as three-generation units.
The 850-unit project in Bedok will be built along Chai Chee Street. The nearest MRT station is Kembangan, about 1.5km away.
In Jurong East, the 620-unit project will be bounded by West Coast Road and Jurong Town Hall Road. It is near a future MRT station on the Jurong Region Line.
Two projects in Yishun will offer a combined 1,370 flats. The larger one with 810 units is located in Chencharu, an upcoming HDB residential area.
Situated along Chencharu Link and Bah Soon Pah Road, the development is adjacent to Peiying Primary School and Naval Base Secondary School. Khatib MRT station is a 10-minute walk away.
The other project, which has 530 units of two-room flexi and four-room flats, is bounded by Yishun Ring Road and Yishun Street 31.
In October's sales exercise, a total of about 2,890 two-room flexi flats will be on sale.
This is the largest supply of such flats offered in a BTO exercise since the introduction of the two-room flexi scheme in November 2015, noted Wong.
'The higher supply will help to cater to demand for such units among first-timer singles,' she said.
The Mount Pleasant project will offer 540 two-room flexi flats, the largest in the upcoming launch. THE STRAITS TIMES