TJ's interest in property was sparked after returning from the UK- where balconies are not counted in one's square footage!- and finding that the Singapore property had totally changed in the 7 years she was away. When not reading and watching articles & videos about property, she is busy cooking and baking for friends, family & her blog Greedygirlgourmet
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A while ago, I saw a beautiful apartment on Stacked located in the condo, La Suisse II, which piqued my interest in the area. (It looked so peaceful and beautiful!) When I checked it out on the map, I realised that there were some terrace houses next to the development, so off I went for a walkabout!
Here’s a map of the area, for your reference. As shown above, there are 2 condo developments here – La Suisse, and La Suisse II. In addition, the estate is parallel to the PIE, so I was a little concerned about the noise levels.
I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the area wasn’t as noisy as I had expected it to be. For the photo above, I’m standing on the main road, looking out to the PIE (you see mostly trees and not the road from street level.) I can hear a bit of road noise, but nothing too distracting. If you live in the row of houses behind me, or at La Suisse, I think the noise level should be minimal.
However, if you are noise-sensitive and considering staying at La Suisse II or in one of the houses in front of me (not shown in the photo above), you may want to do an in-person viewing to check out the road noise levels first.
As shown on Google Maps, the estate is right at the end of the road. It is REALLY far in – there are no public buses this way, so you would need a car to make the most out of living here. The plus point of this is that the area is quiet and peaceful (refer to the photo above – looking back towards the way we drove in.)
Looking in the opposite direction – the road in front leads to La Suisse and is not a through road. To my left is La Suisse II and to the right are some of the terrace houses.As you can see, the first house on the street has both the front and side unblocked. (It borders the Holland International School, Korean International School, and the tennis courts of La Suisse but they’re far away enough that I didn’t hear much noise when visiting. I did see people playing on the tennis courts and the school’s grounds though.Here’s a closer look at the terrace houses. One thing about this row of terrace houses is how tall they are. They’re already 4 stories, so you won’t have to spend extra money knocking down and building upwards to maximise the interior space.I was curious about the plot ratio so I checked out the Masterplan. Apparently, the plot ratio is 1.4, like the 2 condos surrounding the houses so you could technically build a low-rise condo on the land. (As is, the land the houses are on is probably too narrow to convert into a condo, but they may be able to group together with La Suisse, which is directly behind it.)Another thing about the houses is the possibility of turning them into a dual-key unit for multi-generational living or renting out. As shown on the left of the photo above, there is a staircase leading up to the first floor of the house (as well as an entrance on the car park level) so you might be able to segment the house intotwo different areas. (Of course, the unit on the car park level will be pretty dark so that’s something you would need to plan around.)As per what I was saying earlier, the construction work in the area seems to lean towards superficial renovation work, instead of major knock-down-and-rebuild type of projects.Another thing to highlight is how sloping the land is. i.e. this row of houses is higher than the row in front of it, but, correspondingly, La Suisse (behind this row of houses) is located on even higher ground. (Look at the fence that slopes upwards in the picture.)If it wasn’t clear in the previous photo, maybe this photo of the slope in the garden of one of the houses is a better illustration.From ground level (car park level), this is the view the terrace houses behind me have. Nice and open! If you’re on the first, second, or third floor of one of the houses behind me, you’ll have an even better view.I walked closer to the fence to take a photo – as shown, La Suisse II is on MUCH lower ground. Behind it is vegetation and the PIE.I visited mid-day on a weekday, and there was no issue getting parking space. I was surprised, however, by the amount of traffic. I saw at least 10 cars driving in and out on my walkabout! (A large number, to me, given the low-density of the area.)Walking deeper in (and slightly uphill), there is another row of terrace houses on my left.These units are built in a different style and have fewer levels.A photo with both types of houses in the frame, to show you the difference in heights.One of the houses on the right converted the slope into a staircase, a good way of getting more use out of the slope in the garden.A closer look at the second type of houses in the landed estate – which do you prefer?As mentioned, the area behind the houses is unblocked.The top of the street is a T-junction: turn right to get to La Suisse whilst left is a dead end.Turning right to La Suisse – the landscaping is nice!The flowers are planted all the way up to the condo entrance.Condo entrance.Look to the right of the photo, and you can see exactly how much lower the land the terrace houses are built on is.
