Welcome to the club: Sengkang sees first million-dollar resale flat

Shortly after achieving an all-time high resale flat price of $968,000, Sengkang has crossed the million-dollar line in the same month. 

This is the first time a resale flat in that estate has reached the million-dollar mark. 

A 1,539 sq ft maisonette at Block 205B Compassvale Lane was sold for exactly $1 million in April, HDB records showed.

Located on the seventh to ninth floor, the flat is 25 years into its 99-years lease, which commenced in 1999. 

Block 205B is within a 10-minute walking distance to Buangkok MRT station and Sengkang Grand Mall.

It is also within a one to two kilometre radius to schools such as North Vista Primary School, Sengkang Primary School, and North Vista Secondary School.

In a media statement released on Wednesday (May 2), Singapore Realtors Inc (SRI) said that one of their agents facilitated its sale last month.

Mohan Sandrasegeran, head of research and data analytics at SRI, said that Sengkang has been on the cusp of its first million-dollar sale for some time.

A five-room HDB flat on Compassvale Drive, just a kilometre away from the latest record-breaking flat, was previously the estate's most expensive resale flat at $968,000.

"It had set the stage for the area to finally breach the million-dollar threshold. This progression reflects Sengkang's increasing desirability among homebuyers," Sandrasegeran said.

The median resale price for a five-room and executive flat in Sengkang is $629,000 and $775,000 respectively, according to HDB records.

Million-dollar sale an 'exceptional case'

Speaking to AsiaOne on Friday, Sandrasegeran said that he does not anticipate any significant changes in resale prices in the vicinity. 

The million-dollar sale is an "exceptional case", he added, while pointing out that the 47 per cent of resale transactions in April in Sengkang are priced between $400,000 to just "under $600,000". 

"Factors that typically play a role in million-dollar HDB resale transactions include location, its placement on higher floors, larger unit size and lease balance," Sandrasegeran said. 

There are now only three towns out of Singapore's 24 HDB towns that have yet to record a resale transaction crossing $1 million - Jurong West, Choa Chu Kang and Sembawang, he added.

Responding to questions about the number of million-dollar flats, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said on April 27 that this is not a reflection of higher resale prices.

"These are headliners, and the number of flats that are sold for $1 million and more remains a very small proportion of the overall volume of resale transactions that are carried out every year," he added.

The minister said that many of these flats have special attributes which contribute to their hefty price tags, such as being rarer or jumbo units, or being near a mall.

ALSO READ: HDB resale prices up for 6th straight month - are million-dollar flats to blame? Analysts weigh in

chingshijie@asiaone.com