Best condo within 1km radius of Nan Chiau primary school

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Introduction

Reputable school plays a pivotal role in influencing the buying decision of local homestay buyers.

Consequently, it has an outsized impact on price appreciation of property around it. For the uninitiated, how it works is that by being located within 1km radius from a reputable school Your child gains access to higher priority in the school enrollment balloting process.

Like it or not being located within the 1km radius of a reputable school bring about the following advantage

Higher demand from future buyer who are parents looking to get into the school, equating to better price appreciation potential
A chance to enrol your own child into the school

Focus of this article

This article is created with the intent of being a pre read for you before you dive into property portals to search for properties.

It is written from the perspective of a buyer looking to achieve the dual objective of finding a property that can satisfy his or her family need of enrolling your child in a reputable school, while making money from real estate at the same time.

Having worked with numerous client, we have seen many clients diving straight into available listing on property portal and purchasing a property purely for immediate lifestyle needs without considering the future exit plans and the property’s potential for price appreciation..

We hope to give you a quick summarised run down of the strength and weakness of the key development within 1km radius of Nan Chiau Primary school.

Noting that you may have limited reading time and attention, we choose to only feature key developments and unit types. If you like more specific information and in depth analysis feel free to drop us a text for a non obligatory consult.

A little bit about ourselves

We are a team of real estate investor turned full time realtor

We experienced first hand the benefit of the owning a quality real estate that enjoy healthy capital appreciation

We now turn focus our time helping client like ourselves purchase properties that not only fulfil their family needs but also enhances their current and future financial position

About Nan Chiau Primary School

Nan Chiau School is one of the most sought after reputable primary schools in SengKang. It is ranked 31 amongst 180 primary schools in Singapore in terms of popularity, based on balloting results.

It is not uncommon to hear of parents doubling down to both serve as a parent volunteer and simultaneously purchasing a property within 1km radius to increase their child’s chance of getting into the school.

Below is a overview of Nan Chiau Primary School balloting result

Referring to the table, if you are not an alumni of the school or if you do not currently have a child in the school, you will fall outside of phase 1 and phase 2A balloting cohort.

Assuming you are a parent volunteer, you will stand a chance to ballot within the phase 2B cohort, but even then it is 2.7 times oversubscribed, with 45 vacancies but 123 parents balloting. If you are not a parent volunteer than you will only be able to qualify for phase 2C balloting, which is 2.9 times oversubscribed, with 264 parents fighting for 89 vacancies.
This is where being located within 1km radius of the school comes into play, irregardless of whether you are a parent volunteer participating in the phase 2B or a regular parent in balloting in phase 2C, being located within 1km radius gives you a priority over other parents balloting within the same phase.

Evaluation Criteria for best properties 1km from Nan Chiau Primary School

To gain insights on the strengths and weaknesses for the properties around Nan Chiau Primary School, let’s establish some evaluation criterias.
When setting up the evaluation criteria, we take into consideration both you and your family’s lifestyle requirement and future buyer’s preference to ensure healthy potential for capital appreciation.
For practical consideration, we have only included EC development that has passed its 5 year MOP period and completed resale private condo development. This will ensure that you will be able to move in the unit immediately after completion of purchase.

Criteria #1 – Size of Development

One of key characteristics of a good investment condo is the size of its development. As price setting is based on historical transactions, you would want to go for a large (greater than 500 units) to mid sized (300 units and above) development with an optimal no of profitable transactions to prop up your selling price.
In the case of Seng Kang, this criteria is of less importance as all of the development around Nan Chiau Primary school falls into the mid to large sized development category. As a side note this is normally not the case for other areas like Newton, Potong Pasir, Kovan etc where there could be presence of smaller boutique developments below 300 units.

Criteria #2 – Age of Development

We will prioritise development with lease life younger than 15 years of age and avoid older developments. Older developers with lease life longer than 15 years will face potential objection from future buyers as they are concerned with the issues of decaying lease, ageing exterior of the development and ageing interior condition for the unit.

Criteria #3 – Affordability

As interest rate has risen significantly from its previous low, the overall quantum of the property plays a pivotal role in influencing the affordability of future buyers. Hence, it is best to purchase a unit that fits within the budget of most buyer to ensure healthy demand.

For our recent research, some of the locations with the best investment properties are heartland areas with property priced at the most affordable quantum like Seng Kang and Punggol.

Criteria #4 – Bedroom Type and Layout

With the recent 2023 hike in ABSD, buyer demand from local investors buying their 2nd property and foreign buyers have decreased. Bulk of the buyer demand comes from local Singaporean buyers purchasing for their own family usage. These buyers value space and require sufficient room to house their children. Hence it is important for us to select a unit that is at least 3 room or above with a good functional layout.

We will avoid 1 bedroom unit, especially in residential areas like Seng Kang

Criteria #5 – Proximity to MRT

This has always been an important criteria for our property selection, even though you could drive, being close to MRT serve as a selling point for future buyers and provide an option for you to rent out the property if ever consider the option to decouple property and purchase a second property for your own stay.

Complete list of condo within 1km of Nan Chiau Primary school

Here’s a complete list of condo developments within a 1km radius of Nan Chiau Primary School. In the section that follows, we will highlight key development that is worth noting.

Note data is compiled in Q1 2024, for most updated data, drop us a message for updates.

#1 – Newest and Most Sought after Development – Treasure Crest

Basic Info

• Property type – Executive condo
• Lease start – 99 yrs from 2015
• Tenure – 99 years
• No of unit – 504

Key highlights

Most of the latest condo developments in Seng Kang, within 1km of Nan Chiau Primary School are mainly executive condominiums that have just fulfilled its minimum occupation period.

