MORE SPACE AND FLEXIBILITY
HDB first began combining adjoining flats in the late 1980s due to an oversupply of unsold flats in several new towns then, such as Woodlands, Yishun and Bedok, said Prof Sing.
In 1993, the flat conversion scheme was introduced to let households needing more living space combine their flats.
“The scheme gave flexibility to families whose housing needs had expanded but who wanted to stay in their existing neighbourhood and social networks,” he said.
Today, supply is limited as HDB no longer offers jumbo flats, and new flats would only be available if flat owners find adjoining units suitable for merging when conditions are met.
Property agent Thomas Tong, who listed the Telok Blangah jumbo flat, said going through the flat conversion scheme requires a lot of “timing and luck”.
For one, home owners can only buy their neighbour’s unit after fulfilling their minimum occupation period (MOP), then meet the new MOP before they can sell their jumbo flat.
“A combination of all these things makes jumbo (flats) rare, hard to find, and they don’t come by easily,” he said.
Mr Tong said he has received a “ridiculous” number of enquiries on the Telok Blangah listing as its long remaining lease of 91 years sets it apart from other jumbo flats, which tend to be older. In Singapore, public housing units have a 99-year lease before they are returned to the government.
Buyers value jumbo flats because of the space they offer, he said.
“(It) means I have a bigger space. If I don’t need the space, I can rent it out. If I need the space, I can use it as a store. If my kids decide to come and want to stay with me, I can have it all,” he said.
It was this flexibility that interior designer Vivian Wang had in mind when searching for her first flat this year. The 30-year-old permanent resident, who currently lives with her husband and his parents in a rented flat in Bishan, specifically sought out a jumbo flat.
As her parents-in-law are foreigners and cannot buy their own, the family has to live in one house.
But they have different lifestyles – Ms Wang and her husband enjoy eating out and late nights while his parents prefer to cook and stay in.
“It is a lifestyle that is very different. So I want to find a jumbo flat so we can live separately, become like two units, but we still can share the common area,” she said.
It was a challenge to find a jumbo flat that had an ideal layout and was in a location they preferred.
Most of the jumbo flats she came across were in estates such as Woodlands and Bedok, Ms Wang said.
The couple eventually bought a 1,600 sq ft jumbo flat in Bendemeer for S$940,000 earlier this year.
It has about 46 years left on the lease, meaning the property’s value could fall as the lease term shortens. But that is not a drawback for Ms Wang, who said they have no intention of selling the flat.