Park Nova is a luxury development located in District 10. Aside from its freehold status, the development also offers super spacious units and easy access to MRT stations and nearby amenities.
Kingsford Development (KDL) is a real estate company with an extensive portfolio of investment and development properties in Asia. It has established itself as a customer oriented firm that creates innovative and quality homes at competitive prices.
Project Name: Kingsford Waterbay
Address: Upper Serangoon View
Type: Condominium
Site area: Approx. 293,806 sqft
Tenure: 99 years commencing on 3rd March 2014
District: 19
Configuration: 1165 units
Unit types:
252 1-bedroom units (474 – 484 sqft)
372 2-bedroom units (614 – 721 sqft)
384 3-bedroom units (850 – 1044 sqft)
14 3-bedroom + study units (1023 sqft)
27 3-bedroom Dual Key units (958 – 980 sqft)
92 4-bedroom units (1033 – 1216 sqft)
16 5-bedroom units (1302 sqft)
6 strata terrace units (1625 sqft)
2 strata semi-D units (1593 – 1948 sqft)
Maintenance fees: TBA
Parking lots:
1165 normal lots
14 childcare lots
9 handicapped lots
Expected TOP: December 2018
Expected legal completion: December 2021
Project Details
Kingsford Waterbay is a 1165-unit development located within the private residential enclave of Upper Serangoon View. At time of writing (Sept 2015), 219 out of the 314 units launched have been sold.
Unit sizes range from 1-bedroom units to 5-bedroom units, with an additional 6 terrace units and 2 semi-D units. The lowest-priced unit on PropertyGuru is a 484 sqft 1-bedroom unit going for $498,000, which translates to around $1,030 psf. A 1,949 sqft 4-bedroom semi-D unit is going for $1,999,999 and this is an estimated $1,026 psf.
At time of writing, all unit types are still available.
Construction for the development is still in the initial stages.
The showflat is on site and more accessible via the side entrance nearer to Rio Vista.
This is the view right behind the showflat. Sungei Serangoon (Malay for Serangoon River) is an 8-km river which starts at Tampines, flows through Hougang and Sengkang and empties into Serangoon Harbour. The section behind Kingsford is part of a 2.2km jogging track known as Serangoon Park Connector running along its western bank.
Kingsford Waterbay consists of 9 towers each standing at 16 storeys tall. They are organized in such a way that every unit either has a view of Sungei Serangoon or the gamut of facilities within the development.
The project is carved into six zones. The commercial shops and childcare centre are all near the main entrance, with the public having access to the shops.
Different parts of each unit have different types of flooring. Future residents get to see the floor types up close at the showflat.
Facilities at Kingsford are organized according to the six zones – The Stream, The River, The Cove, The Waterfall, The Promenade and The Club.
For the active:
- tennis court
- gym room, aqua gym & outdoor gym
- fitness corner and
- two 50m lap pools
For the nature lovers:
- zen garden
- meditation lawn
- putting green
- sunset pavilion and
- water zen garden
For family activities, there are the BBQ sun deck, bubbling pool and water slide playground for kids, wave pool for everyone, function deck and water theatre. After a long day at work, you can head to the sky bar or the creek pool deck for some relaxation time.
Showflat units are available for 1- to 5-bedroom units. Photos in this review are from all units.
Specifications:
Flooring
- homogenous and/or ceramic and/or porcelain tiles for living, dining, family area, yard, powder room, bathrooms, water closet, passageway to rooms and balcony or private enclosed space (PES)
- engineered timber flooring for bedrooms
Doors
- timber door for entrance
- hollow core flush timber doors for bedrooms, kitchen, powder room and bathrooms
- powder-coated aluminium-framed door and/or fixed glass panel for balcony or PES
- slide-and-fold PVC door panel for yard and water closet
Sanitary fittings
- solid surface vanity top with basin and mixer, mirror, towel rail, shower compartment with shower mixer set, pedestal water closet and paper holder for all bathrooms
- solid surface vanity top with basin and mixer, mirror, pedestal water closet and paper holder for powder room
- pedestal water closet, basin with tap, shower set with tap and paper holder for water closet
Additional items
- built-in wardrobes for all bedrooms
- wall-mounted air-con from Mitsubishi for living, dining and all bedrooms
Cabinets with solid surface countertops and a sink come with the kitchen. In the bigger units, appliances provided include a built-in oven, gas cooker hob and hood, refrigerator and a washer cum dryer all from Electrolux.
Kitchens in the 1- and 2-bedroom units have a more open concept and come with an electric cooker hob and hood instead. The kitchen is right in front of the entrance, and the living area just beyond it.
The kitchen is connected to the yard and water closet in the 3-, 4- and 5-bedroom units.
The living room extends to the balcony or the PES, depending on the unit type. The kitchen is the first thing you see when you enter with the dining area just behind it.
