HDB loft unit at Punggol Sapphire fetches record $1.22 million
There are only 23 HDB loft units at Punggol Sapphire, a 10-year-old HDB development in Punggol. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - A rare five-room HDB loft unit in Punggol has been sold for $1.22 million. The 1,603 sq ft flat is a top-floor unit at Punggol Sapphire, a 10-year-old HDB development along Punggol Field. The selling price translates to $761 psf on the floor area.
According to Amos Lim, marketing manager at ERA Realty and the property agent who represented the seller, the Option to Purchase (OTP) between the buyer and seller was signed in late December last year. The transaction is currently pending HDB approval. The sale is expected to be completed next month.
Lim is an agent with the Gideon Sim Division, as well as an agent in ERA’s Preeminent Group.
When the sale is completed it will mark a record price for an HDB loft unit in Punggol, jumping over the previous price high which was only set in September 2022. That transaction also involved a 1,603 sq ft loft unit in the same block and it changed hands for $1.198 million ($747 psf). (Find HDB flats for rent or sale with our Singapore HDB directory)
The loft unit that Lim transacted was first put up for sale at the end of August 2022 at an asking price of $1.25 million. The listing drew more than 100 enquiries and a TikTok video that Lim produced which featured a tour of the flat also accumulated more than 10,000 views within a day of uploading.
Several interested buyers put down offers for the property and the offers ranged from $1.1 million to $1.24 million, says Lim. “Eventually, the owner settled on a buyer he felt comfortable selling the house to and who also offered the right price for the property,” he says.
“Part of the attractiveness of the unit is its rare loft layout, high ceiling of about 5m, and large windows that let in a lot of natural light,” says Lim. In addition, the staircase that leads to the loft does not interrupt the living space and is also brightly lit with windows, he says.
The loft unit that was sold for $1.198 million in September last year also resulted in a cash over valuation (COV) of close to $200,000. The COV is the difference between the purchase price and the HDB valuation of the property and it is paid by the buyer in cash.
While Lim does not know the exact COV the current buyer needs to pay, based on his professional judgement and analysis of relevant transactional data, he estimates it to be at least $100,000.
There are only 23 loft units in Punggol Sapphire and all of them are in the same stack that faces Punggol Field.
According to Lim, he also reached out to the other loft unit owners in the block to gauge their interest in selling their flats. However, he says that the majority of the other loft owners do not intend to put their flats up for sale soon and intend to stay there as homeowners.
“For those with future plans to sell their loft flats, this latest sale will come as good news to them and will allow them to better plan their real-estate financing,” says Lim. However, he cautions that the record sale price is due to the rarity of the unit. “It is unlikely that this transaction alone will significantly uplift the surrounding property prices.”
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