Property Tales
15 min learn
Whether or not you’re on Fb, or studying an article from native publications, you’ll most likely be overwhelmed by discuss how property costs are sky-high and rising. That is particularly so for landed housing (of which there’s solely ~5% in Singapore).
So I used to be shocked to discover a freehold landed property for which the final 3 gross sales have had lowering PSF and lowering transacted costs, not rising! Since most Singaporeans, like myself, love a “cut price”, so to talk, I believed Li Hwan Terrace and the encircling Li Hwan streets can be a great space to function in immediately’s submit, so off we go!
Observe: That is primarily based on gross sales data from Edgeprop, through which the final 3 gross sales on the time of writing, all in 2022, ranged from $3.38 million to $3.67 million. All 3 gross sales had been for terrace items. Apparently, the latest sale (Oct 22) truly transacted on the lowest value (of the three gross sales in 2022), regardless of being the most important unit (virtually 50% larger at 2,520 sq ft!) For the reason that asking value/transacted value is commonly influenced by value historical past in Singapore, you could possibly probably have room to cut price if in search of a property within the space. In fact, this could depend upon how a lot the vendor desires to promote. Many have a “take it or depart it” angle because the landed property is understood to be a great retailer of worth and a scarce asset in Singapore!
In fact, the costs are additionally depending on the situation of the property (if it’s outdated and is in want of a full rebuild). That is typically why you’ll be able to’t examine psf costs for the landed property immediately!
For those who’re not acquainted with the realm, it’s north of Braddell Heights Property, which I’ve toured beforehand, and off Lorong Chuan – to not be confused with 2 close by estates with related names, Tai Hwan and Mei Hwan. To be extra particular about the place we’re touring, it’s the triangular area bounded by Li Hwan Drive (a serious arterial street within the enclave), Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1/Lorong Chuan (the two roads lead onto one another) and Burghley Drive, which separates the realm from Serangoon Gardens.
Observe: Serangoon Backyard Manner, with all its facilities (eating places, banks and Chomp Chomp hawker centre), is a couple of 13-minute stroll away.
The world consists of a number of roads, that are parallel to one another however considerably haphazardly organized (in that we’ve got cul-de-sacs off cul-de-sacs), corresponding to Li Hwan Drive, Li Hwan Terrace, Li Hwan View, Li Hwan Shut and Li Hwan Place. One thing fascinating in regards to the property is that 2 of the cul-de-sacs truly finish in roundabouts which aren’t quite common in Singapore within the first place!
Observe how the homes behind Li Hwan Terrace are on a lot lower-lying land – no less than 1 or 2 tales decrease! It’s virtually all the time fascinating to be on greater floor!
I’m going to stroll out of Li Hwan Terrace so you’ll be able to see precisely how sloping the realm is.
Anyway again to Li Hwan View.
There’s a small footpath simply past the left of the picture main onto Li Hwan Shut, which is tremendous helpful, as there may be an overhead bridge from Li Hwan Shut over to Mei Hwan Drive playground on the opposite aspect of the street. You do not want to climb as much as get to the overhead bridge as this space is so elevated, it’s about the identical top because the overhead bridge!
(Behind the playground are condos, so it doesn’t result in an HDB property with its facilities, sadly. There’s, nevertheless, an HDB property throughout Lorong Chuan: so principally you employ the overhead bridge to get to Mei Hwan Drive then cross Lorong Chuan to get to the HDB.)
Alternatively, you’ll be able to stroll out of Li Hwan View and switch proper onto Li Hwan Terrace. It seems prefer it’s a lifeless finish however there’s a flight of stairs on the finish of the street that cuts all the way down to Cardiff Grove after which once more to Lorong Chuan, at which you’ll cross over to the HDB.
The crimson/white constructing is the HDB so you’ll be able to see it’s fairly shut by. Over on the HDB, there’s Teck Seng Bee Claypot rice, Pints & Cones Ice cream, 147 Seafood Restaurant and Kimly Dim Sum. For non-food facilities, there’s the standard barber (Barber’z Paradise) in addition to a tuition centre (EduEdge English Specialists.) Stroll a bit extra (about 18 minutes) and also you attain FairPrice, McDonald’s, Redman by Cellphone Hua and even NEX Serangoon! Significantly better than your typical neighbourhood mall!
So the property is admittedly fairly well-connected by way of facilities inside strolling distance, which makes up for the truth that there aren’t any shophouses throughout the precise property. (Let’s not neglect Serangoon Gardens up North too.)
Now that we’ve seen Li Hwan Terrace, let’s stroll out and again down the slope to Li Hwan Place.
It’s similar to all of the roads within the Li Hwan property, apart from Li Hwan Drive (which is way larger and busier by way of the street.) Mainly, the roads listed here are largely broad and spacious, with few parking points, even when the homes are terrace items.
So now that we’ve seen Li Hwan Terrace/View/Place, let’s head over to the opposite half of the property and test it out!
Strolling again up the slope. Observe the large home lined in blue that’s being renovated – that is alongside Burghley Drive, so that you see what I imply in regards to the homes right here being larger than those in Li Hwan!
