Property price surge: First ever million-dollar HDB sold at Tampines

Tampines has joined the “million-dollar club” recently, with its first public housing unit selling for a cool $1,013,000.

It joins other 2022 million-dollar club first-timers Bukit Batok and Marine Parade, where resale HDB flats fetched stellar prices in July. 

In the same month, an Executive Apartment in Hougang was sold for S$1.073 million. Truly, the HDB resale market has been a hot one this year.

The Uchify blog, which reported the record Tampines maisonette sale on Thursday (Sept 15), said that there were 66 transactions of over a million dollars just in July and August, for an average of 83 such transactions every quarter, with 3Q 2022 set to surpass this average. 

The Tampines property that fetched the million dollar price is located between the 10th and 12th floors at Block 856D Tampines Street 82.

It’s a 154 sqm (1,657 sqft) maisonette that was completed in 1995 and has 72 years left on its lease.

Previous to its sale, the most expensive HDB flat that sold in Tampines had a $998,000 price tag, a 1,593 sqft maisonette at Block 156 Tampines Street 12.

There are not many maisonettes left in Singapore, Uchify pointed out, amid high demand. 

Starting from 1995, Maisonettes and Executive Apartments have no longer been built. Moreover, these flats are attractive since they’re bigger than the more common four or five-room HDB flats.

Other Tampines maisonettes have also been sold lately, but with shorter lease periods.

The million-dollar property does have a nice location, as it can be found across the street from Our Tampines Hub, giving it access to all sorts of conveniences.

In early July, 99.co reported that 5-room HDB flat at SkyTerrace @ Dawson sold for an all-time high of $1.418 million.

Three months ago another 5-room flat, this time at City Vue @ Henderson, had set the record, selling for S$1.4 million.

In a Bloomberg interview last June, Liu Thai Ker, the man behind Singapore’s Housing Development Board who is also known as “the architect of modern Singapore” expressed concerns over Singapore’s high property prices.

More and more properties in Singapore costing millions of dollars have been reported, as the property market has gotten pricier.

The average private property now costs about 15 times of median household earnings, which is higher than in New York, London, and San Francisco, Bloomberg noted.

“I do worry that nowadays, public housing prices is really a business venture than actually solving the housing need. 

I feel that the implication may not be very good for the economic development of Singapore,” Mr Liu said. /TISG

Bukit Batok & Marine Parade join million-dollar club as HDB resale flats fetch record prices in July