9 min read

Parbury Avenue first came to my attention a few years ago when a classmate first bought a condo there. I was intrigued as she worked in real estate – which made me feel that the area must have “potential”. Mind you, this was before Bayshore MRT, and also because the area was delightfully windy and quiet the few times I visited her (in the evenings).

I noticed that there were several landed houses in the area. In fact, her condo was facing the landed houses i.e. unblocked and low density, which helps to explain the good ventilation and acoustic, so that’s where we’re headed today.

If you’re not familiar with the area, here’s a map to get you started.

Parbury Avenue is basically a street off Upper East Coast Road. (One thing I need to point out is that, according to this article, the Parbury-East Coast junction is prone to flash floods.)

Currently, the land across the road is mainly low-rise apartments and buildings, making the area feel very expansive. (This was also the feeling I got when driving over from town: there is SO much empty land near Bayshore MRT, you do feel more relaxed and get the feeling that you’re back in old Singapore.)

Unfortunately, as shown on the Master Plan, the plots actually have very large plot ratios, and will allow for the building of tall buildings. (This would change the character of the area. However, as of the time of my walkabout, there were few signs of large scale high-rise construction in the near vicinity.)

This is what the road looks like to the right. On my right, there is a kopitiam followed by some shophouses.

The kopitiam.

It has some outdoor space.

Shophouses next door. 

Isn’t this one gorgeous?

One common complaint about living in a shophouse is the lack of parking – as shown above, the ones here have a small driveway which can be used for cars or converted into a garden.

I’m a sucker for shophouses so you have to suffer through a third photo. 

There’s a bus stop right across the street.

As well as many boutique condos – if you look at the Master Plan carefully, the zoning for these apartments are 1.4 so they can’t be developed into high-rises. However, the land immediately behind them are all potential giants, with plot ratios ranging from 3 to 4.2.

OK we’ve seen enough of the outside area, so let’s head back in now.

First things first, here’s the view to the left: see what I mean about the quiet character of this neighbourhood? Normally such roads are a pain to drive on, as you have to look both right and left before you can make a right turn (something increasingly impossible with the growing number of cars on the roads.) However, it was still relatively stress-free here.

What we see to our right as walk into Parbury Avenue.

There’s a row of terrace houses to our right.

To the left is Riviera Drive, a no-through-road that slopes upwards. (It’s quite steep.)

Along Riviera Drive is this high-rise condo. It’s one of the few condos in the neighbourhood.

After the condo, there are only one or two houses. I’ve never had an issue finding parking when visiting my classmate (but I’ve never visited during the festive season.)

As the street is quite steep, some of the houses are relatively unblocked.

See what I mean? Its immediate neighbours are one to two stories lower.

View down the street.

Riviera Drive is located on higher ground than the neighbouring street, as shown above.

This photo might give you a better idea of the slope – it doesn’t look like much but steep enough to make this one of the more tiring neighbourhoods to explore.

Have you noticed something? All the houses along Riviera Drive are large ones (no terrace units.)

I enjoyed the decorated and wide pavement, something I’ve found in several estates in East Singapore.

I liked the look of this house but did wonder about privacy, given the large windows.

Another large house.

Before Riviera Drive meets Parbury Avenue.

The houses right at the junction are semi-Ds.

However, on Parbury Avenue, they’re terrace units, albeit with quite a lot of room to build higher. (See above.)

To the right leads you to the main road, Upper East Coast Road (where we came from.) Sadly, no sheltered walkway to the MRT station here, unlike at some of the other estates that we have toured. 

We’ll take the left fork to see the rest of Parbury Avenue (which is quite a long road street.)

As shown, you aren’t allowed to park along the main Parbury Avenue (though you could at Riviera Drive. There is also access to a large HDB car park at the end of the street.)

Like Riviera Drive, this section of Parbury Avenue also slopes upwards. 

After the row of terrace houses, we find a fork to the left (also named Parbury Avenue), a huge construction site (no details on the hoarding except for the name of the developer, Far East), and Parbury Hill Condominium. At the time of writing, there were no landed units for sale. The only units for sale in the vicinity were 3 apartments at Parbury Hill – given that new 99-year condos seem to be going for $2,000 psf (ish) these days, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the asking psf of some were under $1,800 psf.

Note: I googled Far East and Parbury Avenue and found this site that says the development in question is The Lookout, a cluster housing development. (No construction could be seen or heard when I was visiting.) Luckily, you can also drive into Parbury Avenue via Lucky Heights – if not, the construction works might be quite annoying given that the entry/exit lanes at Parbury are all for single cars.

Look at what an unblocked view you get from the semi-Ds at the junction of Riviera Drive, Parbury Avenue.

We turn into the Parbury Avenue side street to have a wander.

The neighbours here seem to love gardening! Also note that you can park along one side of the street here.

A rare, single storey house.

There’s an alley linking the 2 side streets.

The houses here are a bit smaller than Riviera Drive, so the area feels a bit denser.

The sloping nature of the land does allow for interesting landscaping design, such as the sculpture above.

We’re back along the main Parbury Avenue – as you can see, more land that slopes upwards. You’ll have quite the climb coming back home, but an easy walk out when leaving the house.

Here’s Parbury Hill condo – one of the few apartments in Singapore with circular balconies.

After Parbury Hill Condo, we reach the turn off into Lucky Heights, as well as more landed units.

At the end of Parbury Avenue, we can see a block of HDB flats. Let’s walk over to see if there’s a shortcut into the HDB estate and its amenities.

This part of Parbury Avenue also allows for street parking.

We have some larger houses.

And some terrace units, so it seems like a good mix of housing options.

This is another cul-de-sac.

It’s almost directly opposite the HDB estate, which lies on lower ground, so some houses have quite an unblocked view.

And here’s the car park that I mentioned earlier! More than enough space for your visitors, though they may have a bit of a climb depending on where your house is located along Parbury Avenue.

There’s also another kopitiam here, so you’re not far from food.

We didn’t pass a playground but this HDB does have a lot of facilities that your kids could use. (Alternatively, turn into Lucky Heights, take a right, and you’ll find a large playground.)

This brings us to the end of today’s tour. How did you find the Parbury Avenue houses? Let me know in the comments!