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
Cheng Soon Gardens is a freehold landed enclave in D21, just behind Toh Tuck and the Beauty World area. I thought it would be an interesting area to feature in today’s post as it contains all types of landed housing: from terrace houses to semi-Ds and detached houses.
If you’re wondering why that’s relevant, it’s because most people who want to move to a landed house usually can only afford terrace houses. However, estates with terrace houses are usually quite tightly-spaced, making parking (and sometimes even driving through the area) a challenge. When there are bigger units such as detached houses in an estate, lack of street-side parking tends to be less of an issue.
Personally, I think parking issues can really impact one’s quality of life and so I thought Cheng Soon Gardens would be a worthwhile walkabout to feature. (In fact, a friend who used to live in a terrace house told me she wouldn’t recommend moving to one and, when I asked why, the reason was – parking problems!)
Terrace houses in the estate – as you can see, there are no white lines to stop your friends and family (or yourself) from parking outside your house, making it easier to entertain. This photo was taken early on a Sunday morning when most people are still at home, so the roads shouldn’t get much more crowded than this.Example of a semi-D. As you can see, they are pretty large! Some are so big they can be made into detached units (in the absence of further restrictions). I know this as I’ve seen a semi-D listed here for sale with a land size of over 7,000 sq ft and that’s bigger than a lot of detached houses I’ve seen! (Of course, said unit was also priced like it was a detached house.)The area was a mix of old smaller units and bigger ones. As shown above, the room for maximisation of plot ratio here is huge. There were also quite a few rebuilding and renovation projects within the estate.Example of said renovation. When we passed this street, my Mom and I said the exact same thing at the exact same time “Oh dear, the poor house owner in the middle!” (As there is a construction project on each side of the light-coloured house we see.) However, perhaps it’s better to have all the pain at the same time so it’s over more quickly. What do you think?Something interesting I noticed about this estate is that some of the houses aren’t equally sized. This is a pair of semi-Ds and the one on the left looks to be almost 2x the size of the one on the right!Another thing to point out is that the land is not flat.
In addition, because the 200+ houses were originally built in the 1990s, some of them still have split-level stairs within the properties, which may be an issue if you have elderly in your family. See this listing for an example.
I’m not sure if you can tell, but these 2 houses, though side-by-side, are on different levels, and the house on the right is actually much higher than the one on the left.
Before I forget, here’s a map of the area. As you can see, Cheng Soon Gardens (the bit highlighted in red) looks a little like an upside-down comb. (There’s actually another small street, Cheng Soon Crescent, above the spine of the comb that wasn’t marked up by Google Maps.)
As shown above, the estate is near Ngee Ann Poly, MGS, Bukit Timah Primary and Pei Hwa Primary. Bukit Timah and Pei Hwa Primary are both within 1 km of some of the houses in the area but, unfortunately, MGS is not.This is what you see when you’re looking down one of the small streets on the left of the “comb.” Let’s take a look and see where it leads. House to the left of the green patch above. Doesn’t this secret path look nice and tranquil? Unfortunately, it’s not, as it’s right next to the PIE and you can hear the traffic. This is a shame because this is a lovely green area where it would have been nice to hang out, have a picnic, play football etc. (The land is zoned residential FYI.) It’s quite a short walk to the end of the path so let’s continue heading down.Ah, it leads you to a playground. This is Savoy Park Playground, which is shared with Eng Kong Drive and Eng Kong Garden.Close-up of what the playground offers. As it was early Sunday morning, not a kid was in sight. (Or maybe it was the noise as I did see people using the other public facilities, which I will show later.)Heading back to Cheng Soon Gardens – that’s the PIE behind the trees. It’s not very clear in the photo, but there was a fair bit of traffic on the road.Which is a shame because the houses here enjoy a very nice location. In fact, when I sent the above photo to someone, the reply was “I would get a house here if I could afford it.” (Then I mentioned the PIE and there was no reply!)Remember how I described the estate as an upside-down comb? Well this is one of the times of the comb (one of its teeth, so to speak.) You can still hear the traffic from here but it doesn’t seem to stop people from enjoying the space. (I saw quite a few people cycling around.)Turning right onto the “spine” of the comb, this is what you see. Nice broad empty roads.The terrace houses are very well-sized. The frontage looks wider than many other terrace units that I’ve seen. I’ve even spotted some with 2 cars parked in the yards!If they don’t offer enough space, there’s a lot of room to build up.Another example. Oh, I must say there are quite a few green houses in this hood. Some are nicely tended to but I must admit there was one that was so overgrown that my Mom and I actually thought it had been abandoned (till we saw the front and realised someone was living there.)
The greenery was so…. luxuriant that I immediately regretted not spraying myself with mosquito repellent and worrying about dengue. (I’m not sharing a photo of the unit in question as I don’t want to single anyone out.)
Unfortunately, my fears were not unfounded as the area was the largest dengue cluster in May 2022!
Anyway, let’s continue our walk.
