What’s in store for Redhill Close
Redhill Close is an old housing estate located about 400 metres south of the Redhill MRT Station. There used to be a cluster of 22 public housing flats at Redhill Close that were built in 1955 under the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT). In 2011, these flats was acquired by the government under the Selective Enbloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS).
By August 2024, the old flats were demolished to make way for future developments. In the following month, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced the rezoning and changes to the masterplan for Redhill Close.
Most of the old flats at Redhill Close were about 7 storeys in height and their original plot ratio may be about 2 to 2.4 times when the flats were built. The new assigned plot ratio for Redhill Close is increased 4.9 times. The zoning of the site will remain mainly for residential uses.
What could be built at Redhill Close
Based on the estimated land area of 49,000 sqm and the proposed plot ratio of 4.9 times, the redevelopment of the Redhill Close estate could yield about 2,000 to 2,100 HDB flats or 2,600 to 2,800 condominium units.
There is a higher probability for the government to develop the Redhill Close estate into a new HDB estate, rather than to sell the land to private developers to build more condominium housing.
Currently, there is ample supply of private condominium housing around the Redhill MRT Station. Within 600 metres of the Redhill MRT Station, there is a cluster of about 10 private condominium developments. Most of these condominium projects are new as they are completed in the past three years.
On the other hand, there are not many new HDB Build-To-Order (BTO) projects around the Redhill MRT Station.
Furthermore, some of the newer HDB flats in the Bukit Merah HDB estate are fetching prices of more than $1 million each in the resale market, partly due to the limited supply of new flats in that area and the proximity to the CBD. Hence, there is a need for the government to build and sell BTO flats in the Redhill area to meet the demand for public housing and to cool the HDB resale market in that location.
Table 1: Summary of transacted HDB resale flats in the Bukit Merah estate
HDB flat type | Floor area (sqm) | Resale price range ($) | Median resale price ($) |
3-room flat | 53 - 88 | $275,000 - $860,000 | $414,000 |
4-room flat | 74 - 111 | $410,000 - $1,210,000 | $890,000 |
5-room flat | 110 - 157 | $650,000 - $1,588,000 | $978,000 |
Source: Mogul.sg Research, HDB
Based on transactions of HDB resale flats in the Bukit Merah estate in the first eight months of this year, the median prices of 3-, 4- and 5-room HDB flats were $414,000, $890,000 and $978.000 respectively.
An example of the high prices of Bukit Merah resale flats is that the upper end of the price range of 3-room flats is $860,000, which is not far from the median price of the larger 4-room flats.
Although the median price of Bukit Merah resale 4-room flats is $890,000, thirty of these flats were sold for at least $1 million each from January to August this year.
The more recent BTO projects near the Redhill MRT Station were Bukit Merah Ridge and Alexandra Vale, which were launched in May 2022 and August 2022 respectively. Both BTO projects were launched as PLH (Prime Location Public Housing) projects, which comes with tighter restrictions than the standard BTO flats.
The details of the projects are show in the table below.
Table 2: Recent BTO projects near Redhill MRT Station
BTO project | BTO launch date | Type of BTO | No. of 3-room flats | No. of 4-room flats | Total No. of flats |
Bukit Merah Ridge | May-22 | PLH | 443 | 1,226 | 1,669 |
Alexandra Vale | Aug-22 | PLH | 182 | 600 | 782 |
Source: Mogul.sg Research, HDB
One single development or a few different projects?
Redhill Close is in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), which is also known as the city-fringe area.
The average size of the Government Land Sale (GLS) residential sites in the RCR launched for sale by the government from January 2023 to August 2024 is 13,750 sqm. Based this average land area, if the government decides to sell the 49,000 sqm of residential land at Redhill Close for development into private housing, the entire estate can potentially be divided into at least 3 plots for land for condominium development.
However, if the government decides to build HDB flats on the Redhill Close estate, the site can also be divided into 2 to 3 BTO projects.
Either way, the Redhill Close estate is big enough to be divided into more than 2 land parcels. It is prudent to divide the site into more than one project and launch them over a few years to meet the housing needs in that area over a longer period of time, rather than to development the entire Redhill Close in one go.
New amenities needed for future residents
The existing retail amenities near the Redhill MRT Station consist mainly of the Redhill wet market and Redhill food centre, which are popular with the residents in that area.
Near the Redhill MRT station, there is no shopping mall or the typical HDB cluster of shops that could be found in the town centre of some HDB estates, such as at the Toa Payoh HDB Hub. The nearest shopping mall is Tiong Bahru Plaza, which is one MRT station away.
With the redevelopment of Redhill Close, the population in that area could increase by 2,000 to 2,800 households, leading to an increase in demand for more retail amenities. The current amount of retail space around the Redhill MRT station would be insufficient to meet the future needs of the residents.
Therefore, the redevelopment of Redhill Close will provide the opportunity to build new retail developments that could include a supermarket, shops and services to serve the residents in that area.
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