1-room HDB flat in Tiong Bahru for sale at $1.5m

On the hunt for an HDB flat but fancy a unit with a touch of history?

A one-room flat in Singapore's very first public housing estate in Tiong Bahru has been put up for sale this week.

At 117sqm, the ground floor unit at Block 64 Tiong Poh Road is considerably spacious as compared to new offerings rolled out by the Housing Development Board in recent years.

The flat — with one bedroom, one bathroom, a backyard and parking lots right at the doorstep — has an asking price of $1.5 million.

It also boasts a central location and is close to amenities such as Tiong Bahru, Outram Park, and Chinatown MRT stations as well as Tiong Bahru Plaza and Concorde Shopping Centre.

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Although it only has 46 years of lease left, that might not deter buyers as a four-room flat with 51 years of the remaining lease in nearby Moh Guan Terrace recently fetched $1.1million.

Other flats in the same block that were listed for sale online include two-bedroom, two-bathroom units that are going for at least $1.98 million.

Heritage estate

But perhaps what's more interesting than the million-dollar price tag is the rich heritage of the neighbourhood.

Block 64 Tiong Poh Road is a three-storey walk-up building sporting an Art Deco facade with geometric lines and motifs, as well as visually striking rear staircases. The units are laid out in the Malayan terrace house pattern and have internal air wells.

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The block is part of 20 low-rise residential properties built by Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) in the 1930s, with varying apartment sizes to accommodate families small and big.

Corner units were also designed to serve as eateries and shops so as to encourage interaction among neighbours, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

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However, the population started to thin out in the 1980s and 1990s after families moved out of the estate for newer HDB estates and condominiums across the island. 

The aged estate saw a revitalisation with URA gazetting these blocks as conserved buildings in 2003.

Now, Tiong Bahru is back on the hip list, thanks to chic cafes, bakeries and restaurants setting up shop in the area, drawing young crowds back to the quaint neighbourhood.

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ALSO READ: Elderly couple buys 5-room HDB resale flat in Clementi for $1.04 million, pays in cash

lamminlee@asiaone.com