$750k hdb flat is yesterday news.. someone just paid $890k for a
HDB flat!!
THE brief for the property agent was simple: Find an HDB flat with
great views and near an MRT station. Top floors only - and, it
appears, never mind the price.
Two intense days of door-knocking and a record $890,000 later, the
buyer has his dream home - and the most expensive Housing Board
flat in the country.
For his money, he gets a spacious 21st-storey executive flat in
Queenstown, with expansive views towards Sentosa and leafy Mount
Faber on one side and Queenstown Stadium on the other.
The 13-year-old flat in Block 150, Mei Ling Street, is just a few
minutes away from Queenstown MRT via a sheltered walkway, and a
swimming complex is just around the corner.
The owners, Mr David Ho Khoi Seng, 72, and wife Judy, 64, had paid
just over $300,000 for the 1,614 sq ft flat, which has four
bedrooms, a living room and a study, in 1992.
Mr Ho, who runs a stationery shop, said he had no intention of
selling when PropNex agent David See and his son came knocking last
Thursday.
The couple tried to deter the buyers - believed to be an elderly
couple who own private property - by asking for what they felt was
a ridiculous $900,000.
'We thought $900,000 was too high a price for anyone, but the
buyers seemed pretty desperate to find a suitable flat,' said Mr
Ho.
Mr See, 47, said he roped in his 20-year-old son Wilson for the
quest to give him some work experience before he starts university
later this year.
But knocking on doors, he said, is something he would only do for
'genuine buyers'.
'It was a challenge. It's not easy to get people to sell high-floor
units at this time,' he added.
Demand had sent HDB resale prices up 17.4 per cent last year, the
highest in a decade, but executive flats in coveted districts near
the central city like Queenstown and Bukit Merah have been extra
hot.
The old record for an HDB flat was $780,000 - also for an executive
flat in Mei Ling Street - achieved last November.
Five other such flats in Mei Ling Street changed hands between
November and December, ranging in price from $728,000 to
$765,000.
Median resale prices of executive flats in Queenstown hit $719,000
between July and September last year, a jump from $609,000 in the
previous quarter. This type of flat in Queenstown commanded
$120,000 in cash over their valuation in the same period.
A five-roomer in Kim Tian Place in nearby Bukit Merah changed hands
for $720,000 last June.
With prices of resale HDB flats expected to climb further, the
latest deal has prompted some people to ask when a public housing
unit will cross the $1 million mark.
Agents reckon that is a way off yet.
Mr See thinks his record deal was more a reflection of the buyers'
eagerness, rather than market sentiment.
Meanwhile, Mr Ho and his wife will live with their 35-year-old son
in his Siglap terrace house until they find a suitable home.
When they move, Mr Ho will have to give up a pastime of his:
Watching S-League football matches at Queenstown Stadium from the
balcony of his Mei Ling Street flat's master bedroom.
