"you should buy the worst house in the best neighbourhood you can afford"

[k00L]

Sam Baker
AsiaOne
Friday, May 02, 2014

http://business.asiaone.com/property...ation-location

What are the most important factors in determining the value of a home? Location, location and location.

This old real estate joke has survived the years because there is so much truth to it.

One piece of advice that has been passed down to many property buyers is that you should buy the worst house in the best neighbourhood you can afford.

Both of these ideas point to the fact that location is by far the most important of all the factors that determine the value of a home. While the quality of a building and interior impact its price, it is the location that ultimately drives the value of a home.

Savvy buyers and investors are combing through Geylang in search of bargains that will rise in value as the area upgrades. As the accompanying srx.com.sg graph illustrates, they see opportunities to buy at a dip in the price.

This is because Geylang is situated in a prime location, surrounded by expressways with quick access to downtown areas, East Coast Park and other points of interest. All Geylang needs is some rezoning and a facelift, to become one of the more fashionable neighbourhoods in Singapore.

Other areas like Novena and Balestier are also up and coming.

These neighbourhoods have several things in common. First, both neighbourhoods are located next to expressways and MRTs, as well as office buildings and shopping malls.

Second, they are neighbours to better-known and more affluent locations. Homes in such under-appreciated neighbourhoods are considerably less expensive than those in the higher-end estates nearby.

It is also possible that the more affluent area next door will start to merge with it's next-door estate to pull the value up for homes there. When that happens, you can joke about how your home has appreciated so much that you can no longer afford to buy it - and that's a joke we can all hope for.

Sam Baker is co-Founder of Singapore Real Estate Exchange. He is also the director & CEO of CoSine Holdings Pte. Ltd. for the StreetSine Group .

[Luke65]

Siao liao.... Before Sam wrote this article, for sure he has yet to ring up the fella for opinion...

[Allthepies]

The extension of CBD is into new undeveloped land such as marina bay and tanjong pagar port area...it is a big misconception if u think CBD will extend into existing RCR...

the reason I can think of is it is cheaper and easier to develop empty land than to take back private land to redevelop : )

[EBD]

Apparently this is wrong according to our resident genius.