Popularity of HDB Estates - Serangoon

Serangoon is a quintessential mature estate in Singapore, often cherished for its established community, the bustling NEX shopping mall, and the legendary Chomp Chomp Food Centre. For many, it's a place of comfort and convenience. However, in today's dynamic property market, homebuyers and investors are asking a more critical question: Does a resale HDB flat in Serangoon represent real value and future growth potential?

As we navigate the final quarter of 2025, this article moves beyond nostalgia to provide a data-driven analysis. We will dissect the four critical pillars that determine Serangoon's investment merit: Price, Supply, Future Growth, and Regional Transformation.

Key Investment Takeaways:

• Strategic Pricing: More affordable than prime mature estates like Bishan, offering a superior value proposition for its central location and amenities.
• Supply Scarcity: With no new BTOs, resale prices are well-supported by perennial and consistent demand.
• Future-Proof Growth: Tangible upgrades like Singapore's largest Polyclinic and the high-potential commercial plot beside NEX are set to boost liveability and value.
• Regional Transformation: Uniquely positioned to benefit from the massive Paya Lebar Airbase redevelopment and the growth of the Punggol Digital District.

Read this article in the Sunday Times and thought I would apply the principles to an area I am familiar with - the mature estate of Serangoon!

Drivers of Singapore Property Market 2021

 Read this article in the Business Times which might be of interest.

Driver 1: HDB Upgraders

Industry expects more HDB dwellers to move to matured public housing estates or private residential properties. This is as more owners of new Housing & Development Board flats complete their minimum occupation period between 2020 and 2023.

Driver 2: Uneven impact of Covid

At risk of oversimplifying, this is the classic case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting ....

Singapore data shows that people in the 61st-90th income deciles are upgrading into condos at a faster pace than those from lower income deciles.

Blue collar workers are often required to be present physically at the workplace due to the nature of the work. Many lost their income due to closures of non-essential work locations. In contrast, white collar workers could often work from home during the shutdown.

This is consistent with DBS's finding here, inter alia, that the lower income group is bearing the brunt of the pandemic. 

Driver 3: low cost of leverage (cheap debt)

Mortgage rates have fallen in line with the drop of benchmark rates. Sub-1 per cent rates are even being offered to affluent clients depending on loan quantum.

Driver 4: En bloc Fever

The previous en bloc cycle was in Q2 2016 when inventory fell to 23,000 unsold residential units.

In Q3 2020, inventory has fallen to 26,600 units, signalling undersupply in the primary market.

Driver 5: Foreign demand

There has been increased activity in the Sentosa Cove bungalow market in recent months, partly driven by buyers from mainland China.

Do you agree with these drivers? How can you leverage the momentum and participate in the value creation cycle?

Thoughts on ICAEW Data Analytics Certificate Programme

 

Signed up and completed the ICAEW Data Analytics Certificate Programme. Side note: there is an interesting list of ICAEW's view on when Python is a more efficient and effective choice compare to Excel, see here.

As an ICAEW member, this costs GBP 594. With 20% VAT, this came up to ~SGD 1,300. I completed the course in about two weeks at a casual pace (caveat: I have prior basic Python knowledge).

Programme benefits according to ICAEW:

What I liked:

• Practical examples with a focus on Finance (as expected given the collaboration with ICAEW). For instance journals testing, and profits/sales forecasting.
• 1 year subscription to Datacamp. I will leverage this to build my Tableau, PowerBI and Oracle know-how

What could be improved:

• I personally found that the sequence of videos on Python was a little unstructured. For those completely new to Python, the learning curve could be steep.

Would I recommend it? 

If you believe that the ICAEW brand name is important, and you are looking for practical examples that specifically relate to Accounting/Finance, then this should be on your shortlist. Otherwise, there are more cost-efficient alternatives to get a grasp of the concepts in Data Analytics (e.g. Coursera, or other online/offline resources).

If you need more information / advice on the course, leave a comment below and I will try and help where I can.