This is looking down another “tooth”/small street of the “comb”/ estate. (Behind the green is the PIE.)The main arterial road of Cheng Soon gardens (or the spine of the comb) isn’t quite straight. Here we come to a little bend so we follow it.When you go around the bend, you start seeing some tall buildings in the distance. Based on what I see on Google Maps, that could maybe be Ngee Ann Poly staff apartments. (I didn’t know they offered staff housing! With the property’s market so hot today, that seems like a really good staff bonus, especially since it’s so close to the campus. However, the sole review for the apartments is by someone who “stayed here during the exchange program” so maybe it’s not for staff?)Looking down another side road.A few houses have back entrances, which is always nice. (They’re not quite single loading as there is another property on the right but at least they’re not squeezed together that tightly.)When we are almost at the end of the main road and we reach this green space (zoned residential.) To the right/ beyond this green space is where Ngee Ann Poly Staff Apartments start.There are houses bordering the green space but, as you can see, the road separating the 2 is comfortably wide.After we pass the green space, we reach the end of the Cheng Soon Garden main road, so I double back and then turn right onto Kismis Avenue to head to Cheng Soon Crescent. (Cheng Soon Crescent is the parallel road running above Kismis Avenue.)Just a few steps away – Kismis Avenue. If you turn right on Kismis Avenue, you see the Toh Yi HDB flats in the distance. We pass another turning into Cheng Soon but I want to see whether we can enter Toh Yi via Kismis Avenue so I continue heading down. (If you have a shortcut into the Toh Yi flats, life would be so much more convenient as there’s a hawker centre there (Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre.)Oh, looks like you can access the HDB flats but I’ll walk all the way just to make sure. I think these are the Ngee Ann Staff apartments. More houses as we walk further down, although the parking here looks to be a little stricter. The HDB is located on lower-lying land.And yes you can walk into the estate! (Behind the flats are Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School and Glory Presbyterian Church.) This reduces the walking time to Bukit Timah Market to 8 minutes, according to Google Maps – only 1 minute more than driving over! (From this part of Kismis Avenue.)On the way back, I even pass a property with a green porch roof! (i.e. where plants are grown on top of the porch. I briefly looked into this previously as some people say it can help keep properties cooler- think of the Botanic Gardens!)Heading over to Cheng Soon Playground. Oh, one thing to mention is that there is a good number of elderly people in this estate. I did see younger people as well, but definitely more seniors here than on other walkabout. On Cheng Soon Crescent, just in front of Cheng Soon playground. It’s a pretty big space (and also a no-smoking park.) There were several people using the facilities but I tried not to capture them in the photo.Looking to the left of the above photo and the houses behind the park. Although there were people in the park, they were all very quiet and respectful of the fact that it was early Sunday morning.And looking to the right. That’s Toh Yi Court in the distance FYI, if you were looking for an apartment in the area. Close-up of what the playground offers.
You can access the playground from Kismis Road too, which is the road at the other end of the playground.
This is what it looks like when you’re standing on Kismis Road which, as you can see, is on higher ground.
We’ve now come to the end of today’s tour. How did you find the estate? If you’re wondering about the restaurants and cafes in the area, 10 minutes away on foot you can find the shophouses at Eng Kong Terrace which includes everything from an emergency vet to Baker & Cook as well as a frozen food store, Thyme to Meet. Bukit Timah Plaza is a short drive away, and there are tons of tuition centres as well as a large NTUC there. One of my favourite NTUCs in Singapore, actually, as the aisles aren’t as cramped.
I must say that I found this Cheng Soon area rather suitable for families, given its proximity to schools as well as large roads and playgrounds for kids to wander around. However, personally, I would prefer living along Cheng Soon Crescent to Cheng Soon Garden proper – no offence to any of the residents! This is because the former is not only closer to the hawker centre, but it’s also further from the PIE! Others may prefer Cheng Soon Garden because it’s a little more private, being further away from the HDB estate. What do you think? Let me know in the comments and see you again next week!
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
Hi, I am a long term resident of Cheng Soon Crescent and there are a number of inaccuracies in your article on Touring Cheng Soon Garden. Can we meet up to clarify on these inaccuracies?
Agnes
2 years ago
Thanks I enjoyed the familiar walk Memories remain I have walked by the surrounding areas when I went to view my apartment at Block 21
Golden Kismis (for senior citizens)
May 2022 I was appalled to find a banner placed on the railings indicating RED alert for dengue in the area
I will be exploring the surrounding areas once again as I will be moving into my 2 room flexi unit between June and August of 2023
Russ
11 months ago
Actually Cheng Soon Garden itself was never the largest dengue cluster. In fact most of the Dengue clusters are found along Kismis, Eng Kong and the areas nearer the HDB. The house which you said looks overgrown has been inspected by NEA officers but they never found any Aedes mosquitoes, so having a lush garden doesn’t mean there is a higher propensity to get bitten. In fact the ones that people should worry about are the construction sites.
Hi, I am a long term resident of Cheng Soon Crescent and there are a number of inaccuracies in your article on Touring Cheng Soon Garden. Can we meet up to clarify on these inaccuracies?
Thanks I enjoyed the familiar walk Memories remain I have walked by the surrounding areas when I went to view my apartment at Block 21
Golden Kismis (for senior citizens)
May 2022 I was appalled to find a banner placed on the railings indicating RED alert for dengue in the area
I will be exploring the surrounding areas once again as I will be moving into my 2 room flexi unit between June and August of 2023
Actually Cheng Soon Garden itself was never the largest dengue cluster. In fact most of the Dengue clusters are found along Kismis, Eng Kong and the areas nearer the HDB. The house which you said looks overgrown has been inspected by NEA officers but they never found any Aedes mosquitoes, so having a lush garden doesn’t mean there is a higher propensity to get bitten. In fact the ones that people should worry about are the construction sites.