The arrangement is similar, but more compact in the smaller units.
The common bedrooms can just about accommodate a queen-sized bed. If you choose to have a single bed instead, the room becomes much more spacious.
The master bedroom in the units can fit a queen-sized bed with some room for movement.
Bathrooms have a wet and dry area as per normal and fittings are from Grohe. Master bathrooms are slightly wider and larger and can fit two people at the same time.
The project was launched in March 2015 and around 70% of the launched units have been sold. As of now, buyers have been mostly Singaporeans, with permanent residents and foreigners accounting for an estimated 28% of sales. Around 78% of buyers appear to be HDB upgraders.
Kingsford’s location is likely to attract owner-occupiers buying for future long-term capital gains more than investors buying to lease.
Location
Etymology: Upper Serangoon View connects to Upper Serangoon Road which runs down from Hougang to Kovan and Serangoon.
Hougang is a suburb in north-eastern Singapore, bordering Sengkang to the north and Serangoon to the south. Its name is the pinyin version of Au-kang, a Hokkien and Teochew name meaning ‘river end’, as Hougang is located upstream or at the back of Sungei Serangoon.
Pig farming was carried out in some areas and the last of the farmers were relocated by the late 1990s to flats built in Hougang. There also used to be a fishing port at the end of Upper Serangoon Road.
Today, Hougang is a HDB new town with over 40,000 housing units interspersed with pockets of private residential areas.
Getting there: Kingsford Waterbay is located along Upper Serangoon View, which connects to Upper Serangoon Road. For early-morning commuters, Raffles Place will be a 22-minute MRT ride away and City Hall, a 20-minute ride.
The Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) on the left connects to the Tampines Expressway (TPE) and takes you to the Tampines, Pasir Ris and Changi areas. The KPE also connects to the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) so the CBD will be a 20-minute drive away. If you’re headed to town via the Central Expressway (CTE), it is also a 20-minute drive.
Hougang MRT is a 5-minute drive away. From there, it is one stop down to Heartland Mall and two stops to NEX shopping mall. 2 stops up will take you to Compass Point shopping mall.
The estate: Upper Serangoon View is a private enclave just off the Upper Serangoon thoroughfare. It is also part of the established estate of Hougang.
Sungei Serangoon runs right behind Kingsford and forested area lies beyond that currently. However, the 2014 Master Plan by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) reveals that these areas are intended to be used for industrial purposes.
To get away from the potential noise construction could bring about, residents can head to the nearby Punggol Park, less than a 10-minute walk away.
Kingsford is also surrounded by other condos. To its left, there’s Rio Vista. Directly opposite is Boathouse Residences and in front of it, Heron Bay. Slightly further up and along Upper Serangoon Road, there’s The Florida.
These projects are all accessible via bus 324, which runs in a loop from Hougang Central (bus interchange) to Upper Serangoon Road, Upper Serangoon View, and back. From Kingsford, there will be a shuttle service to Hougang Central. There are also services 62 and 136, which stop along Upper Serangoon Road, in front of Serangoon Secondary School.
As for school options, Serangoon Secondary School is directly opposite Kingsford and CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity, less than 200 metres away.
Walking distance:
- Holy Innocents’ High School
- Nativity Church Kindergarten
Within 2 km:
- The Montessori Playroom Kindergarten
- Punggol Primary School
- Holy Innocents’ Primary School
- Montfort Junior School
- North Vista Secondary School
- Xinmin Secondary School
- Nanyang Junior College
Within 5km:
- CHIJ Saint Joseph’s Convent
- Serangoon Junior College
- Meridian Junior College
- Nan Chiau Primary School
- Nan Chiau High School
International Schools:
- DPS International School
- Lycee Francais de Singapour
- United World College of Southeast Asia (East)
Hougang Mall is a 5-minute drive away. The suburban shopping mall houses Cheng San Community Library. NTUC Fairprice is in the basement and education and enrichment centres are available for kids on the 5th level.
NEX mall is about an 8-minute drive away. The 7-storey regional suburban shopping mall boasts 19 anchor tenants including Shaw Cinemas and a total of 340 F&B and retail units. It is also connected to Serangoon bus interchange and Serangoon MRT.
You could also get your shopping and dining fix at Heartland Mall, less than a 5-minute drive away. The upcoming Market Square at Kovan City and mixed development The Midtown near Hougang Central promise more retail excitement as well.
For some family time, you could head to Hougang Sports Hall, slightly further down from Hougang Mall. It is connected to Hougang Swimming Complex and Hougang Stadium, which is the home stadium of Hougang United FC in the S-League. Football lovers will enjoy the regular matches held there.
