Singapore's Holland Road

There is a Little Holland or Holland Village in Singapore.

Holland Road stretches from Tanglin Road to Pandan Road. The posh Tanglin Road is an embassy area. The US and China Embassy, the British and Australian High Commissions. Holland Road begins at the junction of Tanglin and Farrer Road with the distinct flyover separating Tand lin and Holland Roads.

Those who cannot afford the very expensive Tanglin and Nassim Road residences will need to move further to Holland Road.

Greenleaf - Quiet stretch with much promise.

Towards the far end of Holland Road, after it diverts from the main thoroughfare, is a quiet residential area not many people have heard of.

A large patch of undeveloped land separates this area from the busy stretch of Holland Road. This provides a clue to its name - Greenleaf - and conjures up development possibilities for the future.

Greenery indeed seems to be the theme of the area, giving shade to pedestrians and lending a secluded air to the boutique condominiums and semi-detached houses there.

‘The area is not very well known and most of the houses are old, so prices haven’t risen very much,’ said Mr Ku Swee Yong, the director of marketing and business development at Savills Singapore.

But he added that rising demand and prices of bungalows in the nearby Queen Astrid area are starting to spill over.

As bungalow rentals and capital values go up, some home buyers and tenants looking for cheaper alternatives are turning to Greenleaf, said Mr Ku.

In this area, landed homes are selling for an average of $468 psf, Savills said. This means an average price of $3.7 million for a 8,000 sq ft semi-detached four bedroom house.

Asking rentals keep pace with the price, at between $14,000 and $16,000 a month.

Mount Sinai / Ghim Moh - High price for right schooling

The strong presence of schools such as Henry Park Primary and Dunman High help boost home prices in this area, which extends from Ghim Moh near Holland Village to Mount Sinai and Moonbeam towards Ulu Pandan.

The choices range from HDB flats in Ghim Moh to a sprinkling of condominiums near Ridgewood and Ulu Pandan.

The middle portion is dominated by landed housing, mostly semi-detached ones.

Prices for HDB flats in Ghim Moh hover around $200,000 for a three-roomer and $300,000 for a four-roomer.

Condo prices vary more. At Pandan Valley, buyers can expect to pay $588 psf, or nearly $1 million, for a 1,700 sq ft unit, said Savills. This amount will cover only a 1,033 sq ft unit at Allsworth Park, where units average $956 psf, it added.

At Moonbeam, semi-detached houses cost about $689 psf, or $2.4 million and up. The houses sold recently range from 3,400 sq ft to about 4,000 sq ft.

Queen Astrid / Leedon - Where space comes at a premium

It is easy to form a defining impression of the bungalow area encompassing Queen Astrid, Oei Tiong Ham and Leedon Parks.

One house has a Bentley and a Mercedes-Benz sitting pretty in a driveway that leads to a massive bungalow with a swimming pool in the backyard.

Indeed, the tranquillity of the well-known bungalow area - complete with sweeping driveways, large cars and even larger houses - is conducive for dreaming big. Houses in the area range from 12,000 sq ft to 16,000 sq ft, according to Savills Singapore.

As can be expected, prices are equally mammoth. A 15,500 sq ft Leedon Road bungalow was sold for $11.5 million in July last year, or about $740 psf, an unusually high psf price for a bungalow.

Average prices in the area are about $568 psf, said Savills, and average asking rents can be anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000 a month.

Even speculators have cashed in on the rising demand for bungalows. Last year, a 27,372 sq ft house in Queen Astrid Park changed hands three times, for a handsome profit each time.

It fetched $12.5 million in April, and was then re-sold in May for $16 million. The new owner went on to sell it again for $18 million in December.

A Oei Tiong Ham Park bungalow was sold last December for $11 million. At almost 21,000 sq ft, this works out to $526 psf, said Savills.

‘It is still considered a very high-quality, low-density housing area, and the scarcity value of all these good-class bungalows has pushed up the value of land prices a lot,’ said Mr Ku Swee Yong, Savills Singapore’s director of marketing and business development.

Holland Village - It’s hip and happening

The heart and soul of Holland Road is Holland Village, which boasts arguably the most hip HDB estate in town, with chic shops and eateries interspersed with a church and a swimming complex.

Even the never-ending Circle Line construction has not dimmed the area’s energy - nor the steady rise in home prices.

Home prices have jumped over the last year, by up to 60 per cent in condos such as The Merasaga. Two units were recently sold for $1,100 per sq ft (psf), up from about $710 psf last year.

The Ford @ Holland, which grabbed headlines when it sold out within an hour last November, has seen average prices moving up from $1,200 psf then to $1,300 now.

In general, average prices of condos in the area are $1,092 psf, said Savills Singapore.

It added that average asking rentals for a two- or three-bedroom apartment range from $3,500 to $4,000 a month.

As for HDB flats, Holland Village includes some of the priciest flats in Singapore. Buyers can expect to pay close to $500,000 for a five-room flat - almost as much as a small condo would cost.

Three-room flats are more affordable, ranging from about $170,000 to about $210,000.

Home prices here are moving up mainly because buyers anticipate a rise in values when the new Circle Line MRT stations come up nearby, said Mr Ku Swee Yong, Savills Singapore’s director of marketing and business development. He added the recent buzz around Buona Vista, including one-north and Rochester Park, has spilled over to the area.

Farrer Road - Homing in on the junction

Surrounding the busy Farrer Road/Holland Road junction is a well-established residential area that is home to several notable condominiums.

Among them are Leedon Heights, the estate that recorded Singapore’s most expensive collective sale, and Farrer Court, which looks set to topple that record soon.

Interest in the area is growing, thanks to a few recent condo launches in the area, as well as the stirrings of collective sale activity.

Home prices seem to depend on whether the development is along the Farrer side of Holland Road or on Queensway, at the opposite end.

At Farrer, average prices are up to 50 per cent higher than at Queensway. Newly launched Waterfall Gardens, for instance, commands $1,439 psf, while Viz @ Holland averages $854 psf.

Generally, you can expect to pay about $800 psf along Queensway and well upwards of $950 psf for most Farrer homes.

Dempsey Road - Good-class homes aplenty

Thanks to up-and-coming Tanglin Village, most people now associate Dempsey Road with trendy eateries and chic watering holes.

But the area is better known - to property watchers at least - for its clusters of good-class bungalows, the most prestigious homes available in Singapore.

Tucked away along the winding roads of Ridout, Swettenham and Peirce are these spacious, limited-edition houses - there are only about 2,500 of them in the whole island.

Their scarcity means that few deals have occurred this year. But last year, some bungalows in Peirce changed hands for an average of about $600 per sq ft, or $9.7 million for 16,100 sq ft of space, said property firm Savills Singapore.

Rents average $20,000 to $30,000.

As demand for high-end homes soars, experts predict that prices and rentals for good-class bungalows will follow. Dempsey Road, with its proximity to town and the spillover from Tanglin Village, is set to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this trend.