I like to emphasize that, much as property analysts and realtors often talk in terms of dollars per square foot, the average home-buyer is less inclined to dwell on these numbers. Affordability to them is more a factor of price quantum rather than the per square foot cost. Do I have enough cash/CPF funds to make the downpayment and can my income support a loan of this quantum? These are the more pertinent questions at the top of a typical buyer’s mind. This is precisely why developers have done such brisk business hawking pseudo-homes the size of broom closets (ie. mickey mouse/shoebox apartments of 300-500 square feet)! Buyers of such units were obviously so taken with the lower price quantum that they failed to notice/ disregarded the exhorbitant premium they were paying in terms of $ psf!
Consider this – a unit of 1055 sft at Alexis sold for $1,327 psf in April this year. Just 3 days prior to this transaction, a 388 sft Mickey Mouse unit there was sold at $1,806 psf, or a whopping 36% premium! Talk about being taken for a ride!
A typical “Mickey Mouse” apartment in Singapore is a whole lot less cheery than this rental villa courtesy of http://www.fla-villa.com.