On the finish of this road, in between the two homes you see on the left of the picture, is an alleyway which lets you stroll over to Li Hwan Shut (the place we discover Lorong Chuan Overhead Bridge.) One factor that stood out is how well-designed this property is by way of pedestrian entry! With some landed estates, 2 roads are so shut to one another however it’s a must to do an enormous stroll round to get from one to the opposite, as a result of there isn’t any by way of the trail. Nonetheless, at Li Hwan, many of the cul-de-sacs have footpaths resulting in different components, offering one with a shortcut!
Proceed down Burghley Drive and a stone’s throw away is CHIJ Our Woman of Good Counsel, a main college. Suffice it to say, the homes inside Li Hwan property should not have any subject qualifying for the 1 km standards!
Behind CHIJ is the Church of St. Francis Xavier, which has a columbarium in addition to Chartwell Drive Park, 1 of the larger playgrounds within the space. The Park isn’t large however it’s fairly charming. As regards to play areas, there isn’t a devoted playground inside Li Hwan, however there are 3 close by: the one over at Mei Hwan that I beforehand talked about, this one at Chartwell Drive Park and one other over at Tai Hwan Terrace (simply barely past Li Hwan Drive.)
Sadly, the one approach to entry a few of the streets right here in Li Hwan property is through Burghley Drive so residents could also be affected. (They’ll, nevertheless, drive in through Lorong Chuan and Cardiff Grove. In the event that they achieve this, they may attain Li Hwan earlier than they attain CHIJ so hopefully, the jam won’t be as unhealthy… ….) Residents of Li Hwan Drive and Li Hwan Shut are luckier, as they’ll enter through Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1/Lorong Chuan, and never have to go onto Burghley Drive.
Head additional down Burghley Drive, previous CHIJ, and it’s a must to stroll up a good steeper slope. You’ll discover Burghley ActiveSG Squash and Tennis Centre, a employee’s dormitory in addition to different leisure services corresponding to a Secret Backyard Park, Bar, Taekwondo Institute and Dance Faculty there.
Observe: the trampoline park there was closed for a while now!
We’ve lined virtually all of the roads on this property, and that simply leaves us with the largest one in every of all: Li Hwan Drive.
There’s a good mixture of properties right here – each terrace items and semi-detached. Usually, the impression I acquired was that Li Hwan had larger properties in comparison with Tai Hwan however, in fact, that’s simply primarily based on visible inspection and never precise property information! (i.e. I could also be unsuitable.)
Though the street is a dotted white line (i.e. road aspect parking needs to be allowed), I have to observe that Li Hwan Drive is a really busy street. Vehicles had been traversing it up and down virtually continuous. (Not as busy as Kovan which I beforehand toured however positively not as quiet as one would anticipate given it’s a landed property. I believe it may very well be you’ll be able to drive to Serangoon Gardens by the use of Li Hwan Drive Serangoon Gardens, as we all know, is a really busy and in style space. (Plus there are many properties within the space!)
One other factor to focus on is that after I tour estates close to faculties, I typically discover notices asking dad and mom to not park exterior the homes. I didn’t see any right here so both not many dad and mom drive their children to/from college OR the dad and mom are very well-behaved OR the residents are very tolerant! What do you suppose?
There’s a bus cease when you maintain strolling down this fashion.
The overhead bridge within the distance is the one from Li Hwan Shut over to Mei Hwan. I walked over however it didn’t appear attainable to entry the overhead bridge from this stage.
I took this picture to focus on that, on the backside of Li Hwan Drive, the place there’s a single white line and automobiles can’t park alongside the street, some residents haven’t any selection however to park in such a manner that the automobiles block the pedestrian path. (They’re truly parking at their gate so there’s no subject there. Nonetheless, when you had been pushing somebody in a wheelchair or a child in a pram, you would need to push them on the primary street which some folks might not really feel comfy doing, because the street is sort of extremely utilised.)
One other factor to focus on is that, north of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and Lorong Chuan, there are usually not many empty residential plots left for growth. (Many of the land appears to have been developed already.) I solely see a number of small ones round Serangoon Gardens. This might suggest that the provision of landed housing right here will likely be pretty fixed, no less than within the close to future. (However, in fact, nothing is given in Singapore. We may see CHIJ shifting to Tengah and being re-used as residential land someday. Who is aware of?)
We’ve now come to the tip of immediately’s tour. How did you discover it?
Initially, I used to be considering, oh pricey, the property doesn’t have a lot character: the homes and road look fairly related and there’s nothing a lot across the space. Nowhere to eat/drink/store. (For this reason this text has fewer images than my typical submit.) Nonetheless, though you don’t get rows of small shophouses that we regularly see in landed enclaves, the realm could be very, very conveniently positioned for bigger buying centres, corresponding to NEX mall! I can see how it might be a fascinating place to reside for individuals who want trendy malls and bigger retail chains to old-school impartial small retailers. (In addition to dad and mom who need their children to get into CHIJ.)
Let me know within the feedback if there are another areas you’d like a tour of! (And to the reader who requested for a tour of Serangoon Gardens, I promise to get round to it quickly. I used to be initially going to try this however acquired distracted by the declining value development right here!)
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