Tag Archives: Illuminaire

Singapore Property : The Penthouse Squeeze

They were bungalows in the sky once; now penthouses can be smaller than 800 sq ft

Mention penthouses and one immediately thinks of big, luxurious bungalows in the sky, with wraparound views and a multimillion-dollar price tag.

But these days they can be as small as 800 sq ft or less.

These penthouses have come on the market along with mostly yet-to-be-completed developments featuring ‘mickey mouse’ apartments of 500 sq ft or less.

There is no market data on the number of these small penthouses but a survey of some recent projects with small units shows they are not uncommon.

At the recently released five- storey, 40-unit City Loft project near Farrer Park MRT station, the two-bedroom penthouses are 743 to 904 sq ft in size.

Another recent launch Suites@Guillemard – with units as small as 258 sq ft – has penthouses of 797 to 1109 sq ft. Some sales were done around a median level of $1,250 psf.

At the 114-unit Siglap V, penthouses come as small as 760 sq ft and go up to 1,300 sq ft. This yet-to-be-launched project opposite Siglap Centre otherwise offers units starting from 380 to 730 sq ft.

Kembangan Suites also has small penthouses that come with private jacuzzis. The smallest, at 635 sq ft, includes a roof terrace that looks similar to the size of the private jacuzzi.

The project’s 60 units were sold for $775 to $1,097 psf in March.

These penthouses of around 700 to 780 sq ft may appear to be as big as a three-room HDB flat – HDB’s new build-to-order project Fernvale Palms, for instance, offers three- room units of about 721 sq ft – but they have less usable space. Continue reading

Check actual space of shoebox units

I refer to last Sunday’s article, ‘The land of shrinking apartments?’.

Even if we have to settle for shoeboxes, we should spend our precious money wisely, choosing well-fitting boxes.

I saw in the sample floor plan of a Suites @ Guillemard unit that there were two large bay windows forming part of the 258sq ft area, which at first looked big enough to accommodate another bed and sofa.

I understand the plan was only an approximation, but I measured the space depicted anyway and found that the bay windows took up 28.9sq ft of the area.

Another 9.6sq ft space attached to a bay window was unlabelled and might be an air-conditioner ledge or planter box. This left only 219.5 sq ft of actual floor space, or 85per cent of the original 258 sq ft figure.

If one wants to buy 258 sq ft of space, it would be a good idea to buy 258 sq ft of actual floor space, and not 219.5 sq ft, with the floor area shrunken by bay windows and other architectural gimmicks, which are usually there for the benefit of someone else other than the home buyer. Continue reading