This 3-Room Flat in Toa Payoh Just Sold for $920K — Here’s What The Seller Could Have Made

Turning a 3-room flat into a potential $623,000 profit might sound like something out of the 2000s boom era, but it just happened in Bidadari. A high-floor 3-room flat at Block 115C Alkaff Crescent was sold for $920,000 in July 2025, making it the second-most expensive 3-room resale flat on record (the record holder is a unit at SkyParc @ Dawson, which fetched $935,000 in April 2025). 

The $920,000 unit was from Alkaff LakeView, a BTO project in Toa Payoh, which was completed in 2020. With a remaining lease of about 94 years and 5 months, it checks off many boxes that resale buyers look for today: newer lease, efficient layout, proximity to transport, and good views.

A rare mix of features for a 3-room flat

This particular unit has a floor area of 764 sq ft, which places it at the larger end for 3-room flats. It also features a dumbbell layout: notice that the main bedroom and secondary bedroom flank the living/dining area, so there’s no need for corridor space. 

The living/dining area fits a four-seater dining table, and part of the kitchen extends beyond the partition; this portion can be used for dining as well. This layout also includes a balcony, which is unusual in many flats these days, let alone a 3-room flat. Note that the two bedrooms and their windows, as well as the balcony, open up in the same direction to take advantage of the lake view. 

This unit is between the 13th and 15th floors of a 17-storey block, and the unit overlooks Alkaff Lake, part of the scenic Bidadari Park. Besides having a lake view, this also benefits from better natural light and ventilation. 

The block is also conveniently located within a five to six-minute walk to Woodleigh MRT (NEL). This also means proximity to Woodleigh Mall and NEX Megamall at Serangoon, just one stop away. 

A Windfall for the Original Buyer

When flats at Alkaff LakeView were launched under the BTO scheme in 2016, starting prices for 3-room flats were around $297,000. With this resale unit now changing hands at $920,000, the seller stands to make a gross profit of up to $623,000.

That’s a significant gain for a 3-room HDB flat, especially given its standard configuration. While we don’t know the exact condition of the unit, this transaction suggests that location, view, and layout alone can drive exceptional results, even without additional floor area or rare features like lofts or dual-key setups.

In any case, we’ve written more extensively on the reasons the flats here can command such prices (which you can read here). 

What This Means for Future 3-Room Buyers

Record-breaking prices for 3-room flats are still the exception, but they’re no longer surprising. Last year, another 3-room unit in Bidadari crossed the $900,000 mark, and now this latest sale suggests that the ceiling may continue to rise, especially for prime-facing stacks in newer developments.

It’s worth noting that this is not a mature estate like Queenstown or Bukit Merah, where million-dollar flats have historically been more common. However, Bidadari’s city fringe location - coupled with the likes of Woodleigh Mall and nearby Serangoon - means it can rival even mature estates for convenience and accessibility. 

Prices for resale flats have been creeping upward for some time now, so maybe a $920,000 3-room flat shouldn’t come as a shock. And at the pace things are going, it probably won’t be long before we see the first one cross the $1 million mark.

But beyond the headline number, this also reflects a shift in housing needs. As demographics change and smaller households become more common, 3-room flats with strong fundamentals (long lease, good layout, near an MRT) are no longer seen as transitional. For many buyers, they’re exactly what they’re looking for. And that’s likely to keep demand resilient, even at these prices.