5-room HDB loft unit in Punggol sold for $970,000 last month

A five-room Housing Board loft unit in Treelodge @ Punggol changed hands for $970,000 last month, the sixth flat in Punggol that has fetched more than $900,000 since 2019.

However, while million-dollar HDB resale deals now regularly make headlines, these flats are in mature estates, and analysts say it may take some time before a similar transaction surfaces in a non-mature estate.

A high floor, a good view, location and a unit's renovations all play a part in a HDB resale flat being sold for $1 million, said ERA Realty head of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak.

"There is also the question of whether there is a buyer who is willing to pay $1 million. If you do have that money to spend, there are plenty of locations to choose from, so outlying non-mature areas like Punggol may not be the first choice," he added.

"In many years to come, there will be $1 million flats in all parts of Singapore, simply because of inflation. But in the shorter term, at least for the next one year, I don't think we'll see any million-dollar flats in outlying areas."

Ms Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, shared similar sentiments, noting that so far, only six units in Punggol have sold for more than $900,000.

"The numbers are not big. We may see one (resale unit) in non-mature areas crossing the $1 million mark, but it may still take a while," she said.

Till now, there has been only one million-dollar transaction in a non-mature estate. In January 2018, a 177 sq m maisonette unit at Block 851 Hougang Central changed hands for $1 million.

HDB loft units are a type of premium apartment that has bigger space and double-storey height - rare features in public housing.

The Punggol loft unit that sold for $970,000 has a floor area of 147 sq m. There are only 14 loft units in Treelodge @ Punggol, a Build-To-Order (BTO) project launched in 2007.

Punggol Sapphire, a BTO project rolled out in 2008, has 23 loft units.

Another 26 loft units are in Queenstown in the SkyTerrace @ Dawson BTO project, where home owners completed their five-year minimum occupation period last year. Last month, a five-room, 122 sq m loft unit in that development transacted for $1.328 million.

November also saw 29 HDB resale flats changing hands for at least $1 million, smashing the previous monthly record of 26 in August.

This brings the total number to 223 in the first 11 months of this year, in what has already been a record year for million-dollar flats. All are in mature estates.

There were 82 million-dollar resale flats for the whole of last year.