Treasure crest being the youngest in terms lease life forms the upper bound benchmark being the priciest, in terms of psf amongst comparable developments in the area.

An important point to note is that, its first owners have also made the most significant capital gain compared to the other developments in the area. Till date, the EC’s first owners have made an average gain of at least $600k.

So it will be important to be mindful of your entry price if you are looking to purchase a unit in this development. And carefully consider the price disparity between your unit and cheaper alternatives in neighbouring development like Bellewaters and The Vales. Ultimately, you would need to consider how attractive your selling price will be when you are looking to resell your unit to a future buyer in 3 to 5 years time.

The price premium is not unjustified, its 3 bedroom units have got a very functional layout, featuring a single good sized balcony and a regular shaped living area with no wasted space. We will touch more on this in the section that follows.

Affordability

In terms of overall quantum, as mentioned earlier Treasure Crest is not the most affordable development when compared against neighbouring developments in the Seng Kang area.

At the point of writing in Q1 2024, referring to historical transactions, you will be looking at forking out at least $1.55 mil for a 1,044 sqft 3 bedroom unit.

If you will look into alternatives in neighbouring development Bellewaters, you will be able to get your hands on a 1,087 sqft 3 bedroom unit for $1.43 mil. And similarly, you would be able to purchase a 1,044 sqft 3 bedroom unit for under $1.5 mil.

Layout

Credit to Treasure Trove’s developer, its 3 bedroom unit has the most functional layout amongst the condo developments in the area. Referring to the 3 bedroom featured layout below.

Instead of having 2 balconies, it has only one sizable balcony that is large enough for owners to place a good sized dining table in the balcony. And it’s dinining area is well sized and spacious with no wasted corridor space

However, its 4 bedroom unit’s layout may be less ideal, as there is some wasted balcony space in the yard area.

Proximity to MRT

It also triumphs over its neighbouring development Bellewaters and The Vales in terms of proximity to MRT. It is located 5 mins walk away from Seng Kang MRT.

#2 – Most Attractive Quantum – Bellewaters

Basic Info

• Property type – Executive condo
• Lease start – 99 yrs from 2012
• Tenure – 99 years
• No of unit – 810

Key highlights

At the time of writing, the average psf of Bellewaters stands at $1,217 psf, $614 lower than its neighbouring upper bound benchmark development, Treasure Crest. Hence, amongst the list of shortlisted developments within 1km radius of Nan Chiau Primary school, Bellewaters is one of the most affordable options you can get.

Factor this as a selling proposition to your future buyers, if the price disparity still holds true or widens further, future buyers will be attracted to consider your unit due to its affordability.

Affordability

Affordability is the strength for this development, the proposition of this development for yourself and your future buyer will be the fact that you can get a good sized 3 to 5 bedroom unit at a good affordable quantum.

Referring to transaction history, at the point of writing. You will be looking at below 1.4mil for a 1,055 sqft 3 bedroom unit, below 1.8 mil for a 1,335 sqft 4 bedroom unit and around $2 mil for a 1,496 sqft 5 bedroom unit.

Layout

Based on potential home buyer feedback the key gripe they have over a 3 bedroom unit in Bellewater is that there are 3 balconies over at their 3 bedroom unit. This created some objections over wasted space incurred in the smaller balcony.

But as you move towards the 4 and 5 bedroom unit, there is only 1 balcony, but there is some down with wasted corridor space starting from the entrance to the living area.

Proximity to MRT

The Weakness to Bellewaters lies in its distance away from the Seng Kang MRT, it is located 16 mins walk away from the MRT station, compared to its neighbouring development that is located 5 mins way away from the MRT station.

Residence of Bellewaters would have to walk 9 mins to the nearest LRT station and transit at the Seng Kang MRT station.

#3 – Most convenient with highest rental yield – La Fiesta

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Basic Info

• Property type – Executive condo
• Lease start – 99 yrs from 2012
• Tenure – 99 years
• No of unit – 810

Key highlights

If you are looking at a good balance of rentability, capital appreciation potential and 1km radius of a reputable primary school then La Fiesta could be a development for you.

The key strength of La Fiesta is that it is located just right next to the Seng Kang MRT and next to the Compass Point shopping mall.

The convenience of the location is well reflected in its average rental rates, rental volume and rental yield. This could be a good development to buy into, if you got plans on purchasing a second property in another area in the future and turning a unit in this development into a rental property.

Affordability

La Fiesta is not the most affordable option as compared to Bellewaters but neither is it as premium as Treasure Crest. Based on historical transactions, its 3 bedroom unit, 1259 sqft is priced at slightly above $1.6 mil.

Layout

A point to take note of when looking at 3 and 4 bedroom units within La Fiesta, there are some. The layout may be a hit or miss for some home buyers, it features a dumbbell layout which positions bedrooms on both sides of the living room. But both unit types feature a long walkway from the entrance into the living area which resulted in some sub optimal use of space.

Proximity to MRT

As mentioned above convenience is the key for La Fiesta, it is located 3 mins walk away from Seng Kang MRT, right next to the key shopping mall in Seng Kang, the Compass One.

Final Words

This marks the end of our article on the best condo located within 1km radius of the popular Nan Chiau Primary school. If you are currently searching for a property in the SengKang area, feel free to drop us a text for a non obligatory analysis and shortlisting of property tailored to your requirement.

As a side note, we have also written a seperate article on Condo near Rosyth Primary and Condos within 1km of Catholic High, discussing which condo possesses the best attributes for a investment property.

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