Property Stories

Touring Ceylon Road: Affordable Freehold Shophouse & Landed Living From $3.4m (Some Can Build 5 Stories)

Not long ago, I embarked on a tour of the conservation houses along Blair Road. As part of the research for the article, I managed to speak to some individuals who had once owned or lived in these historic dwellings….

• 19 Nov 2023
• 10 min read
• 3

“Our Parents Became Our Next Door Neighbours” The Awkward Truth About Living Next To Our Parents

With more Singaporean families being dual-income, grandparents’ support has become vital. The topic has been in the news, on and off, for as long as most of us can remember. (Although we had better add, not all grandparents are happy…

• 17 Nov 2023
• 5 min read
• 0

Touring Inglewood: Affordable Freehold Landed Homes From $3.6m That Looks Like An English Village (With A Secret Garden)

I’ve visited the Thomson area several times, covering Windsor Park and Thomson Ridge, among other areas. Today, I thought it would be nice to cross (the very busy) Upper Thomson Road and tour Inglewood instead! Inglewood is slightly different from…

• 12 Nov 2023
• 10 min read
• 0

“I Regret Buying A 2 Bedder Condo” 5 Young Couples Share Their Biggest Regrets

With high home prices and a constraint on land space in Singapore, it’s not surprising unit sizes have become a compromise. All those 600 to 700 sq. ft. two-bedders sure look big in a show flat; and some buyers are…

• 7 Nov 2023
• 8 min read
• 0

Touring Seletar Hills Estate: Affordable Freehold Landed Homes From $3 Million

Note: The second last transaction at Jalan Ketumbit and the third last transition at Jalan Keruing were in the $2 million+ region but they occurred in 2021. However, I’m still mentioning them as buyers/sellers often like to use past transaction…

• 5 Nov 2023
• 10 min read
• 3

Touring Novena Landed Estate: Freehold Houses Next To An MRT Starting From $4.3 Million

When I was at Square 2 in Novena, I noticed a small enclave of houses right across from it – so close that I could see them from the entrance of the mall! Although the Novena-Thomson area is a bit…

• 29 Oct 2023
• 11 min read
• 1

“I Regret Waiting For The Cooling Measures To End” 4 Homebuyers Share Their Property Investment Mistakes

The tricky part about Singapore’s residential market is its dynamism: cooling measures can appear overnight, and the supply of housing is subject to five-year feast-and-famine cycles. These can make a lot of otherwise sensible housing decisions at that time look……

• 23 Oct 2023
• 5 min read
• 0

Touring Countryside Road: An Affordable Freehold Landed Estate That’s Spacious Starting From $3.38 Million

Today we’re off to the Lentor area, which is pretty large. So to be more specific, we’re heading to Countryside Road. The enclave we’re touring is bounded by Lentor Plain, Yio Chu Kang Road, Lentor Avenue and Lentor Loop. It…

• 8 Oct 2023
• 10 min read
• 2

Touring Robin Estate: Freehold Landed Homes In Bukit Timah (Some Can Even Be Redeveloped Into Boutique Condos)

As I was pleasantly surprised by Goldhill estate the other day, I thought I would go take a look at some of the other landed estates in the Bukit Timah area that I’d always written off before, to see if…

• 1 Oct 2023
• 9 min read
• 0

“Why I Bought A Property In Australia” A Singaporean Shares Her Experience On What It’s Like To Invest In Adelaide

With ABSD rates at their highest ever (not that we’ve ever seen them go down!), it’s time for Singaporeans to think outside the box. Or in some cases, outside the country. This week, we spoke to a property investor who…

• 25 Sep 2023
• 6 min read
• 1

Touring East Coast Terrace: Freehold Landed Homes In A Nice, Quiet Setting

Today, we’re off on a reader-requested tour of East Coast Terrace. I only took a quick look at its location on the map before heading off, so I thought it would be something similar to the houses we saw near…

• 24 Sep 2023
• 13 min read
• 0

Touring Aroozoo Avenue: Affordable Freehold Landed Living In Kovan (Reader Recommended: Best Place To Stay In Kovan)

A while back, I toured the Kovan landed estate and summed it up as an area that was well-connected and bustling, but lacking a cohesive residential feel. (It felt more like a group of houses that just happened to be…

• 17 Sep 2023
• 11 min read
• 3

We Lived In A 2,000 Sqft SLA-Managed “Penthouse”: The Surprising Reality Of Living In One

We’re aware that any mention of SLA today immediately starts arguments about Ridout Road; but there’s more to SLA rentals than those bungalows. SLA actually has a number of different properties, not all of which are as obvious or famous…

• 12 Sep 2023
• 7 min read
• 0

“I Waited 7 Years For My HDB Maisonette” 5 Homeowners Share Their Regrets

HDB Maisonettes are relics of a different era: a time when HDB flats were truly spacious, when many upgraders were happy to upgrade to a bigger flat (not even a condo), and when our ageing problem didn’t yet preclude stairs….

• 11 Sep 2023
• 6 min read
• 8

Touring Luxus Hills: A 999-Year Landed Estate That Overlooks Ang Mo Kio Linear Park

I was talking to a new acquaintance the other day, who shared with me her decision to move from a landed house to a condo because the stairs were becoming too much as she got older. As I live with…

• 10 Sep 2023
• 10 min read
• 0

The Hidden Downsides Of Living In A Boutique Condo: 5 Things Owners Wish They Knew Before Buying

Boutique condos – commonly thought of as projects with 50 units or less – offer a lot of privacy. But these tiny developments also mean smaller land space, fewer facilities, and maybe even cliquish management committees; so are they really…

• 7 Sep 2023
• 5 min read
• 4

How We Sold Our Forest City Unit Before The Worst Happened: Here’s What It Was Like To Stay In A $100 Billion Ghost Town

Forest City, a colossal development project situated in Johor, Malaysia, was initially conceived in 2006 with an estimated budget of $100 billion. Originally marketed as a ’20-year project,’ the development is now increasingly believed to be falling short of expectations….

• 6 Sep 2023
• 6 min read
• 3

Touring Yio Chu Kang Gardens: Affordable Freehold & Leasehold Landed Homes Near Lentor MRT From $2.8m

Yio Chu Kang Gardens is a small landed enclave in Ang Mo Kio, close to Lentor MRT and within 1 km of Anderson Primary, CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School and Mayflower Primary School. As it’s close to several HDB estates,…

• 3 Sep 2023
• 10 min read
• 1