A four-bedroom unit at Honolulu Tower will be offered at Knight Frank’s property auction on May 22. It will be an owner’s sale and the 5,821 sq ft unit has a guide price of $16.5 million, which translates to $2,834 psf on the floor area.
A distinctive feature of the property’s layout is a garden terrace that wraps around half of the unit. This outdoor terrace is accessible from the living room, private family hall, master bedroom, and one of the other bedrooms. All the bedrooms are en suite. The property also features separate living and dining rooms, as well as an enclosed kitchen that leads to a yard and a helper’s room.
It is rare to find a large-sized apartment such as this on the market today, as recent new launch projects rarely offer units of this size, says Tricia Tan, director of auction and sales at Knight Frank. “This unit feels very much like a ‘bungalow in the sky’ given its spacious layout,” she says, adding that the demand for large-sized luxury units currently outpaces the available resale supply in the market.
Based on caveats lodged, resale transactions at Honolulu Tower are infrequent. The most recent transaction took place in June 2021, when a four-bedder on the seventh floor was sold for $10.8 million ($1,855 psf). Another four-bedroom unit on the 12th floor fetched $9.1 million ($1,563 psf) in July 2019.
Nevertheless, resale prices at Honolulu Tower climbed from around $940 psf in May 2010, to about $1,810 psf a decade later. Based on a compilation of resale caveats by EdgeProp Singapore, the condo’s average price today is about $1,855 psf.
The newest freehold development in the area is Perfect Ten, a 230-unit project launched for sale in 2021. The luxury project was fully sold last June at an average price of about $3,400 psf. Other freehold developments in the neighbourhood include Wing On Life Garden on Bukit Timah Road, where transaction prices average $2,255 psf, and Palm Spring on Ewe Boon Road, which sees an average price of $2,284 psf.
According to Knight Frank, the unit up for auction is currently leased for about $25,000 per month and the tenancy will end in November 2026. There were six rental transactions lodged at Honolulu Tower last year, with rents ranging from $30,000 (or about $10 psf per month) to $12,000 ($4 psf per month).
Completed in 1985, Honolulu Tower is a freehold development on Bukit Timah Road in prime District 10. There are only 30 units within the 16-storey development, which consists of four-bedroom units of 5,823 sq ft and a pair of 10,312 sq ft penthouses.
“Honolulu Tower is a sought-after development given its freehold tenure and location within an affluent residential neighbourhood close to Newton and Balmoral Road. It’s relative low-density with only 30 exclusive four-bedroom units over a large site area of about 68,864 sq ft also makes it an appealing development,” sats Tan.
The condominium is close to several well-known schools, amenities and the public transport network. According to OneMap, the development is within 1km of Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) and Singapore Chinese Girls’ Primary School. Higher education schools in the vicinity include St Joseph’s Institution and Catholic Junior College. In addition, Honolulu Tower is located between two MRT interchanges — Stevens on the Downtown and Thomson-East Coast Lines, as well as Newton on the North-South and Downtown Lines.
Tan expects the unit will appeal to buyers on the lookout for large-size apartments to accomodate family needs, as well as those who plan to send their children to any of the nearby schools.
