Record $653,000 for flat

Record $653,000 for flat http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_453576.html

By Jessica Cheam

Chris Neo (left) and Kelvin Lim (right), seller of the flat Michael Nandakumaran (center), with sold a HDB flat at Blk 48, Strathmore Avenue for a record price of $653k. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM

A FOUR-ROOM Queenstown HDB flat has sold for $653,000, setting a new record for price per sq ft (psf), amid continuing red-hot demand for resale flats.

The buyers, a male Indonesian permanent resident and a Singaporean woman, could have bought a condominium unit in an outlying area for the price.

But they were won over by the location, just five minutes walk from Queenstown MRT station, and on the top, 40th floor of the block, with unblocked views of greenery from all windows.

The four-year-old 969sqft unit at Forfar Heights, Strathmore Avenue, sold for $68,000 above valuation - a level determined by an independent valuer.

This works out to $674 psf, smashing the previous record of $609 psf, achieved in January last year, by about 10per cent.

This may be an unusually high price but resale prices have been moving up.

- wong chee tat :)