A Tour Of More Affordable Freehold Landed Houses In Ang Mo Kio: Close To Mayflower MRT From $3.38m

A few weeks back, we toured Shangri-La estate: it was nice but all the houses were semi-Ds (or larger), meaning that the entry price into the estate is relatively high. If you were taken by the area, but have a smaller budget, you might be interested in Ellington Square, another landed estate slightly down the road (walking distance) which has terrace houses and semi-Ds.

In keeping with the smaller houses, the last transacted price is also lower: at $3.388 million for a freehold terrace in August 2023. In contrast, prices start from $4.5 million for Shangri-La.

Ellington Square also enjoys many of the same conveniences as Shangri-La Walk:

• proximity to CHIJ St. Nicholas (in fact it’s even closer)
• Walking distance to Mayflower MRT station (an 8-minute walk vs 13 minutes from Shangri-La walk)
• Hawker centres nearby (Sembawang Hills and Mayflower Market)
• And a playground located within the estate (you need to cross a busy main road to get to the playground, for Shangri-La)

I’m not sure if you noticed, when looking at the screenshot of Google Maps, but the estate is shaped like a square, with a playground in the centre. There are 2 vehicular exits/entrances to the estate, which I think is VERY generous for a landed enclave of this small size.

As you can observe above, future property owners have the opportunity to expand their residences by quite a bit (by building upwards.)

There are 2 multi-storey car parks in the HDB estate across the road (but I always find it more of a hassle when one has to cross the road.)

However, there’s also variation within the terrace units. Some are only 1,200+ square feet, whilst others are 1,800+ square feet! (See the 2 photos above.) The smaller properties could represent an interesting opportunity to enter the landed market for those with a leaner budget, as a smaller square footage typically translates into a smaller asking/transacted price.

For example, the houses at MacPherson Garden estate are some of the most affordable in Singapore, because they’re also some of the smallest in size. However, at MacPherson, the majority of the houses are small, so the estate is extremely cramped. In contrast, the smaller properties are the rarer breed in Ellington Square, so the estate feels more spacious. (Which usually translates into a higher quality of life, as you don’t hear your neighbours as much. Neither do you have to stress as much about street parking.)

One thing I’d recommend, if you’re looking at a house here, is to visit when CHIJ is having its recess time/PE time to see exactly how noisy it can get. (Noise is always a potential issue when living close to a school.) Having said that, I’m pretty noise-sensitive, so other people may not find it an issue at all.

Now that we’ve seen both estates, which one do you prefer? Let me know in the comments!