Clementi Towers is the first HDB project to be integrated with a bus interchange and shopping mall. Source: chinaconstruction.com.sg
An 18th-storey flat in Clementi Avenue 3 was sold for $1,005,000 on the resale market earlier this month – a record for a 5-room Housing Board flat outside the iconic Pinnacle @ Duxton project, reported The Straits Times.
Resale prices for HDB flats rarely breach the $1 million mark. The exceptions are those found at Pinnacle @ Duxton and rare types like HDB terrace homes or executive maisonettes.
Such prices have also been achieved in Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) developments – public housing projects that are developed and sold by private developers and not the HDB.
The Clementi flat, on the other hand, belongs to a unique development: Clementi Towers, which is the first HDB project to be integrated with both a bus interchange and a mall.
“The location is so good, just above Clementi MRT station and the shops in the mall. That is how we managed to get this level of pricing,” revealed LHG Properties agent Rose Har, who represented the seller in the transaction.
Clementi Towers features two 40-storey HDB blocks of 3- to 5-room units, linked to The Clementi Mall as well as Clementi bus interchange, which is connected to the MRT station.
The two blocks are notable for being replacement flats under the HDB’s Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme, and were offered to residents from the former Blocks 436 to 438.
“It is a unique project. In that sense, it is like the Pinnacle – you cannot compare it to other HDB projects nearby,” said Nicholas Mak, Research Head at SLP International Property Consultants.
Chris Koh, Director of property firm Chris International, noted that the 116 sq m unit may have been renovated well, which allowed it to fetch a premium.
“I don’t think you will see $1 million flats in other estates,” he added.
Meanwhile, the HDB expects to complete another integrated development, Kampung Admiralty, in 2017.
Situated next to the Admiralty MRT station, the development features public housing, childcare and eldercare facilities, a medical centre as well as eateries and shops. However, the flats in the project are all studio apartments, intended for buyers who are at least 55-years-old.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