Next to and behind La Suisse is PUB land. I didn’t take a photo as we’re often not allowed to photograph state land.
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Standing at the entrance of the condo and looking towards the other end of the road.To the left is the road we walked up and behind me is La Suisse.You can see quite far into the distance.Going back the way we came.A quick look at the houses before we return – most of the houses here are quite homogenous in look. The one in the middle of the photo above is the only unit that has been tweaked into a different style.The area was quite windy, thanks to the openness of the area. I decided to do a quick check of the facing of the houses. The 2 rows of houses along the bottom “leg” of the “T” junction – the ones near La Suisse II- are almost perfectly North-South facing (considered to be one of the “better” facings in Singapore.)
Unfortunately, this means the row of houses along the top line of the “T” junction, the ones at the top of the street are East-West facing (generally less desired in Singapore.)
Walking down the street on which the houses have the preferred facing, with La Suisse II to my right.Looking behind the houses – I didn’t realise that La Suisse had a tall block too! (I thought it was all low-rise units)This is one of several entrances to La Suisse II.Remember how I mentioned earlier that the first house in the row is next to the tennis courts of La Suisse? Here’s a photo to show you how close they are to each other.
Separating the tennis court and the house is more PUB land which, according to a sign, is a “Designated Hazardous Area.”
There’s also a path and side gate out of La Suisse. It’s a shortcut that brings you in front of the houses. This is super handy if your kids go to school at Holland International School, Chatsworth International School, Korean International School, Primus Schoolhouse or Chatsworth Kindergarten. However, it’s not really useful for anything else, as the schools are the only thing within easy walking distance of the houses (There is no MRT or bus stop nearby. It’s a 25-minute walk and a 35-minute walk to the closest bust stop and MRT respectively, according to Google Maps.)Walking downhill from the houses (all the terrace houses are behind us at this point), we now reach the tennis courts of La Suisse. The layout reminds me a bit of Clementi Park, where the sports facilities are separated from the blocks with the flats. This kind of layout is quite rare in Singapore, so initially I thought this was a separate Sports Club (and not part of the condo.)There seems to be a small cafe or shop inside. However, I wasn’t able to check it out due to the No Trespassing sign.After walking past the tennis courts – see what I mean about the area being quiet?The area is really quite isolated!We’ve reached our first neighbour – Holland International School.The school bus drop off/ pick up point, with the school grounds above the staircase.I assume these are the school buildings. (Couldn’t hear any lessons being held so not 100% sure but I did see kids out and about.)We finally reach a junction. To the left is Tinggi Road, where we’ll find more schools, and to the right takes us all the way down Binjai Park and back down to Bukit Timah Road. We’d already seen this area in our Binjai Park walkabout so I won’t bring you down that way again.
One thing to note is that the road along Binjai Park is surprisingly narrow, given the fact that it’s a 2-way road and that the residents here mostly drive big cars.
Another photo to show you just how deep in we are!I didn’t see any wild animals on my tour but there were a few signs about monkeys and the like, so you may see the odd one here and there. However, given that the dustbins of the terrace houses were placed in the open and not secured, I don’t think wild animals is as big an issue here as in some of the other estates I’ve been to, such as Island Country Villas.The only wild animals I saw were a few crows, which were helping themselves from the (open) bins.
This brings us to the end of today’s tour! How did you find the area? In the days before Grab, I can see how living here could be quite inconvenient. However, now that getting a taxi is so much more convenient, the inaccessibility (for Singapore) may be worth it given the peacefulness of the neighbourhood and the views!
Let me know what you think in the comments!
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TJ's interest in property was sparked after returning from the UK- where balconies are not counted in one's square footage!- and finding that the Singapore property had totally changed in the 7 years she was away. When not reading and watching articles & videos about property, she is busy cooking and baking for friends, family & her blog Greedygirlgourmet
Well presented, researched and informed article!
Thanks!!!