Today's tour sees us off to Pasir Panjang Hill, a small road leading uphill which eventually splits into two forks. They lie in between the main Pasir Panjang Road and Zehnder Road.
As you can see from the Masterplan below, even the terrace houses are currently marked with a gross plot ratio of 1.4, meaning that if you can get a large enough bloc together, you may be able to turn your house into a boutique condo.
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
In fact, there already are several small condos in the area.
PHOTO: StackedhomesThis is the first fork of Pasir Panjang Hill: there are four small condos here to the left and another two to the right. I actually visited one (The Grandhill) and some units have views all the way to the sea. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe land is sloping upwards to a peak, so the condos are built on sloping land. When I look into the condos (on the left side of the road) from the street, a good part of the condo is below street level, as shown above. PHOTO: StackedhomesThis is another of the condos — I initially thought it was a humongous semi-D! (It's actually Pleasant Hill Lodge. No units for sale or rent at the time of writing, but I saw a 3,000 sq ft unit rented out in 2022, so it seems like the units are sizeable.) PHOTO: StackedhomesBehind Pleasant Hill Lodge is the second fork of Pasir Panjang Hill, which we'll explore later. PHOTO: StackedhomesAs mentioned earlier, the land slopes towards a peak, so the condos on the right (such as Pleasant Hill Lodge) slope upwards, as shown above. PHOTO: StackedhomesBesides the condos, there are also three stretches of landed houses along this first fork. PHOTO: StackedhomesAll three sets of landed houses are located on the same side of the street (the right.) Streetside parking is not plentiful in the area — though I had no problems finding a space on both visits, it will most likely be an issue during the festive season. Thankfully some of the landed houses have quite large car parks. The ones shown above can park at least two cars if the gate is not closed. PHOTO: StackedhomesIn addition, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the houses here are taller than usual (four to five stories high.) PHOTO: StackedhomesParking situation — you can see they need to use cones closer to the condo entrance. Also, if any visitors to the area are inconsiderate, it could affect driving in and out of your property. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe gate opened to better illustrate the amount of car park space. (Even in the same stretch of landed houses, different houses have different amounts of car park space.) PHOTO: StackedhomesSome units here have even found the space to add a pool. PHOTO: StackedhomesThis is another stretch of houses, along the same road. They're located towards the end of the street, which is a dead end. PHOTO: StackedhomesParking cones out and about here, probably to stop visitors from blocking access to the houses, as I mentioned earlier. PHOTO: StackedhomesFrontal view for a better look at the units. Personally, I prefer the previous stretch of houses because I like outdoor space. How about you? (In case it's not clear, some of the houses are built on sloping land, just like the condos.) PHOTO: StackedhomesEnd of the street - that's the Peak at Balmeg behind. It has several large penthouses, some of which face greenery. Haw Par Villa is at the entrance of Peak at Balmeg, so Pasir Panjang Hill is technically near the MRT. However, due to the position of the entrance of the road, it can be up to a 20 minute walk to the MRT, depending on where in Pasir Panjang Hill you start from. (I looked but did not find any shortcuts down to the MRT.) PHOTO: StackedhomesLooking back at the street that we just walked up. PHOTO: StackedhomesI hope this gives you a better idea of what I mean by, depending on how people park on the street and the size of their cars, residents may find their access to their own homes somewhat curtailed. PHOTO: StackedhomesThis is the third stretch of houses along this street - three terraces and two semi-Ds. It's the newest and also the closest to the turn-in from the main road. PHOTO: StackedhomesHere's a better view of the houses. They are a little similar to Victoria Park Villas in that they have elevated gardens. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe street we saw earlier was pretty flat — the properties were built on sloping land but the street that the cars and pedestrians travelled on was flat. Here, the land slopes downwards to the main road. Let's head down to see what we can find there. PHOTO: StackedhomesAfter that stretch of houses, we find more houses as well as a church. The houses here are on the larger side (semi-D/detached.) I was quite surprised to see from Squarefoot that some of the detached houses here have over 20,000 sq ft of land (No. 35) and that some of the terrace houses are over 6,000 sq ft (No. 30B)! PHOTO: StackedhomesThe bend in the street here is pretty sharp, so you'll need to drive/walk carefully. