August 2022 HDB BTO in-depth review: Bukit Merah

If you want to live close to the city centre, look out for the Bukit Merah BTO. In the August 2022 HDB BTO launch, HDB will be offering two projects in this mature estate.

August 2022 Bukit Merah HDB BTO at a glance

August 2022 Bukit Merah HDB BTO indicative price range

HDB hasn't released the price range yet. So for now, you can refer to SRX's estimations based on nearby resale transactions and launch prices from recent BTO launches.

Flat type	Price range
Three-room	$370,000 – $530,000
Four-room	$540,000 – $770,000

Source: SRX. These estimations have been adjusted for differences in property age and location. If a launch is nearer to an MRT or commercial development, it's likely to be more expensive.

Estimated downpayment, monthly instalment and income

Based on these pricing forecasts, we can estimate the downpayment, monthly instalments and household income needed to pay for the August 2022 Bukit Merah BTO flat. These estimates are based on the following assumptions:

• A HDB loan is taken, maximising the 85 per cent loan-to-value (LTV)
• The loan tenure is 25 years, with the current interest rate of 2.6 per cent
• There is no other housing loan to service

To illustrate, we'll use the median of the estimated price range and won't be taking into account any CPF grants or savings to be used. We'll also be using a mortgage calculator to do the math.

Another thing is that for public housing, you can only use up to 30 per cent of your monthly household income to service the home loan.

This is called the Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR), which you can calculate using our MSR calculator. By taking this into account, we can then find the estimated household monthly income needed for the flat.

Flat type	Median price	Loan amount (85per cent)	Min. downpayment (15per cent)	Estimated monthly instalment	Estimated monthly household income
Three-room	$450,000	$382,500	$67,500	$1,735.00	$5,783.33
Four-room	$655,000	$556,750	$98,250	$2,526.00	$8,420.00

What we noticed about the August 2022 Bukit Merah HDB BTO

The first thing that caught our eye is how close both projects are to the MRT station. The nearest MRT of the BTO plot along Alexandra View is Redhill MRT. While for the Havelock Road BTO, Havelock MRT will be its nearest MRT.

Because of their close proximity to the MRT and the city centre, there's a very high chance that they will fall under the Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) model.

We think it would be just like Bukit Merah Ridge that was launched last May, which is around 600m from the Alexandra View BTO and around 900m from the Havelock Road BTO.

We also want to point out that the Alexandra View BTO was initially planned to be launched in last May's exercise, but was later postponed to this August launch.

August 2022 Bukit Merah BTO: The Pros

Accessibility

Besides the central location, what we like most about both Bukit Merah BTO is that both are close to the MRT. In fact, both are just around a five-minute walk away from their nearest MRT: Redhill MRT which is right next to Alexandra View BTO, and the upcoming Havelock MRT on the new Thomson-East Coast Line for Havelock Road BTO.

Residents of Havelock Road BTO will also have direct access to the East-West Line, with Tiong Bahru MRT an eight-minute walk away.

Both BTO are ideal for those working in the CBD, as you can reach there within three to four stops. And for those who drive, the CBD is just within a 15-minute drive away.

The Central Expressway (CTE) is also just a couple of streets away, connecting you to the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE), Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) and Seletar Expressway (SLE).

Food and retail amenities

Both Bukit Merah BTO are within walking distance to neighbourhood centres, where you can find hawker centres and supermarkets.

The Alexandra View BTO, in particular, is just around a seven-minute walk to Redhill Market and Food Centre. Here's also where you can find a Giant supermarket. Closer to home, there's an NTUC Fairprice on the first floor of the neighbouring Artra condo.

Likewise, if you managed to snag a flat at the Havelock Road BTO, you'll just be five minutes walk away from Beo Crescent Market. Walk a little further west and you'll find an NTUC Fairprice.

If you're looking for one that's closer to food and retail amenities, we suggest going for the Havelock Road BTO. It's just around an eight-minute walk to Tiong Bahru Plaza, and a 12-minute walk to Valley Point and Great World City.

This BTO is also closer to the eateries and cafes at Tiong Bahru (10-minute walk) and Robertson Quay (18-minute walk).

Childcare centres

We also like that some childcare centres are available within walking distance of both BTOs.

For the Alexandra View BTO, there's the Cambridge Pre-School at the neighbouring Artra condo. There's also a few options within a 10-minute walking distance, such as Alora Child Care at Leng Kee CC, PCF Sparkletots at Redhill Close and My First Skool at Henderson Crescent.

For the Havelock Road BTO, the nearest childcares include Superland Pre-School at Ganges Avenue, MY World Pre-School at Boon Tiong Road and Maple Bear Pre-School at Havelock Road. All are within 10 minutes walking distance from the BTO.

Schools

Both BTOs are within a 1km radius of at least two primary schools. For the Alexandra View BTO, these are Alexandra Primary and Gan Eng Seng Primary. For the Havelock Road BTO, these are River Valley Primary, Alexandra Primary and Zhang De Primary.

Other nearby schools include Crescent Girls' Secondary, Gan Eng Seng Secondary, Bukit Merah Secondary and APSN (Tanglin School), that's right next to Alexandra View BTO.

