Did a PR pay this insane sum for a pigeon hole?

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HDB maisonette sells for record $1.05m in Bishan

SINGAPORE - The trend of dipping resale prices did not seem to affect the $1.05 million sale of a Bishan HDB maisonette last month.

Located on the 20th floor of Block 190, the 150 sq m flat is said to be located in a prime area which is near the MRT station.

The property was sold at $250,000 cash-over-valuation (COV) in a sale handled by Thomas Hee, a property agent from the Dennis Wee Group.

Mr Hee attributed the high fetching price of the flat to its central location, and its proximity to two bus interchanges and top schools.

"Another factor is the spaciousness of the flat," he said, adding that the maisonette could have also been attractive as its lease commenced only in 1987, making it just 27 years old.

In total, four HDB flats were sold for $1 million and above last year. Three of these homes in Bishan, Whampoa and Toh Yi were sold before housing loan curbs were introduced in June.

Only one other million-dollar HDB home was sold at Mei Ling Street in 2012.

Many other resale flats fetched high prices on the market in 2013. According to Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX), a total of 70 HDB resale flats were sold above the $900K mark last year, compared to only 21 in 2012.

The Singapore Property Index released by SRX showed that the median resale price in Bishan in December was $539,000.

Jeremy Lee, an SRX spokesperson said that the transaction should be considered as an exception in the market today.

"In fact, the median COV for Executive HDB in Bishan has fallen from a high of $170,000 in Q1 of 2013, to $60,000 in Q4," he said.

"The recent downward trends in both COV and valuations are likely to make such transactions even more rare in the near future," he added.

SRX Business analyst Jason Chen said that the contract for December's million-dollar sale was likely signed in October.

"Apart from Bishan's strategic location and the proximity to the MRT station, we believe the flat came with some unique attributes which attracted a high COV and record price," he added.

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