This column started with my house hunt for a dual-key apartment that can house my Mother and I (you can read about it by clicking the link) before evolving into a series of landed enclave tours.
Along the way, with the rising property prices and interest rates, I've lost hope that we'll ever be able to move.
I'm sure many people looking for a new home might have similar thoughts, so when I saw that we could still find a freehold landed property for under $3 million in 2024, I raced over to do a walkabout.
The property in question is located at Jalan Wangi, in Sennett Estate (click through for the PropertyGuru link.) Do note that it is in original condition, so it will need some sprucing up.
In addition, there are also walk-up apartments for sale on this street, but I checked that this property is for an actual house and not an apartment. (At the time of writing, there were only 33 listings on PropertyGuru for landed properties (freehold/999-years/9999-years) under $ 3 million, and some of these 33 were apartments masquerading as landed houses!)
It's close to MacPherson Garden Estate, which I visited last year, and is famous for being one of the cheapest landed enclaves in Singapore. (Primarily due to the tiny plot sizes — some under 1,000 sq ft! At the time of writing, there was a landed property for sale that is 885 sq ft. The Jalan Wangi one is 1,340 sq ft, if you were wondering.)
PHOTO: Stackedhomes
If you're not familiar with the area, here's a map to help you orientate yourself. Jalan Wangi is a U-shaped street off the busy MacPherson Road. Parents will be happy to hear that it's under 1 km from Cedar Girls' Secondary School.
Today, we're primarily going to look at the houses bounded by Upper Serangoon Road, MacPherson Road, Wan Tho Avenue, and Jalan Kemboja.
The area consists of primarily terrace and semi-D houses, with the odd detached unit. The smaller houses are all located along Jalan Wangi, Siang Kuang Avenue, and MacPherson Road, with the larger units further inside (i.e. further away from the noise of the heavy traffic.)
One thing to note is that the area is unfortunately not really within walking distance to an MRT, although there are obviously bus stops along the main roads.
In addition, I find driving through the area a real headache, due to the narrow winding roads, and high density of cars. (Some smaller houses do not have space to park cars on their property, so the streets are super full. I was even wondering if I would need to park at Poiz Centre and walk over! (Poiz Centre is one of the closest neighbourhood malls.)
A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's one to show you what I mean: as you can see, the outside space is not long enough to fit a car. PHOTO: StackedhomesAs seen, most properties are 2-storeys. PHOTO: StackedhomesAt the corners (since the street is shaped like a "U"), the corner terraces have a bit more garden space and a relatively nice unblocked view behind them. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe houses are also not really wide enough to park horizontally in front of them, without obstructing part of your neighbour's gate. I saw a few cars doing that though, so I'm guessing they must have very nice neighbours here (either that or lots of parking disputes!) PHOTO: StackedhomesI saw many cones and bins used to reserve parking space (even further inside, where we see bigger houses and slightly wider roads.) PHOTO: StackedhomesThere were a few rebuilt, taller properties, but not many. The plus point is that you could potentially rebuild and thus increase the internal area. The downside is that if you move in first, and all your neighbours start rebuilding, it would be the start of a very noisy time for you. (I've lived next to non-stop en-bloc construction for five years now, and it really has an extremely detrimental impact on mental health- especially if you work at home!) PHOTO: StackedhomesAnother good thing about the property is that the pavements are decent, so even though the roads are narrow and winding, you don't feel (too much) at risk of being hit by a car, unlike some of the other estates that I visited, such as Seletar Hills. I must say, the vehicles in this area (Jalan Wangi) seem to drive quite quickly, even around the bends, given that it's a residential estate. PHOTO: StackedhomesSee what I mean about the cars? It's not too bad here, as they all have to park on one side of the road, but at other parts of the estate, the cars park on both sides of the road. There's quite a lot of passing traffic so you end up having to stop and reverse quite a bit to let vehicles from the opposite direction through. (I had to do this thrice.) PHOTO: StackedhomesAnother rebuilt property at the end of the street. PHOTO: StackedhomesHere's the head-on shot, so you see the potential of the area. PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesAt the intersection of Jalan Wangi and MacPherson Road (shown above), there's a huge senior citizen and child care centre (MacPherson Sheng Hong Child Care Centre.) PHOTO: Stackedhomes
Opposite the centre are shophouses, where you can find commercial units.
PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesA Medical Centre, TCM, spa, and Joan Bowen cafe. PHOTO: Stackedhomes
On the main road, next to the shophouses, are more shops and a bus stop. Unfortunately, 99per cent of the eateries I saw were closed. This could be because the MacPherson area is quite industrial, and I'm guessing most of the businesses are closed over the weekend. (I visited on a Saturday.)
PHOTO: StackedhomesLuckily, you have Pizza Hut (and I'll show you where to find the eateries that open on the weekends in the later part of the article.) PHOTO: StackedhomesThere's also a provision shop. PHOTO: StackedhomesAs you can see, there's limited parking in front of these commercial shophouses, so I'm sure some customers spill over to park within the estate. PHOTO: StackedhomesSeven buses stop along MacPherson Road. PHOTO: Stackedhomes
Since we're already on the main road, let's walk along and explore a bit more.
As mentioned earlier, it's quite an industrial area, so lots of commercial buildings. PHOTO: StackedhomesThere are more 2-storey terrace houses along the busy Macpherson Road. (You will hear road noise.) PHOTO: StackedhomesAs mentioned, parking is in such short supply, that I saw quite a few vehicles partially parked on the pavements, as you can see above. PHOTO: StackedhomesHere's a photo sans cars, so you can see the width of the road. (Very narrow.) PHOTO: StackedhomesNow do you believe me about the parking situation? PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesLooking down the main road, towards MacPherson Garden Estate. Across the road is a petrol station with a convenience store. PHOTO: StackedhomesLooking down the main road, in the opposite direction (The road looks empty in both these photos but it's actually quite busy.) PHOTO: StackedhomesOne good thing about this area is that there are a LOT of ways pedestrians can enter the estate (i.e. short shortcuts so you don't have to walk to the main entrance to enter.) This alley is one of them. Another benefit of such alleys is that it increases the setback between the houses. PHOTO: StackedhomesSome residents use the wider setback to hang their laundry or place their plants. PHOTO: StackedhomesWe're back in the landed estate now — the alley is where the two yellow-and-black road barriers are. PHOTO: StackedhomesWe're along Siang Kuang Avenue — it's parallel to MacPherson, and you'll find more terrace houses here, as well as some bigger ones, as shown above. PHOTO: StackedhomesMore bigger houses. PHOTO: StackedhomesLooking down the street -—it looks empty because there are double yellow lines. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe terrace houses. PHOTO: StackedhomesAt one end is Little Footprints Preschool (17 5-star reviews on Google, at the time of writing.) PHOTO: StackedhomesAs photographed, even though this is a row of terrace houses, some are quite large. (Also note the potential to build higher.) PHOTO: StackedhomesAnother of the alleyways I mentioned — there are many of them throughout the estate, providing a very comfortable way for pedestrians to walk around. PHOTO: StackedhomesAt this end (intersection of MacPherson and Upper Serangoon) is where we find more eateries that are open on Saturdays, as well as allocated street parking. PHOTO: StackedhomesParking charges apply. PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesSome of the shops look quite gentrified. PHOTO: StackedhomesThere are also a few kopitiams — the ones across sell Bak Kut Teh and Pork Noodles. If you prefer a slightly fancier dining spot, cross the road and you'll find Pasta Express, Beef Station, Kaloon Wine and Craft Beer Bistro and more. (I must say there are more upmarket options along this stretch — probably thanks to all the new condo developments - than over at MacPherson Garden.) PHOTO: StackedhomesThere's also a 7-11: very handy for emergencies. PHOTO: StackedhomesA gym. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe coffeeshops in the distance. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe condo — The Venue Residences, with all the bistros and eateries below that I mentioned earlier. PHOTO: StackedhomesThe area leads onto Pheng Geck Avenue, so let's walk down that way to see what we find. PHOTO: StackedhomesThere are quite a few condos along this stretch. I was taken by how pretty this one was, and by the fact that the units all had their own front doors, so I looked it up. Unfortunately, Sant Ritz had a less-than-ideal Google rating of 3.4 at the time of writing (issues with the management and security team apparently.) PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesAs shown, the area currently consists of houses on the left, and condos on the right. (The condos may actually help to block off the noise from Upper Serangoon Road — I didn't realise we were so close to the main road till I looked at Google Maps.) PHOTO: StackedhomesZoomed out for a better view. PHOTO: StackedhomesSennett