Tag Archives: Sail@Marina Bay

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

The land of shrinking apartments?

Developers offering small units gain from a higher per-sq-ft price, but what about buyers?

Property players seem to have gone flat-out in a race to offer smaller and smaller units these days .

The foundation of this trend is mainly in the mass-market and mid-tier projects. However, upmarket developments downtown such as The Sail@Marina Bay, One Shenton and Icon have also made room for units that are smaller than 700 sq ft each.

Colliers International executive director Ho Eng Joo said developers find it commercially viable to build smaller units because of the higher profit margins.

More units can be packed within the space, and can be sold at a higher per-sq-ft price.

But since absolute sums for the smaller apartments are still relatively affordable compared to bigger units, the prices may still seem like a good deal for buyers. Continue reading