Go West, where the skies are blue?
By: Money Pit Digger
Tags: Property Search, Singapore, Hdb Resale Flat

Trying to look for a suitable HDB resale flat in Merlion City can be quite the nightmare. Although we had established parameters to narrow our search, we still ended up exploring all over the place — Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Toa Payoh, to name a few.

That was when I decided to set an additional filter instead. Rather than trying to find an elusive place where commuting to work is convenient for both of us, we should instead find a place that is close to one of our workplaces. Why torment both of us when only one person needs to go through the commuting pain? And that meant going West.

I generally like the Western Territories – because that was where I grew up and spent a big part of my life. So we zoomed in on the Golden Western Belt – starting from Tiong Bahru, followed by Redhill, Queenstown, Commonwealth, Holland, Ghim Moh, Dover, and ending at Clementi.

Tiong Bahru: We could never quite understand why the HDB flats in Tiong Bahru are so expensive except that part of it is a really nice gentrified neighbourhood which offers many F&B options and attracts hipster-wannabes. It is a place we don’t mind visiting from time to time when we crave the tau huay and chwee kueh at Tiong Bahru Food Centre but we were not sure we will pay a premium to live near there.

We could never quite understand why the HDB flats in Tiong Bahru are so expensive except that part of it is a really nice gentrified neighbourhood which offers many F&B options and attracts hipster-wannabes. It is a place we don’t mind visiting from time to time when we crave the tau huay and chwee kueh at Tiong Bahru Food Centre but we were not sure we will pay a premium to live near there. Redhill: To us, there was no particular draw except that it is fairly near to the city centre. Nah.

To us, there was no particular draw except that it is fairly near to the city centre. Nah. Queenstown: Merlion City’s first HDB satellite town is going through a rejuvenation and there will be more amenities when the new flats are completed as part of the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) for the old flats in Tanglin Halt. Two developments of interest to us were SkyVille @ Dawson and SkyTerrace @ Dawson.

Merlion City’s first HDB satellite town is going through a rejuvenation and there will be more amenities when the new flats are completed as part of the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) for the old flats in Tanglin Halt. Two developments of interest to us were SkyVille @ Dawson and SkyTerrace @ Dawson. Commonwealth: We spied seven candidate skyscraper blocks of flats in Tanglin Halt that are super near to Commonwealth MRT station but with the upcoming SERS affecting essentially the rest of Tanglin Halt, the area will see significant dust and noise pollution from demolition and construction activities.

We spied seven candidate skyscraper blocks of flats in Tanglin Halt that are super near to Commonwealth MRT station but with the upcoming SERS affecting essentially the rest of Tanglin Halt, the area will see significant dust and noise pollution from demolition and construction activities. Holland: There are four relatively new blocks of flats in Holland Drive but only two of them have 5–room flats. The total supply is 195 flats but after considering stack and level, and units already sold, good units for sale are fairly rare and the asking prices are typically above S$900K.

There are four relatively new blocks of flats in Holland Drive but only two of them have 5–room flats. The total supply is 195 flats but after considering stack and level, and units already sold, good units for sale are fairly rare and the asking prices are typically above S$900K. Ghim Moh: Good 5-room flats in Ghim Moh Link are hard to come by and they command prices above S$900K as well.

Good 5-room flats in Ghim Moh Link are hard to come by and they command prices above S$900K as well. Dover: Nope.

Nope. Clementi: Only one HDB development in the whole of Clementi caught our eye, and that’s Casa Clementi.

Excluding those estates we eliminated from our list, buying a good 5-room HDB resale unit in Queenstown, Holland, Ghim Moh or Clementi would easily cost us a princely sum.

We (read: The Wife) decided to focus our (read: my) analytical firepower on Casa Clementi and see if we could find a unit that suited us.