‘All the more unaffordable for the young’ — Singaporeans shocked and dismayed by Bukit Merah 3-room flat sold for S$860K!

SINGAPORE: After it was reported that a three-room Housing and Development Board flat at Bukit Merah that still has 90 years on its lease exchanged hands for an eye-watering S$860,000, many netizens expressed shock and dismay, with some wondering how younger generations will be able to afford public housing.

The record-breaking transaction was first reported on the 99.co property website on Friday (Aug 23). The site reported that apart from HDB terraces, this particular sale is the most expensive 3-room flat in the area so far.

The flat is located on the 34th to 36th stories of Tiong Bahru View, on Block 10A on Boon Tiong Road, and, as 99.co pointed out, offers a panoramic view. Its lease began in 2016, meaning 90 years and six months are left on the 667 sq ft, S$1,289 per square foot property.

Before the sale, a similarly-sized unit on the 19th to 21st floors on the same block that sold for S$800,000 in 2022 held the record for the costliest three-room flat.

“Compared to that 2022 sale, the recent S$860k sale marks a notable 7.51 per cent increase in price per square foot. It seems buyers are willing to pay extra for higher-floor units, especially when the project still has a long lease left,” 99.co added.

Read also: Million-dollar flat transactions hit all-time high again in July; highest volume since 2010

The sale has also been reported on other news sites, including Mothership and AsiaOne. Many commenters on the reports have expressed concerns over housing affordability.

When one Facebook user wondered if three-room flats would reach a S$1 million price tag next, another surmised that this could happen within the next two or three years.

Another expressed concern for succeeding generations of Singaporeans, writing that the high price “makes it all the more unaffordable for the young.”

And when one wrote that a homebuyer might as well shell out that amount of money for a condominium rather than on public housing, others replied that for that amount, a homebuyer might only be able to pay for a one-bedroom unit.

Meanwhile, on Reddit, when one commenter wrote that he might never move out of his parent’s house, which had high home prices, another advised him to buy a home in Johor Bahru or Batam instead of Singapore. /TISG

Read also: Experts say affordable housing may be the key issue PAP govt is facing in the run-up to next GE