The Next Neighbourhood

I get this a lot.

And right now I answer ‘Pasir Panjang’, although some people believe it’s Geylang(once the government cleans it up). On the latter note, I personally like Little India- it’s closer to town, a lot more atmospheric, with an interesting group of people. And early morning trips to Mustafa would make you believe you’re not in Singapore(people smile, for one).

The rules are easy:

9/10/11 are the blue chips- it precedes and outperforms other neighbourhoods in an ‘up’ market and keeps its value the most in a ‘down’ market. The best are the ones walking distance to amenities whilst still being a relatively green, sedate neighbourhood.

Within the blue chips, some neighbourhoods are particularly ‘undervalued’. Get your nearest estate agent to show you the supporting caveats. Then again, some fashionable neighbourhoods go out of fashion. I believed the immediate neighbourhoods(it’s dist 21, a long-accepted alternative to 9/10/11) surrounding the Turf Club became unfashionable after the latter was moved to Kranji(what took it’s place- used car showrooms?)

If you want to invest in a ‘gentrifying’ neighbourhood, be sure of your timeline. Geylang might take some time to pan out- even with Singapore’s political will. What makes sense in a market characterized by en bloc sales is the need for homeowners(profiting from the en bloc deal but priced out of the neighbourhood) to find neighbourhoods accessible to town without the same price tag.

Back to Pasir Panjang- it’s a great neighbourhood to speculate on because its proximity to the IR has not been reflected in its real estate prices. Other reasons:

1.The development of surrounding amenities(Vivocity, St James).

2.The relative ease by which to travel to the city made possible by the expressway, an alternative trend of living away from the city in an effort to reclaim a piece of suburbia(the surrounding greenery and the sea views if you managed to get the right apartment)

and the settling in of a vibrant community.The next time you hear of ‘that party over the weekend in an interesting apartment overlooking the sea’, it might(probably is) Pasir Panjang.