Earlier when I did the tour of Elliot Road, a reader left a comment asking for more tours of smaller landed estates so when I passed Jalan Mas Kuning, also known as the Pasir Panjang Gardens estate, I decided that it would be a good fit for this series! Despite the name, the estate is not really within Pasir Panjang. It’s pretty close though: sandwiched between the West Coast landed houses and West Coast Plaza, it’s an easy 5-minute or so drive from Pasir Panjang Road.
Completed in 1985, it’s an enclave of 122 units (but 205 blocks) on freehold land. It’s not immediately obvious what that means but I’m guessing (since the houses are a combination of semi-Ds and terraces) it means 122 buildings, that are divided into 205 different properties. These 122 units and 205 blocks are spread over the roads Jalan Mas Kuning, Mas Kunning Terrace, Taman Mas Merah, and Jalan Mas Puteh.
It has a rather convenient location, being located across and besides 2 HDB estates (West Coast; HDB = amenities), about 11 minutes walk from West Coast Plaza.
Terrace houses at Jalan Mas Kuning – you can enter the estate (by car) from Jalan Mas Kuning and Jalan Mas Puteh, so it’s got quite good vehicular access for such a small estate.This is what you see when you drive into the estate.
I was there in the evening on a weekday and the roads were pretty empty but judging from the fact that there are designated parking lots along the road, I’m assuming it gets its fair share of non-residents who park here (Clementi Stadium is very close by, and there’s also a row of shophouses with commercial units in the front of the estate. I must confess that it’s the shophouses that brought my attention to the area – if you’ve been following, you may have realised that I have a soft spot for landed enclaves with old-school shophouses on site!
There are quite a few vintage properties in the area, which I find charming. Note the property on the left and the fact that it’s a good floor higher than the other 2 – lots of opportunity for plot ratio maximisation it would seem!As we head in, the car park lots disappear and we see some high-rises in the distance (but quite far off.) There’s an even taller one on the right, blocked by that tree!The terrace houses along this stretch look like they can only park one car, unless you’re a phenomenal driver. (I’ve seen some amazing examples of parking skills on these walkabouts!)It’s more of the same houses till we reach a crossroads, where there’s a playground in front, Taman Mas Merah on the left, and Mas Kuning Terrace on the right. (This is actually one of THREE playgrounds within the estate, though one was closed at the time of my visit.)Close-up of the playground.And this is what the other side looks like, for you to get a better gauge of what the playground offers. It’s not terribly fancy but I like how it’s surrounded by some green space so the kids have space to run about and play (instead of having to lie on the road, as I’ve seen in some other areas!)The playground is bordered by houses, separated by a road. I’m not sure if you can see but here we again have white designated street parking lots.See the parking charges on the signpost!The houses are a lot bigger here!
Note: As mentioned in the title, in Oct 2021 and Feb 2022, freehold terrace houses here were selling for $2m+ (for a house of similar size 1,640 – 1,647 sq ft. In Aug 2022, another house sold for $4.2m but this was a larger plot at 2,629 sq ft i.e. the psf is $1,598, lower than the Feb 22 and Oct 21 sales.) There was also an inter-terrace for sale at $4.9 million when I first started writing this article (but it may have since sold as I see that there is now a 20 Feb sale for $4.2 million in the area.) I wonder if the larger 2,629 sq ft house was one of these.
Here’s another photo of houses with cars on the porch for you to see just how big these properties are! It looks like you could park at least 5 cars.And they can be rebuilt higher too!The two roads, Taman Mas Merah and Jalan Mas Kuning, meet at the end and form this weird dead end. Cars can’t get through but it does allow for pedestrian access.This part of the estate is pretty noisy as we’re close to both the AYE and Clementi Flyover. I’ve zoomed in here to show you the flyover so excuse the pixelated photo quality. (I didn’t realise we were so close to 2 major roads when I was at the other end of the estate as the noise didn’t travel that far.)As you can see, the AYE is pretty busy.I decided to go check out the rest of the estate first so I walk over to Mas Kuning Terrace. Mas Kuning Terrace is actually a T-shaped road.This is what I see to the right.And to the left. The area looks quite serene, doesn’t it? It’s an illusion! This stretch actually leads to the busy AYE and Clementi Flyover that I showed you earlier so it’s quite noisy. I’ve realised that in Singapore, these tall tranquil looking hedges are often the noisiest parts of the estates as they’re planted as noise buffers.
