http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...old-for-330000

West Coast Road Sers flat sold for $330,000

Sep 22, 2016

Janice Heng


The first West Coast Road flat coming under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) has been resold, with its buyer now eligible for a new replacement flat.

The 68 sq m three-room flat on a low floor was sold for $330,000 earlier this week, according to SRX Property. Before the Sers announcement in August, low-floor three-roomers in the area were fetching $255,000 to $260,000.

The West Coast Road site comprises 994 flats across Blocks 513 to 520. They will be demolished and the site redeveloped, with residents offered new units from two projects: in Clementi Avenue 1 and West Coast Link. Both are expected to be completed in 2022. The buyers of the recently sold unit - a young couple - have relatives living nearby and they do not mind living in the old flat while waiting for the replacement unit, said HSR International Realtors agent Edwin Leong, who represented them.

Sers flats have fetched premiums in the past, due to the attraction of new units. In the last Sers exercise in 2014, three-room flats in Tanglin Halt were resold for $10,000 to more than $30,000 above the expected compensation. "If the replacement site is attractive, close to the MRT and so on, there is bound to be demand," said Mr Leong.

Those who wish to sell their Sers flats in West Coast Road must do so by end-July next year.

According to the HDB's guide, the estimated total compensation for a 67 or 68 sq m three-room flat in the West Coast Road Sers project is $294,100 to $334,900, which takes into account the flat's market value and "reasonable expenses".

Owners will know the exact compensation for their units in the second quarter of next year.

R'ST Research director Ong Kah Seng said the $330,000 selling price did not seem overly high, suggesting that the buyers are "optimistic... but rational".