Despite a rise in the number of available shoebox apartments over the last year, the fall in prices of this property sector was the lowest amongst all the other completed non-landed private apartments.
Photo credit: Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)
These small units up to 506 sq ft in size, especially if situated in good locations, will this segment continue to do well this year despite a 4 per cent price decline in 2014? Made popular in 2009, shoebox units in the prime districts such as those in the city centre or city fringes, were snapped up well and fast over the past 5 years. So much so that developers launched projects with shoebox units which made up as much as 80 per cent of the total number of units launched outside the city centre region.
Though these small studio-size units are commonly popular in highly populated cities such as London, Sydney, Tokyo and New York, will they work in suburban Singapore? With new regional hubs such as Jurong and Woodlands coming up, and even more in the next 10 to 20 years under URA’s redevelopment plans, it could possibly be so as businesses fan out from the city centre into these regions, bringing with them expatriates and their housing needs.
For the current year, property experts are waiting to see the markets’ response to resale shoebox units as more of these developments attain their TOP (temporary occupation permit). The most recent additions to the market are The [email protected] and The Hillier. It could be a battle between centrally located shoebox units and slightly larger two-room apartments outside of the city.