Let’s head down so you can see for yourself!
This is what we see at the end of the road – this road is actually the only part of the estate where I saw cars parked along the street.I’m guessing it’s because this stretch is terrace houses again. (Terrace housing areas usually have the most crowded streets.)I’ve now reached the main road – a moment of calm where there are no cars or motorcycles.But look at that line-up in the distance! The wall on the left belongs to a house so you can see just how close the road is to the properties!On the bridge side, there’s a zebra crossing here that brings you to the overhead bridge.
I continue along the road to see where it leads.
Look that’s the weird dead end I pointed out earlier. There’s a bus stop a few steps behind (around Clementi Flyover) so you could alight there and enter the estate here. There are quite a few buses too: 97, 97e, 188, 196, 197, 198 and 963.
I must say the estate is quite well-connected in terms of public transport.
This is the bus stop at the front of the estate (along the same road as the shophouses), so you can see residents have a lot of buses to take!
It’s also currently a 16-minute walk from Clementi MRT but there’s the Cross Island West Coast MRT station coming up soon (which would be about a 10 minute walk away.)
There are also lots of recreation options. That’s Clementi ActiveSG Sports Centre and Swimming Complex across the road, which is around 12+ minutes from the estate on foot. (More if you live closer to the front bit with the shophouses.)Walking along we see quite an empty-looking stretch in front. Some residents have made good use of it and turned part of it into their private gardens!Photo for you to see how close the traffic is (on the right.)Wow, this is a sight for sore eyes in Singapore! A nice, empty, unblocked piece of land.I walk back into the estate and see more cars parked along Mas Kuning Terrace.On a side note, I like how this row of terrace houses faces one house and not another parallel row (more privacy for the terrace houses as they face one neighbour and not a row of them. However, not ideal for the one house that is faced!!)Still along Mas Kuning Terrace – more cars again. This is definitely the most crowded of the streets in the estate!A little surprising as some of the houses here have rather long driveways which can fit more than one car!There’s a small off-road here so let’s see where that leads.Exciting! A hidden path?Not quite! It leads to a drain! I head back to the main road and soon come to its end. Ah there’s a shortcut out to the main road by the side (see left.)This is what the road looks like (Junction of West Coast Road and Clementi Road.)Across the road is Grace Orchard School, which “caters to students who have been diagnosed with Mild Intellectual Disability (MID) and those with Mild Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)” and are between 7-18 years of age. As you can see the road is very wide, so the school is far off enough that any noise won’t be an issue. (Living next to schools can be, shall we say, less than peaceful. Albeit good for the pocket if it’s a desirable primary school!)
There are also 2 primary schools within 1 km of some houses in the estate: Clementi Primary and Qifa Primary. The famous Nan Hua Primary and Henry Park Primary are also close-by, though out of the 1 km mark.
I turn right which will bring me back to the Pasir Panjang Gardens estate.Road gets quite busy!I find it pretty convenient that you can turn into the estate from the other side of the road. (West Coast Food Centre is on the opposite stretch though a little further down.) Along West Coast Road are the shophouses I previously mentioned. (This stretch is Jalan Mas Puteh.) Here we find some religious centres, some eateries, as well as early education centres for kids.Limited street parking in front of the shophouses which is probably why they spill over to the landed estate.There’s also an Esso across the road, which makes a quick run to the convenience store, well, convenient!Turn to the right, walk past the shophouses, and turn to the right and you get more houses as well as The Parc condo. Walk down some more and this is what you see – Clementi ActiveSG Stadium. There are houses across from the stadium. I saw one listed for sale last year and it had a nice, clear view. However, I do wonder what the noise level is like on Game Days!
I take the road you see on the left of the photo (hidden behind the tree.)
It cuts back into the estate!And brings me to the 2nd (of 3) playgrounds in the area. Cute house in the area!And this eventually brings me full circle back to the shophouses again. (This is a Bistro, W39 Bistro, and Bakery, with over 700 reviews and an average 4.2 rating. I’m mentioning the number of reviews as I wasn’t expecting something in this neighbourhood to be so well-frequented, although I guess there is a large catchment customer base from the HDB estates around!)
Looks like a nice place to be able to stroll to for brunch on the weekends!
We’ve now come to the end of our tour of Pasir Panjang Gardens. How did you find it? Do you prefer it or the “real” Pasir Panjang landed estate, Chwee Chian Estate?
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
TJ
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