SINGAPORE: An HDB executive maisonette at Block 278 Bishan Street 24 was sold for a record-breaking S$1.45 million recently, the highest price ever for this flat type.
Real estate website Edgeprop, which reported on the sale, said that the executive maisonette has a floor area of 1,851 sq ft, which means it sold for $783 per square foot. It is on the 19-21 floor of the 21-storey HDB block. Finished in 1992, it still has 67 more years on its 99-year lease. Huttons Asia’s Eugene Tay sealed the deal for the sale, Edgeprop added.
An executive maisonette is a two-storey flat with bedrooms on the upper floor while the living and dining rooms are on the lower floor. They’re designed in such a way that this type of flat gives owners more privacy when guests are invited.
Executive maisonettes are in demand, especially since the government said in 2012 that they would no longer be built, replaced by the executive condominium (EC) scheme, which started in 1996.
The executive maisonettes are also considerably bigger than many HDB flats, and most are in desirable locations such as Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Bedok, Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Hougang, Queenstown and Sembawang.
The large size of the executive maisonettes, mostly between 1,582 sq ft and 1,722 sq ft in area and usually containing three bedrooms, more than one bathroom, a living area, a dining room and a kitchen, make them attractive to many would-be homeowners.
A Toh Yi Drive executive maisonette fetched the previous highest price, selling for $$1.3 million last December. The 1,641 sq ft unit went for $805 per square foot.
Block 278 Bishan Street 24 has eight executive maisonettes, plus 68 four-room flats.
However, three other executive maisonettes in or near Bishan also sold for over one million last month. A 1,604 sq ft unit at 401 Sin Ming Avenue, near Bishan, had a price tag of S$1,008,888, while one 1,572 sq ft unit at 146 Bishan Street 22 was priced at S$1.165 million. Finally, a unit of the same size at Bishan Street 13 sold for S$1.188 million, Edgeprop added.
On Monday (Oct 2), the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said that the price of private residential property rose again in the third quarter of this year, while the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said that resale prices have also gone up in the same period.
The URA and HDB both released flash estimates on Oct 2. The URA said the private residential property price index increased by 0.5 per cent, while HDB said resale prices went up by 1.2 per cent for Q3 of this year. In comparison, the price of private residential property had decreased by 0.2 per cent in the previous quarter. /TISG