4 min read

What’s happened here, exactly? Did the former owners’ renovation involve imported Italian marble and melted-down bits of the British crown? Were the buyers unfamiliar with the concept of money? And how many more ads will HDB now have to put up, to assure people this is not the normal price of a flat? It’s all a big question mark right now – and whilst we know this one flat is an outlier, there’s just something disturbing about it.

The most expensive 5-room flat to date

A 45th floor, 1,180 sq. ft. flat at Margaret Drive just sold for $1.73 million, which was lower than the seller’s expected price ($1.838 million). This just goes to show, that aiming high really pays off in life. This is more expensive than the last record-breaker, which is also nearby (CityVue @ Henderson, where a 5-room flat sold for $1.59 million).

It is also a standout because of the big jump. You’d expect the next increase to hit at least $1.6m and slowly climb as people get “used” to that new level, before hitting the $1.7m mark entirely.

Here’s a look at the most expensive dates officially recorded as of today:

Just last year we did put up an article about when HDB flats will reach $2 million, and just to clarify, that was not intended as a challenge. Stop overpaying for your flats, people! Anyway, we predicted it would be in the late 2030’s or 2040’s, but now, it’s anybody’s guess. 

The flat is a SERS replacement flat with around 96 years left on the lease, which also makes it a little more special. This makes it a special scenario, but one that is incredibly fortunate for this particular owner. In short, this was a replacement flat from those that were displaced from Tanglin Halt – so it’s been a really profitable payoff. We know some people who have speculated (and won) for targeting older areas for SERS, but this is on a different level given the exit. 

But it’s unlikely that a difference of around a year would be a big factor in such a high price. The fact is, the area around Dawson – and Queenstown in general – is considered one of the most developed and convenient areas to own a flat.

Besides the fact that it’s on the 45th floor (with great views), this is widely recognised as the best of the Dawson cluster of flats. You are the closest to Queenstown MRT which is connected via a Park Connector, have a food centre downstairs, a hawker centre next door plus a great view of the landed/greenery area towards the north. It’s also a short cycle away from the Rail Corridor.

5-room flats with this view are a rare find

The buyer likely didn’t have much of a choice. After all, it’s a huge jump from the previous record high.

There are 4 HDB developments with unblocked greenery views – SkyResidence, SkyOasis, SkyVille and SkyParc.

SkyVille is a little older as it reached its first MOP about 3-4 years ago.

Here’s a look at the number of stacks with this view broken down by development:

In total, there are only 7 stacks across the 4 developments that offer this, making the supply of such flats very low.

So when a unit like this pops up on PropertyGuru, you bet you can expect buyers to jump in on it.

It’s also not part of the whole Standard/Plus/Prime classification, so there are no extra restrictions applied to this.

Something like this won’t appear on the HDB resale portal, we bet

We do wonder if this had been on the HDB resale portal, whether it would have been taken off for being unrealistic. It does potentially open up a huge issue: what if these types of transactions encourage future sellers to push for crazy asking prices?

We might end up in situations where property portals end up having the bulk of high-quantum listings because they’re happy to accept whatever crazy price a seller wants to try for. In the meantime, the HDB resale portal may end up being more of a place for “regular” priced flats, where units with high premiums are discouraged.

We do wonder if HDB will continue to sit back if prices get crazier

Whilst million (or soon-to-be $2 million) flats are still outliers, they certainly make for poor optics. There are plenty of people who will decry these as examples of inequality; and as the great wealth transfer kicks in, and older Singaporeans sell off private properties to right-size, we’re bound to see more and more of these. 

At some point, we wonder if the gloves will come off, and we’ll see HDB take action. Perhaps a special kind of Sellers Stamp Duty on resale flats past a certain price, or applying an income ceiling even on resale flats. 

In any case, there’s definitely a sense of a storm brewing at this point, and it will be interesting to see if we have a repeat of 2013. Back then, HDB stopped publishing COV data and imposed the Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR), and sent resale flat prices into a tailspin for almost eight years. If they’ve managed to do it before, they can do it again.

For more on the news as it unfolds, follow us on Stacked Homes.