Property Hunt: Oleander Towers

24 Feb 2009


We have taken a look at properties in Novena and Queenstown and the prices in these two areas are quite high. Does this apply to Toa Payoh as well? Let's find out more as we cover Oleander Towers.

Located at 911 & 913 Toa Payoh Lorong 1 in district 12, Oleander Towers has a 99-year tenure with 318 units spread across 3-bedroom apartments, maisonette and penthouses. The developer for the site was Winprime Investment, which is part of the Wing Tai Group.

By looking at the type of units available here, you can already tell the unique mix of residents. The demographic would be people whose income level is slightly above average.

Age
Oleander Towers was completed in 1998, so this makes it 11 years old now. We prefer condominiums that are 10 years or younger as it would make it easier for buyers to get a loan from the bank. In this case, we have to give it a cross.

Facilities and amenities
Oleander Towers is equipped with the basic condominium facilities like swimming pool, gym, tennis courts and barbecue pits. The nearest mall is Novena Square which is 1.5 km away and if you walk a bit more, (3km from Oleander) you can get to Mustafa Centre, a 24-hour shopping centre in Little India.

The nearest MRT station is the Toa Payoh MRT station, located 0.37 km away. To get a tick here, the walking distance to or from the condominium should not exceed 1 km, so it gets a tick here. Another MRT station located within the 1km range is Braddell MRT, 0.84km away. Ideally here, it also qualifies for another tick.

CONQUAS Score
The Building and Construction Authorities (BCA) has implemented this scoring system into the building and construction industry to set standards or guidelines for developers to follow.

Sifting through the list of projects, Oleander Towers was given a CONQUAS rating of 78.6. Not bad for an 11 year-old condominium. Most of the condominiums we had covered in the past had an average score of 80 and above. 78.6 is not too far away.

Rental
According to the Q3 2008 list of rentals, Oleander Towers has an average rental price of S$3.11 per sq ft (psf). The pricing psf for a 3-bedroom apartment starts at S$3.33. For a 1,142 sq ft apartment, you'll have to pay S$3,800 in rent.

There was no pricing psf given for the penthouse. But for a penthouse that size, and assuming a rental rate of S$3.11 psf, you'll have to fork out S$7,775 per month!

For maisonettes, one 1,464 sq ft apartment was going for S$3.07 psf, making the rental S$4,500 per month. Another 1,464 sq ft apartment has a rental of S$3.38 psf, making it a total of S$4,800 per month. It is quite pricey for an 11-year old condominium, but it is located really near town.

Caveats lodged
Over the past year, a total of 24 records were found out of the 318 units. This means about 7.5% of its residents have managed to sell their apartments, despite the economic slowdown.

Going back to February last year, the average pricing psf was S$750 and it went down by S$25 in March. In April, the average amount inched up to S$775 psf and May saw only one transaction taking place at S$739 psf.

For the month of June, the average was S$740 psf and it went up S$30 the next month. August saw an average of S$700 psf before going back up to S$760 for September.

October's average was S$730 and for both November and December, the average was down to S$610 psf.

You can see that the pricing psf for Oleander Towers really fluctuated last year. The pricing was not as stable as compared to Thomson Euro-Asia in Novena and Queens in Queenstown where fluctuations were just gradual and the difference was within S$100 at any one month's average.

Despite that, the fact is, Oleander Towers is situated at Toa Payoh, a 'fringe' area from town, travelling by public and private transport is easy and there is a specific type of people living there, and they are likely to be a family-oriented bunch.

More

Investor Watch