For HDB homeowners, there are 2 main milestones that you’d generally be excited about: getting your keys, and when your flat hits its Minimum Occupation Period (MOP). Make that 10 years, if you’re bougie enough to be the owner of a Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) flat.
The latter is actually a pretty significant milestone, because this is when homeowners can start to sell their home in the resale market, and in doing so, secure all that sweet profit accumulated over the years as a result of value appreciation. Plus, depending on your flat’s location, layout and floor area, there’s the very real possibility to cash in some serious dough!
Well, one such HDB project that just reached its MOP is Skyline II @ Bukit Batok. As expected, some homeowners were very quick to utilise their first-mover advantage and sell. Here’s our analysis on the freshly-MOPed transactions, why they transacted for such high prices:
How does a flat’s remaining lease affect its value?
Before we dive into Skyline II @ Bukit Batok, it’s important to first establish how a flat’s remaining lease can influence its selling price/value in the resale market.
One of the main reasons why freshly-MOPed flats are so attractive is because of their age. With more than 94 years left on the lease, these flats are as young as they can possibly be under the resale category. It also means that wear and tear would be minimal in these newer units, as compared to a 40-year-old flat where renovation is almost a need and not a want.
Not only does this afford the owner the choice to sell the unit down the road with a reasonable amount of years of the lease, some of these newly MOP-ed units also come very well renovated, with little to no need for more cost to be sunk into making it liveable.
Of course, some believe that you shouldn’t be amongst the ‘first wave’ to sell your flats upon hitting MOP as this limits your profit potential as these sales set the benchmark in terms of prices.
Most homeowners prefer to be part of the subsequent waves of sales to gauge the demand for their property, before negotiating a higher asking price.
That said, a flat’s age is certainly not the be-all-and-end-all. Take for example jumbo flats – most if not all have been around for over 30 years, which translates to remaining leases of just over 60 years, give or take.
Despite their age, they command a million-dollar price tag in the resale market, mainly because of other factors such as their floor area and location. And so, while a higher remaining lease would generally mean a higher selling price, it wouldn’t be the only factor in determining its value.
Skyline II @ Bukit Batok 5-room flats sold for more than $900K
Now back to Skyline II @ Bukit Batok. It consists of three 40-storey blocks located along Bukit Batok Street 22, across blocks 296A-296C.
Image adapted from: Google Maps
Over the past few months in 2022, there have been quite a handful of Skyline II units hitting the market, at fairly high prices. For instance, there were five flats in the 5-room category that were sold for $900K and above between Jun – Oct 2022. Otherwise, its other 5-room units were sold in the high $800K range, across various floors.
Image adapted from: HDB
Notably, the highest price ever recorded in the 5-room category at Skyline II was a whopping $935K, involving a unit somewhere on the highest floors 37-39.
Initial launch prices for Skyline II
Based on our checks online, these were the initial launch prices for both Skyline I and Skyline II @ Bukit Batok, as per HDB’s press release:
Image adapted from: HDB
If you take the lowest selling price for 5-room units excluding grants, you can tell that its value has more or less doubled over 5 years, given that the rough average of prices is around the high-$800K region. That’s also a huge profit secured!
One caveat is that this isn’t always the case for all BTOs, and expectations should be managed. With the current market of appreciating resale prices, it’s true to say that BTOs appreciate in price over time, and so selling your flat upon MOP will generally mean a fair profit – but not all developments will see a 2X on their value in 5 years.
In the case of Skyline II, we’d have to say that the jump in price can be attributable to a variety of factors, the top one being its fantastic location and proximity to the highway and town centre.
Prices of other newly-MOPed blocks in the vicinity
Image adapted from: Google Maps
Checking across other recent sales transactions in the Bukit Batok estate, another two blocks of flats that have recently hit its MOP and making sales in the market is Skyline I (Blocks 194A-B), just across the road from Skyline II.
Similar to Skyline II, quite a number of 5-room units at Skyline I have been sold at prices of over $800K, with one even hitting $900K. Naturally, those situated on the higher floors commanded generally higher prices, which is to be expected.
Image adapted from: HDB
Newly-MOPed flats joining the market
According to reports online, there are well over 30,000 flats that would have just crossed the MOP-mark in 2022. This means that we can expect a relatively healthy number of “new” resale flats to be hitting the market, across both mature and non-mature estates such as Bukit Batok, Toa Payoh, Queenstown, Yishun and Sengkang.
With the property marketing being what it is now, it’s safe to say that those keen on getting a relatively young resale flat would be keeping close watch on developments that have or would soon hit their MOP, to see if they can get a good deal.
While we’ve seen some pretty high prices for 5-room units, we can’t help but wonder if we’ll soon see a fresh-MOP unit crossing the formidable $1M mark.
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Cover image adapted from: Google Maps
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