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Touring A Quiet Freehold Landed Estate In The East With Terrace Homes From $3.8m
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TJ |
Published 12 Jan 2025 |
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10min read
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BY
TJ Published 12 Jan 20250 comments | 10min read
BY TJ
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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As everyone knows, it’s increasingly difficult to find a non-strata, non-leasehold landed property in Singapore for under $4 million these days. Hence, when I saw that there was an estate in the East which had not 1, but 2, freehold houses that sold for $3+million in 2024, I thought it would be worth heading over to take a look!
Here’s a map so you can see where we are headed: Sunbird Avenue, Sunbird Road, and Sunbird Circle.
As you can see, there are other landed estates around it. However, the Sunbird landed estate feels very open and spacious as there is a lot of open space around it.
We’ll start the tour at the bus stop where Sunbird Avenue meets Simei Road. Buses 5, 12, 12e, 20, and 38 stop here.There’s a sheltered walkway (but it does not extend into the estate, only to the Simei Green condo.)Standing by the bus stop and looking across the road – see what I mean about how the area feels very open? It also felt windier and cooler than the nearby landed estate at Sunbreeze Avenue. I don’t always enjoy walking through the landed estates, but Sunbird was a pleasant surprise.Looking to the right of the bus stop – there is not much traffic as you can see. Although I did enjoy walking through the estate, I wondered if I would feel the same way if I was walking around alone after dark, as it feels a bit deserted (compared to the usual landed estate we visit).It doesn’t look like there’s much to see that way, so let’s head back inside to explore the estate. (Across the road is Upper Changi MRT and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) – there’s an underground tunnel linking the 2 – but there aren’t really any shops or restaurants close by. See what I mean about all the open green space? The land looks quite big, so let’s take a look at the Master Plan to see whether there are any plans for the land.Unfortunately, it looks like the open space has been zoned residential, with a plot ratio of 2.1, so the estate won’t feel as spacious in the future.Walking down the street – although the streets are broad, and allow for street parking, several houses have used dustbins to reserve parking spaces. So there may be an issue finding parking once everyone is home. (I was there during working hours when everyone was out.)Here’s a look at some of the terrace houses in the hood. As you may have noticed, they’re decent-sized and you can park more than 1 car inside (look at the house on the right.)The previous row of houses was built to the second storey but, as shown above, you can redevelop and build higher. (Note the house in the middle of the photo above.) Here’s another house that has been built higher.And if you didn’t believe me about the larger-sized terrace houses here, just look at this one on the left! (There was a terrace of 4,500+ sq ft sold in 2024!)The houses were to my right as I walked down the road – to the left was open ground. As shown, the houses appear to be on slightly lower-lying land. Looking to the right of Sunbird Avenue, we can see Sunbird Circle and its very large playground. (The houses are all arranged around the playground.)At the end of the street is Apollo Gardens, a low-rise condo where you can find maisonettes. Some are quite large. According to Property Guru, there is even an 8-bedder! (If you’re looking for a large apartment, some of the flats here are 3,897 sq ft, and even 4,585 sq ft.)The apartment has a nice wide setback front of the houses behind it, as you can see above.And it has a pretty much unblocked view of Upper Changi Road from the front.Here’s the space in front of Apollo Gardens.More of the nice open space around Sunbird estate.We take a right here.Taking a look back at Apollo Gardens and the landed houses.See what I mean about the area feeling very unblocked and liveable?There are a few low-rise buildings across the road (not much traffic here.) Across Upper Changi Road is the Expo MRT and Changi City Point Shopping Mall. There are even a few hotels.If we continue walking down this way, we’ll eventually reach the other landed estates in the area.However, we won’t head down to Harvey estate today. Instead, we’ll turn back to Sunbird Apollo estate here.Sadly, I didn’t see any real sunbirds when walking around the area.I didn’t see such signs when driving through Harvey Avenue, but perhaps I missed them. It’s always nice to have a neighbourhood committee to bring people together! They even have a website and according to it, 41 residents went CNY shopping together in 2024, so I guess the neighbours are quite friendly.
Fun fact: according to the website, Simei MRT is the closest to the estate.
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Here’s the entrance to the Apollo Garden condo.I like the nice wide pavement.Oh! We can even see the MRT passing by here. I couldn’t hear it from where I was standing, but let’s go closer to check.I stood there for a while, and the MRT passes by quite often. When you’re standing right underneath the MRT, you can hear a bit of sound, but it isn’t as noisy as, say, living next to the highway.These are the houses along the road.Again, you can build much higher here.Here’s a front-on view for you to appreciate exactly how much higher you can go.The houses across the street.To the right, there is no pathway after the houses.But there’s one to the left.Anyway, time to head back and look at the rest of the area.There’s a daycare centre here (Eureka Schoolhouse) it has a rating of 4.8 stars on Google at the time of writing.The houses here are on the larger side – besides terrace units, there are also semi-Ds in the estate.Another huge house – see what I mean about being able to build higher houses here?This is what we see at the end of the street.There’s a short staircase here, so let’s see where it leads.There’s a back gate to Double Bay Residences here – this path appears to lead to both Simei Road and Upper Changi Road (depending on the direction you head in.)Heading back into Sunbird estate – let’s go take a look at the playground now. On the way, I’m stopping to admire how wide this pavement is. I think it can even fit a car?Passing the schoolhouse again.More evidence of the spaciousness of the estate – look at how wide the setback between these 2 rows of houses is!Most of the streets around the playground allow for street parking.Look at how big this playground is! It makes for quite a scenic walk too.There’s a pavilion to rest under shade, and some basic playground rides.I was wondering why I had not seen any wildlife, when this fellow popped up. (He was the only one though – no harem in sight.)I normally don’t like houses that are next to the playground (due to potential noise issues) but, as shown, there’s a lot of space in between the 2 here.When you’re standing in the road, you can’t even see the playground in the same frame as the houses.Taking a look at the playground from the outside.Here are the houses across the playground.Again, you can build higher here too.Just look at this property – it’s so large, it looks more like a boutique condo than a house!Passed a few beautiful plants on the way.We’ve now reached where we started our tour: the bus stop where Simei Avenue meets Sunbird Avenue. Before we go, here are the prices of the last few transactions in the area for your reference:
Now that we’ve seen the area, how did you find it – is the $3+ million houses a bargain, or not?
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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