As for the healthcare needs of residents, there are various clinics situated in the Hougang neighbourhood and Hougang Polyclinic is a 5-minute drive away. The upcoming Sengkang General and Community Hospital slated to begin operations in 2018, will be a 10-minute drive away and residents will be able to receive specialized care and treatment should they need to.
Analysis
Caveated transactions for Kingsford Waterbay at time of writing (Sept 2015) stands at 205. Recorded transaction prices range from $514K to $2.139M, with over 98 percent of the transactions coming in at $1.5M or below (see Chart 1). In fact, 88 percent are in the Less than $1M range.
Sales Transactions
Kingsford Waterbay’s closest competitor would be Boathouse Residences, located directly across the road. Launched in mid 2011, its current median price is $919 psf to Kingsford’s $1,108 psf. However, its current median price for transactions in the past four quarters is $1,049 psf. Boathouse Residences is a smaller project, at 493 units to Kingsford Waterbay’s 1,165.
Occupants of the suburban leasehold project are likely to be home buyers who wish to raise their families amidst the relative calm and greenery.
Units at Boathouse Residences range from 1-4 bedroom units and penthouse units. Kingsford Waterbay consists of 1-5 bedroom units plus strata terrace and semi-D units. Two-to-three bedders have been the most highly sought after at Kingsford. This is in keeping with the trend for ‘quantum-friendly’ units since the onset of the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) that started tightening credit conditions.
It may be more useful to look at 3-bedroom units in particular, across both developments. According to caveats, Kingsford’s 3-bedroom units have a median price of $1,115 psf while Boathouse Residences’ is $877 psf. Transactions for the units at Kingsford Waterbay range from $870K to $1.19M, and from $883K to $1.06M at Boathouse Residences.
Before deciding based on these numbers alone, we should look at unit sizing as well. By comparison, 3-bedroom units at Boathouse Residences have larger proportions and are around 1,109 sqft. At Kingsford, they range from 850 sqft to 1,044 sqft.
While Boathouse Residences seems to be a more wallet-friendly option, it is fully sold out. Moreover, buyers at Kingsford Waterbay are paying a slight premium for unblocked riverside views of Sungei Serangoon, and the increased number of facilities that the much larger project offers.
Kingsford Waterbay seems to have higher sale prices when compared to Boathouse, but overall quantums remain pretty affordable considering the riverfront view and high-end finishes for units.
Future Rental Potential
To understand what rental prices will be like for Kingsford Waterbay, we need to look at rental prices for other projects in the area.
The current median rental price for projects along Upper Serangoon View is around $2.56 psf per month at time of writing, based on rental transactions for the past 4 quarters. The current median rental price for Boathouse Residences is an estimated $2.9 psf per month. At these rates, a 3-bedroom unit around 950 sqft at Kingsford would go for around $3,200 to $3,300 a month, after factoring a 20% premium for its new build. With the median price for the unit being around $983K, the annual gross rental yield at the current rate would be an estimated 4%. Assuming that rental prices increase in future with the upcoming rejuvenation of Hougang Town Centre, the same 3-bedroom unit could possibly fetch up to $3,500. Gross rental yield then moves up to 4.2%.
The median unit size of a 3-bedroom at Boathouse Residences, on the other hand, would probably fetch around $3,500 a month at today’s rental rates. This translates to around 4.3% in annual gross rental yield. Rental could go up to $3,700 a month with future developments in the surrounding areas. Annual gross rental yield would then be in the 4.5% range.
Rental yield for Boathouse Residences comes out to be slightly higher than Kingsford Waterbay. However, Kingsford has a childcare centre and commercial shops which contribute to the sinking fund. Residents thus have a little help when it comes to maintenance fees. Both projects are directly across each other, so there is no real difference in terms of nearby amenities. Unit sizing differs slightly with Boathouse Residences having more generous proportions. Overall however, rental yields for both developments seem to be in the safe zone.
Summary
Kingsford Waterbay will appeal to home buyers looking to be away from busy roads or noise in general. Its selling point is very easily the scenic riverfront view it offers its residents.
Residents will enjoy the easy access to major expressways and proximity to nearby malls. The upcoming Seletar Aerospace Park and Regional Centre will be a 12-minute drive away. This could translate to more job opportunities in the area as well. For families with children, the many reputable schools nearby are another plus.
The commercial shops within the development should be able to make up for the lack of any convenience stores within walking distance.
An obvious drawback however, would be the fact that MRT stations are not within walking distance. Hougang MRT is a 10-minute bus ride away. Residents should expect this knowing that the project is right in the middle of Upper Serangoon View.
Kingsford is an ideal place to raise a family in, with the natural surroundings and many facilities within its compound. Kids will definitely enjoy water activities in Sungei Serangoon. There are quite a number of 1-bedroom units as well, so investors have the option of leasing too.
Overall, pricing for the project is quite attractive, so both home buyers and investors will be getting a good deal with Kingsford Waterbay.