Residences. PHOTO: StackedhomesWe then reach another exit/entrance into the landed enclave, where Wan Tho Avenue leads onto Potong Pasir Avenue 1 (also where it intersects with Upper Serangoon Road.) Ahead are Poiz Centre, Potong Pasir MRT, Potong Pasir Community Centre, and Calling River. PHOTO: StackedhomesI turn right, then look back. (I walked over from the street on the left.) PHOTO: StackedhomesMore terrace houses, flanked by high-rise apartments. As shown above, the arrangement of the houses here is quite interesting (the house on the right has a super long driveway thanks to the non-square layout.) PHOTO: StackedhomesSome of the larger properties in the area that I mentioned earlier. Some can apparently fit two cars. I was very impressed by the resident's driving skills! PHOTO: StackedhomesThis leads onto more terraces, again with no parking inside. PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: Stackedhomes
The plot ratio here looks pretty good! (We're along Wan Tho Avenue if you're curious.) PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesSome larger and newer properties. PHOTO: StackedhomesFrom here there's also a path towards the HDB estate — I think it's Bidadari Park Drive? PHOTO: StackedhomesThe houses look a little bigger than the ones at Jalan Wangi. PHOTO: StackedhomesWan Tho Avenue was also one of the least cluttered streets in the estate. (Less stressful driving down here. I guess it helps that it leads right out to the main road, so you could reach your house without having to go through the very narrow streets over at the Jalan Wangi side.) PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesFrom Wan Tho, it leads onto Kee Chee Avenue and then to Jalan Kemboja. PHOTO: StackedhomesSee what I mean about the dearth of parking available? PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesHere you find another preschool, Little Seeds, and Calvary Baptist Church. PHOTO: StackedhomesSome larger terrace houses. PHOTO: StackedhomesSee what I mean about how driving around some of these rounds is no picnic? PHOTO: StackedhomesIf you're looking for a terrace house, you certainly have quite a few choices in this area. PHOTO: StackedhomesThere's a small roundabout in the estate. To the right are the "fruit streets" — Belimbing Avenue, Chempaka Avenue etc, which we won't be covering today. (The article is already one of the longest I've done for Stacked!) PHOTO: Stackedhomes
Have you noticed something? We did not pass any parks or playgrounds during the walkabout. Indeed, there were none in the area we toured, but there is a decent one at Chempaka Avenue, just a few 100 metres to the right.
PHOTO: StackedhomesThis brings us back to the other end of Jalan Wangi, where we find more eateries. PHOTO: StackedhomesPHOTO: StackedhomesThere was a place selling Taiwanese food and another selling Indian, both open on Saturday. PHOTO: StackedhomesAnother spa. PHOTO: StackedhomesAnd this cute sign indicating that we're at Sennett Estate! That brings us to the end of today's walk. How did you find the area? Since it was quite a long article, here's a quick recap of what I thought were the Pros and Cons of the area. PHOTO: Stackedhomes
Pros
Freehold
Ability to enter at a low quantum
Central location: short drive to Orchard (but the expressway is pretty jammed during peak hours)
Next to Paya Lebar Quarter
Lots of amenities within walking distance, catering to all budgets, from people looking for more affordable kopitiams as well as for people who prefer more comfortable places with AC (though some are closed on the weekend)
Primary Schools nearby, such as Cedar Girls
Lots of exits and entrances into the estate from the main road (both for cars and pedestrians)
Comfortably sized pedestrian paths so you don’t have to walk on the narrow streets
Some houses have the potential to be rebuilt with increased internal area
There’s a shortcut to Alkaff Oasis HDB estate and Prime Supermarket at Alkaff Vista
Cons
Jalan Wangi is not really within walking distance to the closest MRT (Potong Pasir, 13 minutes) but if you live along Wan Tho Avenue or Pheng Neck Avenue, it’s much closer
Narrow, winding roads: driving through can be quite stressful (but depending on where your house is located, you may be able to plan your path to avoid the worst of the streets)
Some houses don’t have parking inside, and street parking is not plentiful even on a normal day (potential disputes with neighbours)
Many houses require sprucing up: it’s not fun living in the middle of a construction site!
The surrounding main roads are busy, so you can hear the traffic if your house is close to the main road (but not from within the estate)
Neutral
Close to an industrial estate
2 pre-schools in the estate (convenient for parents, maybe noisy for neighbours)
Lined by high-rise condos on one side (increases the density of the area, and may block some light and wind, but also brings amenities to the area, and helps block off some of the traffic noise.)
