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Jumbo HDB at Tiong Bahru sold for record $1.5 mil

/ EdgeProp Singapore |

June 23, 2023 4:46 PM SGT

The unit is a 1,894 sq ft, four-room flat on the fourth floor of a walk-up apartment building., with 49 years left on its 99-year tenure. (Picture: Knight Frank)

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - A jumbo HDB flat at 50 Moh Guan Terrace in Tiong Bahru has been sold for a record $1.5 million ($792 psf). This sale was brokered by KF Property's associate deputy division director Alvin Yeo. The unit is a 1,894 sq ft, four-room flat on the fourth floor of a walk-up apartment building., with 49 years left on its 99-year tenure.

According to Knight Frank, the flat is an amalgamated pair of adjacent three-room flats with four bedrooms. The sold Jumbo flat is in the Tiong Bahru Estate, surrounded by lush greenery. Its proximity to cafes, bakeries and local coffee shops also increased its appeal to buyers, says KF Property Network head Evan Chung.

Based on HDB resale data, at least one other flat at 50 Moh Guan Terrace has also changed hands this year. The 947 sq ft three-room unit fetched $765,000 ($808 psf) when it was sold this month.

Map: HDB

Chung was also the agent who brokered the sale of the previous record high price for a resale HDB flat. He helped the owners of a 1,312 sq ft, five-room loft unit at Sky Terrace@Dawson sell their unit for $1.418 million ($1.081 psf) in June last year.

“The apartment sold at SkyTerrace@Dawson was the first-of-its-kind HDB Premium Loft apartment with a double volume ceiling of more than five metres,” says Chung. He adds that flats which tend to command a price premium on the resale market generally feature unique characteristics or boast a highly sought-after address.

Research by Knight Frank shows that resale HDB flat buyers have increasingly turned to larger homes since the end of Singapore’s "circuit-breaker" period in June 2020. This increase in demand has inadvertently resulted in higher asking prices for larger-sized units, says Chung. However, he adds that million-dollar HDB’s are a relatively small percentage of the entire HDB secondary market, and most flats on the market are relatively affordable.

Graph: EdgeProp, URA

“Policies like the HDB Build-to-Order (BTO) scheme, CPF family grants and various other measures by the Housing Development Board have helped Singaporeans acquire affordable housing to start a family,” adds Chung. (Find HDB flats for rent or sale with our Singapore HDB directory)

In 1Q2023, the HDB resale price index increased by 1% q-o-q, the smallest quarterly increase in the price index compared to the preceding 10 quarters. Last quarter’s price movement was also lower than the 2.3% q-o-q increase recorded in 4Q2022.