Four-room HDB at Tiong Bahru View sold for $1.158 mil; buyer pays $158,000 COV

Four-room HDB at Tiong Bahru View sold for $1.158 mil; buyer pays $158,000 COV

June 29, 2022

A buyer has paid $1.158 million ($1,237 psf) for a 936 sq ft, four room HDB flat at 10b Boon Tiong Road. HDB caveats show that the sale was lodged in June.

According to Malvin Lim, the property agent who represented the seller, the unit was valued at $1 million by HDB. Thus, the buyer paid a cash-over-valuation (COV) of $158,000. The COV is a cash amount that represents the difference between the sale price of the flat and its HDB valuation.

Lim is an assistant associate marketing manager at PropNex Realty, and a member of the Marcus Luah Division.

The flat is in an HDB development called Tiong Bahru View which comprises blocks 9a, 9b, 10a and 10b Boon Tiong Road. The 700-unit development features a mix of three- to five-room flats and studios.

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The flats are beside Tiong Bahru Plaza shopping mall, which is connected to the underground Tiong Bahru MRT Station on the East-West Line. The mature Tiong Bahru neighbourhood features many F&B options and retail outlets. A summary of the nearby amenities can be found on EdgeProp Singapore’s online overview of Tiong Bahru View.

Tiong Bahru View is a replacement housing development under the Selective Enbloc Redevelopment Scheme for the now-demolished HDB blocks that used to stand at 110, 111, 113, and 114 Bukit Merah View.

Cash-rich buyers

The million-dollar flat is a north-facing unit on the 29th floor. It was listed for $1.2 million when it was first put up for sale in September 2021. Given its relatively high asking price, Lim says that enquiries were limited to a small group of buyers that had the budget to consider the flat.

Despite the relatively high COV the buyer would have to pay, Lim says that the group of interested buyers tend to be cash-rich, thus the extra cash they need to pay is less of an issue for them, he says.

There were some early offers from a few serious buyers, says Lim. For example, a buyer had approached with a $1.15 million offer to buy the unit in December 2021. But the seller wanted to wait out for a more attractive offer as the HDB resale market was moving quickly at the time. The eventual buyer of the flat was already renting a unit in a neighbouring HDB development.

According to Lim, the four-room unit received strong interest from a few landed-house owners who were looking to right-size, as well as singles in their late 30s. The singles were hunting for a property that was close to the city and had turned to the HDB resale market because they felt priced out of the private residential market, he says.

The unit had also been tastefully renovated by the owner to a tune of about $200,000, and this helped to convince the buyer to eventually lock in the sale, says Lim. He adds that unlike the other three blocks in Tiong Bahru View, 10b consists of only three- and four-room flats, as well as a handful of studios. This helped drive up demand for available four-room flats, he says.

Other million-dollar flats

Although this transaction marks the first time that a resale unit at the block has crossed the $1 million threshold, other resale units in Tiong Bahru View have changed hands at higher prices in the past.

EdgeProp Singapore previously reported on the sale of a 1,206 sq ft, five-room flat in Tiong Bahru View that fetched $1.14 million ($945 psf) in May 2020, as well as the sale of another 1,205 sq ft, five-room flat for $1.2 million ($996 psf) in April 2019.

Based on HDB resale caveats compiled by EdgeProp Singapore, at least 30 flats in Tiong Bahru View have been transacted for a million dollars or higher, since the first few units reached their minimum occupation period (MOP) in 4Q2018.

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The most expensive unit that has been sold so far in Tiong Bahru View is a 1,205 sq ft, five-room flat that fetched $1.205 million ($1,000 psf) in June 2021. This flat is on the 22nd floor of block 9b Boon Tiong Road.

It is closely followed by the sale of another 1,205 sq ft, five-room flat for $1.2 million ($996 psf) in July 2021. This flat is on the 25th floor of block 9a Boon Tiong Road.

The sale of the $1.158 million flat at 10b Boon Tiong Road now paves the way for other units in that block to breach the $1 million threshold, says Lim. “This is only a matter of time, given that the HDB valuation of some of the flats in that block has reached $1 million.”

https://www.edgeprop.sg/property-new...ays-158000-cov