Recreational facilities

Like the Ang Mo Kio BTO, there's a good range of recreational facilities here. The Alexandra View BTO is especially ideal for those into sports. It's right next to Delta Swimming Complex and Sports Hall, which also has a hockey pitch. Currently, both are closed for renovation.

The sports facilities are still located pretty near the Havelock Road BTO, but it will take around a 13-minute bus ride to get there.

On top of that, both Bukit Merah BTO are close to parks. For instance, you can head to the Henderson Park Connector nearby that's linked to Telok Blangah Hill Park and Mount Faber.

The park connector is also connected to the Rail Corridor, where you can head to Tanjong Pagar or Kranji for the times when you fancy a long walk.

Healthcare facilities

Healthcare facilities are also pretty accessible from both BTOs, with two hospitals within a short drive away.

Singapore General Hospital and Alexandra Hospital are both within a 10-minute drive away from both BTOs.

SGH is closer to the Havelock Road BTO (a six-minute drive), while Alexandra Hospital is closer to the Alexandra View BTO at a seven-minute drive away.

For acute illnesses and non-emergencies, there's also Bukit Merah Polyclinic nearby. It's around a 15-minute bus ride from Alexandra View BTO, and a 25-minute bus ride from Havelock Road BTO.

August 2022 Bukit Merah BTO: The Cons

No five-room flats available

Like the Bukit Merah Ridge in the previous launch, we have one major gripe on both projects: they don't have five-room flats.

There's also the likelihood that these will be PLH flats with a 10-year Minimum Occupation Period (MOP), so it can be a tight squeeze for those expanding the family within those 10 years.

So if you're looking for a bigger space, we suggest going for the Ang Mo Kio BTO, Choa Chu Kang BTO or Tampines BTO.

Or go for resale flats in the area, which are not restricted by the PLH restrictions.

Oversubscription (for second-timers)

Judging by the application rate for the nearby Bukit Merah Ridge in the previous launch, we think first-timers may have a shot at securing a queue number.

During the May 2022 BTO launch, the application rates for first-timers were 0.6 for three-room flats and 3.2 for four-room flats, which were actually lower than the application rates for Kim Keat Heights, Lakeside View and Yishun Beacon.

This could be due to the PLH restrictions that make the project less popular than expected.

But if you're applying as a second-timer, note that your chances of securing a queue number here may be lower.

As you can see from the table above, there were 21 applicants competing for each three-room flat and 46 applicants for each four-room flat. So there's more intense competition among second-timers.

August 2022 Bukit Merah BTO: Where are the best stacks with the best views?

HDB hasn't released the site plans yet. So for now, we're just looking based on the surrounding areas of the projects.

If you're looking for unblocked views, you may want to give Alexandra View BTO a skip. It's mostly surrounded by condos and HDB flats. At the north, there's Echelon. At the west, there's Artra. Both condos are 43 storeys high.

At the south of the BTO, there are older (and shorter) HDB blocks. But when we looked at the URA master plan, we noticed the residential plots here come with a high gross floor area (the plots are actually the Redhill Close blocks that were Sers'ed around 10 years ago).

The high gross floor area means these plots can be redeveloped into very tall housing projects. So even if you get the south-facing stacks that face the Southern Ridges, your view might get blocked in future.

For now, we think there's a better chance of getting unblocked views from the upper floors of the Havelock Road BTO. Here's where you can get views of the GCBs at Chatsworth Park at the northwest.

You might also get a view of Sentosa and the sea from the upper floors of the south-facing stacks.

At the same time, we note there's a residential plot along Kampong Bahru that doesn't have a gross plot ratio yet, so there's a high chance the developments here will block the view of Sentosa and the sea in future.

August 2022 Bukit Merah BTO: What's the potential price appreciation?

Over the past 10 years, the average price psf has generally increased by 11.78 per cent for three-room and four-room flats at Bukit Merah. In general, there's not much drastic increase or decrease in the average price psf.

This could be due to the older age of the flats here, so they generally don't command such a high price.

So far, there are no BTO flats in the Tiong Bahru area. The BTO projects in the estate have mostly been launched in the Telok Blangah area, such as Telok Blangah Towers, Telok Blangah Ridgeview and Telok Blangah Parcview.

The newer flats here are the SERS replacement flats such as City Vue @ Henderson, Havelock View, Tiong Bahru View and Kim Tian Green.

Looking at the average price psf for three-room and four-room flats in these developments, they're generally higher than the average price psf in Bukit Merah. They have been hovering at around $780 to $900 for the past five years.

Kim Tian Green and Havelock View have seen a high appreciation of 10.56 per cent and 12.64 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the newer flats from Tiong Bahru View and City Vue have so far seen a lower price psf increase of 2.12 per cent and 1.92per cent, respectively.

August 2022 Bukit Merah BTO: Should you apply?

Yes, if you prioritise living close to the city centre. Both BTOs are within easy reach of plenty of amenities as well.

At the same time, you should prepare to live here for a long time.

This is because these Bukit Merah BTO flats are most probably PLH flats. They come with stricter conditions, such as a 10-year MOP and subsidy clawback. So you may not want to ballot here if you're thinking of upgrading.

Also, note that PLH flats tend to be smaller, measuring around 89 square metres for four-room flats. On the other hand, a typical four-room BTO flat usually spans around 93 square metres. The flats here may not be ideal if you're looking for bigger space.

This article was first published in 99.co.