Welcome to another new episode of “Property Showdown on LittleBigRedDot!”
Previously I’ve compared a pair of Westies and City developments and today, *drum rolls* we are going to be looking at the East! East Side in Singapore, also known to be called “East-Side-Best-Side” are also home to many popular food destinations. Today, it’s not just going to be a property showdown but let’s also relax and spot some good food!
Also, to those that have missed your opportunity on Emerald of Katong and are still considering the developments in District 15, these could be your good alternatives so come, join us on our analysis!
Grand Dunman by SingHaiYi Group, and Tembusu Grand by CDL (City Developments Limited)
As always, we will be breaking down this showdown into 7 categories. They are:
- Distance to the nearest MRT Station
- Number of MRT stops to the city centre (Raffles Place MRT Station)
- Distance to the nearest Hawker Centre
- Distance to the nearest Shopping Mall
- Primary Schools within 1KM radius
- Price per Square Foot
- Premium over the resale units in the vicinity
Category 1: Distance to the nearest MRT Station
Ok! Let’s start by looking at Grand Dunman’s nearest MRT. That will be Dakota MRT Station, located on Circle Line (CCL)
Wow. The walking distance from Grand Dunman to Dakota MRT Station is 220m according to Google Maps and that’s approximately a 3 mins walk. It will not be a sheltered walk way but it’s just a straight walk down, along Old Airport Road. Pretty convenient, especially being located on a CCL Station. Easy access to many parts of Singapore!
Now we’ll have a look at Tembusu Grand.
If you have not known, Tembusu Grand and Grand Dunman are quite close to each other. Despite so, Tembusu Grand is much further down along Jalan Tembusu which makes Tanjong Katong MRT Station on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) the nearest Station instead of Dakota MRT Station. Tembusu Grand’s walking distance to Tanjong Katong MRT is 700m, about an 11 minutes walk. and no. it’s not going to be a sheltered walk way too.
Tembusu Grand and Emerald of Katong – the recent 99% sold New Launch are just across the road from each other. I’ve personally walked around the site as well as to and fro Tanjong Katong MRT Station while exploring the area previously in preparation for Emerald of Katong’s Launch. The road down to MRT then honestly felt quite congested with all the constructions and traffics going on, which kind of made the walk felt longer and more exhausting. Hopefully when the constructions clear up, it will be a much more relaxing walk!~
The clear winner for category 1: Grand Dunman!
Category 2: Number of MRT stops to the City Centre (Raffles Place MRT Station)
Based on research and stats, it seems the East of Singapore is a much more favored area in Singapore when in comes to property purchasing. Now let’s see how close these well-liked RCR projects are to Singapore’s City Centre!
It take 7 stops via Circle Line and changing for North South Line at Marina Bay MRT Station to reach Raffles Place MRT Station. The journey will take around 14 minutes and costs $1.59 per adult.
From Tanjong Katong MRT Station, it takes 5 stops with a change from Thomson-East Coast Line to North South Line is also required to get to Raffles Place MRT Station.
Despite 2 stops lesser, the travelling time required is same at 14 minutes. In fact, the latter costs lesser.
The winner for category 2: Grand Dunman!
Category 3: Distance to the nearest Hawker Centre
Local delights and wallet-friendly options, a need for every Home Seekers in Singapore!
That being said, the closest Hawker Centre to Grand Dunman is none other than the famous “Old Airport Road Food Centre”. Within just 8 minutes walk, you get to enjoy food that people travelled and wait in long queues for, such as the famous Nam Sing Hokkien Mee, Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Tiao, Freshly-made Chee Cheong Fun (Yes, that’s really its name!), Roast Paradise, Western Barbeque and more!
Which local delight is your favourite? I personally love Char Kway Teow!
Moreover, the Old Airport Road Food Centre has only been reopened just Q4 of last year from repair and renovation works, current and future residents can get to enjoy a cleaner and more beautiful environment for dining (:
Next, let’s have a look at Tembusu Grand’s nearest Hawker Centre!
The nearest Hawker Centre to Tembusu Grand will be “Dunman Food Centre”. It is a good 1KM work out away before you getting your Wanton Mee, that’s a 15 minutes walk and you can burn about 50-95 calories before gaining them back.
By the way, did you know?
If you were to head further down as the arrows shown above, you will find yourself walking on a stretch of eateries at East Coast Road? They are also filled with little lifestyle salons! Down this stretch, there are tons of cafes, restaurants and bars suitable for tea break snacks like ‘Birds of Paradise’ with hot-off-the-press waffles to evening chill-out meals where you can get Korean BBQ with a glass of Soju. I used to work part-time here as a student years back and met really sweet friends which I had fond memories with.
Ok – enough about me –
The winner for category 3: Grand Dunman!
