One thing you may have noticed when visiting landed estates in Singapore is the penchant for redeveloping older houses and re-building them as high as possible — no surprise in land-scarce Singapore.
Hence, when I saw that there was a little-known landed estate in Singapore that was zoned as 1.4 on the Masterplan (i.e. being able to build up to five stories), I thought it would be an interesting feature.
Here's a screenshot of Google Maps to see where we're heading today (Jalan Singa and Jalan Punai). As you may have noticed, the landed estate is just off Bedok Reservoir Road and has two green parks next to it. One thing not immediately noticeable on the map is that the turning for vehicles (off Bedok Reservoir Road) in/out of the estate is quite abrupt and slightly confusing.
PHOTO: Google MapsAnd here's the masterplan, showing the 1.4 zoning. (Note that only one of the green spaces has been zoned as a park.)
PHOTO: Urban Redevelopment Authority
Let's start our tour at Jalan Punai, then walk to Jalan Singa.
Given the 1.4 zoning, it should be no surprise that there are already a few boutique condos amidst the landed houses in the estate.
PHOTO: StackedhomesAt the end of the street, we can see the HDB blocks surrounding the landed houses. The blocks are a bit close by, but because these streets are slightly elevated, they don't appear to tower over them too much.
PHOTO: StackedhomesStepping back a bit so you can get a clearer view of the height of the HDB blocks — do note the many bins out on the street to chope parking space. It wasn't difficult to drive through, and I had no difficulty finding parking. However, I'm not sure one would be able to say the same at the end of the workday.
PHOTO: StackedhomesThe houses are a bit hodge-podge — built in different styles.
PHOTO: StackedhomesSee what I mean? These two are very different from the previous.
PHOTO: StackedhomesMoreover, the landed houses are close to the boutique condo, making the immediate neighbours feel a bit hemmed in.
PHOTO: StackedhomesWalking down Jalan Punai to Jalan Singa.
PHOTO: StackedhomesThe houses here are a mix of semi-Ds and terraced units. The driveways of some units are pretty long, and you can park quite a few cars in them.
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
As you can see, most of the landed units have not maximised the plot ratio, so there's room to build higher.
PHOTO: StackedhomesHere are some of the terrace houses on the street.
PHOTO: StackedhomesHead-on view for you to better estimate the width of the units.
PHOTO: StackedhomesAs you can see, the space outside the gate is long, so some people use it to park cars.
PHOTO: StackedhomesOne of the newer units on the street.
PHOTO: StackedhomesSee what I mean about the area? No cars are parked here at the moment, but all the bins prevent anyone else from parking along the street.
PHOTO: StackedhomesI couldn't find a space to park on Jalan Punai, so I drove over to Jalan Singa, where I found a lot. Here are the newest houses on the street — there was still one for sale when I visited a week or so back.
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
These units are right at the end of the cul-de-sac, and the one on the end has no immediate neighbours. As you can appreciate from the photo above, it also has a nice elevated view of the surroundings.
PHOTO: StackedhomesJalan Singa is a street that forks into two, we are on the shorter fork now.
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
Between Jalan Punai and Jalan Singa, I personally preferred Jalan Singa.
PHOTO: StackedhomesLike Jalan Punai, you can find both terrace and semi-detached units along the street. However, (parts of) Jalan Singa feel more open to me.
PHOTO: StackedhomesWe're about to exit the fork and go onto the 'main' Jalan Singa.
PHOTO: StackedhomesInteresting architecture.
PHOTO: StackedhomesTurn to the right to get back to Bedok Reservoir Road/ Jalan Eunos/Jalan Punai and to the left for the 2nd fork of Jalan Singa. We came from the right, so we'll head left for now.
PHOTO: StackedhomesAs you can see, the main fork of Jalan Singa has a white line drawn on it (i.e. no street parking).
PHOTO: StackedhomesHeading down the main Jalan Singa street.
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
Quite a few semi-Ds here.
PHOTO: StackedhomesTurning back so you can see what the street looks like.
PHOTO: StackedhomesAnother reason why I feel this part is more open is that the setback between some of the units is wider than usual (in my opinion, at least).
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
However, there's a children's daycare centre on this street (not my favourite amenity in a landed estate due to potential noise issues, though parents with young children might feel differently).
PHOTO: StackedhomesWalking down Jalan Singa.
PHOTO: StackedhomesThis is what we see to the left.
PHOTO: StackedhomesAnd to the right.
PHOTO: StackedhomesThere's a boutique condo along Jalan Singa (as there is on Jalan Punai), but for some reason, the development doesn't appear as towering here.
PHOTO: StackedhomesI believe the development is Singa Hills — if the Google reviews are authentic, residents appear pretty happy here (and say the estate is peaceful and tranquil.
PHOTO: Screengrab/Google Reviews
We've reached the end of Jalan Singa, so let's head back to look at the green spaces now.
Passing the same houses on the way back. You can see that the houses here are not very linear in arrangement. (They're not all in a straight row.)
PHOTO: StackedhomesPassing the Jalan Singa fork we were at previously on the right.
PHOTO: StackedhomesHere's what the terrace units look like from the outside.
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
More proof of what I meant when I said the units here aren't lined up in straight lines. Can you see how they're angled here?
PHOTO: StackedhomesThe last house on this stretch is next to the green space.
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
Although small, the green space is one of my favourite things about the estate, as it's nice and elevated above the main road. It's pretty small, but you have some outdoor equipment at the end.
PHOTO: StackedhomesLooking back at the houses.
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
Looking down to the main road.
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
The open space is a bit close to the houses, though — you can see the house on the right here — so if there's a gathering there, it may be a bit noisy for the units.
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
This brings us to the end of today's tour. How did you find the area? Before we go, let's look at the last transacted prices.
Proof that I didn't make up the $2.85 million sale of the semi-D. However, the eagle-eyed among you will probably have noticed it's because the unit is a 99-year leasehold house. What's interesting is that there are both freehold and leasehold units here.Looking at Jalan Singa, a freehold terrace house went for almost 2x as much as the leasehold semi-D.
Most Singaporeans are leery about buying leasehold landed units due to the inability to renew the lease and the potential deterioration of the estate as the units reach the end of their tenancy.
However, given that there is the potential to redevelop the landed houses into boutique condos (this will need more looking into BTW, as the zoning on the Masterplan is not the only factor that matters), as well as the fact that there appears to be more freehold than leasehold units here (the common assumption is that freehold landed estates are less likely to have the issues of estate degeneration that leasehold estates sometimes face at the end of their life), the leasehold houses here would be an interesting proposition for those who want a landed house, but are on a limited budget.