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe larger properties. Even though they're closer to the main road, I didn't hear any traffic noise when visiting. PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesThere's a church to our right. PHOTO: StackedhomesThat's the main road straight ahead. PHOTO: StackedhomesAnother large house, set next to a condo. PHOTO: StackedhomesI think it's fascinating how just adding some screens totally changes the look of the house. To me, the one on the left looks more modern. What do you think? PHOTO: StackedhomesThat's the church I mentioned. From what I could see, it doesn't seem to have much car park space. If I were getting a house here, I would definitely want to check out what the traffic situation is like before and after church service. PHOTO: StackedhomesSingle-storey house! Very rare in Singapore now. PHOTO: StackedhomesThat's the main road! PHOTO: StackedhomesAnother condo to our left — the good thing about this one is that it has public parking. You have to pay, of course, but at least your visitors have somewhere to park! PHOTO: StackedhomesOnly 24 units available on a weekday so I'm not sure it would be enough for the churchgoers. PHOTO: StackedhomesI also like how you can walk through the condo to South Buona Vista Road. (Saves you time.) PHOTO: StackedhomesThere were several of these parking notices near the church so I wouldn't be surprised if street parking is an issue over the weekend. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe main turn-in/out from/to the main road. PHOTO: StackedhomesOn the right is a petrol station. It has a TINY convenience shop. PHOTO: StackedhomesDirectly across is a new condo and a lovely heritage property. I used to tutor a kid who lived in one of these houses! (It was quite creaky.) PHOTO: StackedhomesTo the left is the bus stop and some shops. PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesThere's a fruit shop. Prices weren't low though. The pineapples were $4-6.80. (Maybe because it's close to Chinese New Year?) PHOTO: StackedhomesMedical centre. PHOTO: StackedhomesA few small grocers. PHOTO: StackedhomesTwo massage parlours. PHOTO: StackedhomesA restaurant. PHOTO: StackedhomesAnd a few empty units for rent. A friend lives down the road, and she mentioned that the shops in Pasir Panjang can come and go quite fast… PHOTO: StackedhomesFrom here, you can see the junction of West Coast Highway and Pasir Panjang Road. PHOTO: StackedhomesThere’s also a bus stop at which six buses stop. PHOTO: StackedhomesWalk past the shops and you'll come to a semi-open area, with more shops on the left. PHOTO: StackedhomesOne of which is the famous Springleaf prata. Besides Springleaf prata, there are other shops such as a laundry shop, hair place, flower shop, etc. PHOTO: Stackedhomes PHOTO: Stackedhomes
Across the road is Chwee Chian estate, which we viewed a while back. Click through if you want to see more of the area.
We've covered most of the important points, so let's head back to the estate to see the second fork in Pasir Panjang Hill.
Walking back up the hill. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe new houses in the distance. PHOTO: StackedhomesBehind the new houses lies the second fork. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe way the properties are laid out here makes the second fork feel more spacious to me. If I could afford a house here, I would prefer to live on this side of the estate. PHOTO: StackedhomesTo the right is my favourite house in this estate. Also one of my favourites out of all my landed estate tours, thanks to the incredible view it enjoys. PHOTO: StackedhomesClose-up of the house.PHOTO: StackedhomesAnd here's the view. Isn't it amazing! Whilst it does border a condo (Buona, Vista Gardens, I think), the setting is such that it has an unblocked, elevated facing on one side. Incredibly rare in Singapore. PHOTO: StackedhomesZooming in. PHOTO: StackedhomesNext to this house are the new houses we passed earlier. However, the house does not feel hemmed in at all. PHOTO: StackedhomesPhoto to illustrate the distance between the house with the view and the new houses. PHOTO: StackedhomesOK, enough gawking, let's move on. This is what is opposite the street from the house-with-the-view. PHOTO: StackedhomesContinuing down the street. PHOTO: StackedhomesAs with the other fork, there is a small section of the street which allows street-side parking. PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesNext up are more terrace houses. These have much smaller "gardens" than the previous ones. In fact, some of them don't even look like they can fit a car, to be honest! PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesThese look like a cross between houses and condos (the windows.) However, from the Squarefoot data, it seems that they are houses. What I like about them is that they have a "basement" which gets sunlight, thanks to the sloping land. (It's the level below this one/street level so you can't see it from here.) PHOTO: StackedhomesI couldn't enter their gardens but from this angle, they appear to have pretty good views too. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe street ends with Hill Lodge (a freehold landed development, according to Property Guru) and some condos. PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesThe condos enjoy the best position, right at the top of the peak. PHOTO: StackedhomesIn front of the condo at the top (Kent View Park), there's a playground with a wonderful setting. PHOTO: StackedhomesJust look at that! Doesn't it feel like a mini private paradise? Nice and windy too. PHOTO: Stackedhomes
That brings us to the top of the hill and the end of today's tour. How did you find the area? I was pleasantly surprised by some of the properties here!
Something to consider though would be the possibility that more and more neighbours may end up converting their homes into condos, making the streets increasingly cluttered!