Category 4: Distance to the nearest Shopping Mall
The nearest Shopping Mall from Grand Dunman is City Plaza. It’s not the newest mall but there’s just a little something about older malls? I think the gentle nostalgia of old shops with its friendly owners reminds me of simpler times when I was a kid~
How about you? Do you prefer older or newer malls? (:
The walking distance from Grand Dunman to City Plaza is approximately 1KM which will take you about around 14 minutes to reach.
What about Tembusu Grand?
Katong Shopping Centre is the closest mall to Tembusu Grand with a walking distance spanning 650m, about a 9 mins walk. It is also an old mall, but there are options to get to newer and larger malls like i12 Katong just down the road on the stretch I mentioned earlier!
The winner for Category 4: Tembusu Grand!
Category 5: Primary Schools within 1KM Radius
Using Elite.com.sg, there is a Primary school within 1KM of Grand Dunman – Kong Hwa School.
We have 1 Primary School within 1KM from Tembusu Grand as well – Tanjong Katong Girls’ School.
From our respective developments, it seems Grand Dunman and Tembusu Grand have the same walking distance to their nearest Primary Schools, both around 700m. However as Google Maps have displayed, Tembusu Grand seems to have the upper hand based on travelling time.
The winner for Category 5: Tembusu Grand!
Category 6: Price per Square Foot
Grand Dunman had its public launch on 15 July 2023. Up until point of writing, Grand Dunman has sold 75.69% of its units at an average of $2,543 PSF, with the lowest being $2,108 PSF and highest being $2,977 PSF, leaving 245 units left.
Tembusu Grand previously had its launch slightly earlier than Grand Dunman on 8 April of 2023 and till date has sold 92.32% of its units at an average of $2,462 PSF with the lowest being $2,174 PSF and highest being $2,791 PSF. With 589 units sold, Tembusu Grand is now left with 49 units remaining.
To sum up, Grand Dunman is sold at a 3.2% higher than Tembusu Grand based on their average per square foot. Due to their similar locations and both developments being SML having (S)chools within 1KM, (M)RT nearby and (L)arge in size, I would expect their pricing to be similar as well. Therefore, 3.2% is reasonable! However, we still have a winner.
The winner for Category 6: Tembusu Grand
Category 7: Premium over the resale units in the vicinity
It is important to know the property market within the area you are purchasing, we all want to get the best deals or at least not overpay for our assets.
To begin, let’s start with comparing Grand Dunman and its neighbours. I will be picking Waterbank At Dakota for this comparison. Both developments are 99 Years Leasehold. Waterbank At Dakota is had its tenure started in December 2009 and TOP in 2014, with 84 years of lease remaining. Meanwhile, Grand Dunman’s lease commenced in June 2022 and is expected to TOP in 2027 so as of now, its 3 years into the 99 years lease.
Like before, I will be using the most recent transactions over the last 6 months for Waterbank At Dakota. We will be taking its average PSF for this comparison.
The average PSF for Waterbank At Dakota over the most recent past 6 months transactions is $1,969. So if we take Grand Dunman’s average PSF of $2,543, that will amount to a premium of 29.15%, that’s actually pretty decent! Why?
For a reasonable calculation, let’s take $50 PSF per year to offset the lease decay. Waterbank At Dakota is 15 years in and Grand Dunman is around 3 years in.
Now let’s use 12 x $50 ($600) to add to the $1,969 average PSF of Waterbank At Dakota. The answer is… $2,569 – a reasonable average PSF for Grand Dunman!
Next, let’s have a look at Tembusu Grand.
Majority of Tembusu Grand’s neighbours are Freehold Developments. I will be using Amber Park, a Freehold condominium that recently TOP in 2023 for this comparison. For your reference, Tembusu Grand is expected to TOP around Q4 2028.
As we are using a Freehold Development for comparison, do note that there is no lease start date. Also, a Freehold Development will usually demand a 10-20% premium over its leasehold counter part. Let’s see how it goes for this comparison!
Oh wow… the average PSF for Amber Park over the most recent past 6 months transactions is $2,851. if we take Tembusu Grand’s average PSF of $2,462, that will amount to Amber Park having a premium of 13.65% over Tembusu Grand, which is expected of.
The winner for Category 7: Tembusu Grand!
Verdict:
Grand Dunman (3) vs Tembusu Grand (4)
Congratulations to Tembusu Grand!~
Love,
Lin Xuan
Disclaimer: I am in the Real Estate Field under the company ERA, which is appointed as the Developer’s Sales Team for most New Launch Projects in Singapore including both Grand Dunman and Tembusu Grand. The above are my sincere comparison. You may reach out to me via WhatsApp at +65 8222 2556 to obtain all official project releases.
Wishing you a great week ahead!
