Kovan Landed House: An "Affordable" Freehold Terrace House Estate from $3 Million
99-year leasehold terrace houses start from $2.6 million
By TJ -
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Some landed estates in Singapore can be pretty expensive, such as Ming Teck Park and Faber Hills, However, there are several "affordable" landed enclaves, such as the North East part Kovan that had not one but two areas with homes under $3 million.
Note that the under $3 million terrace houses are 99-year leasehold! I know we prefer freehold in Singapore but, unfortunately, the reality is that given the current market peak, it’s very hard to find a landed freehold property (or 999-years) for under $3 million.
There are freehold landed homes in the North East Kovan area too, but those were going for $3.8 million and above, at the time of writing.
Anyway, back to the more affordable Kovan landed houses. They are located at namely:
- Kovan Hougang Landed Property Estate (Map)
- Henley Gardens at Jalan Arif
- Park Villas at Park Villas Rise
Kovan, Hougang Landed Property: Map View
To help you orientate yourself, here’s a map of the area. We’re viewing the landed enclave located just under Hougang Avenue 2. On the right, you will see Henley Gardens landed estate along Jalan Arif. Take an 11-minute walk to the left of the map, and you'll arrive at Park Villas Rise landed properties.
The terrace houses at Jalan Arif – there was one for sale at the time of writing for $2.88 million.
Kovan Hougang Landed House: Henley Gardens, Jalan Arif
Henley Gardens, is a series of 36 houses built in 2002, and within 1 km of 3 schools: Rosyth School, Montfort Junior School, and Xinming Primary School. The developer is YHS Hougang, or Far East Organization.
Somewhat confusingly, not all the houses along Jalan Arif are 99 years in nature. Some are 999 years, from 1875. Here are some facts and figures in a nutshell:
Landed Estate: Henley Gardens
Address: Jalan Arif, Kovan/ Hougang
Built: 2002
Houses: 36
Developer: YHS Hougang, Far East Organization
Leasehold: 99 or 999 years
Schools Nearby: Rosyth School, Montfort Junior School, Xinming Primary School
There are 4 unit types, from 1,614 sq ft all the way up to 4,912 sq ft, with the lease starting in 1996.
The one currently on the market is the smallest type, 1,614 – 1,615 sq ft. There is also another unit for rent, at $9,000. To give you an overview of the price history, last year, one unit sold for $2.8 million whilst, in 2021, the transacted prices ranged from $1.8 million to $3.2 million (for the 99-year leasehold units only.
Loud road noise from busy main roads
Looks idyllic, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, the situation is somewhat similar to Haus@Serangoons, where the surroundings seem peaceful in photos, but there’s a lot of road noise.
Jalan Arif is parallel and very close to Hougang Avenue 2, a busy road that is right beside the tall hedge we see on the right of the photo.
Noise from adjacent Hougang HDB estate
You can see the roads here are very clear for a terraced estate, thanks to the single white line. It makes it easy for cars to drive through, but it will be a bit tricky for your friends and family to find space to park when visiting!
Across the road, there is a whole line of HDB blocks across. You can’t see it but there’s also a park across the road, Punggol South Park or Ci Yuan Harmony Park (according to a Google review.)
The same review says that this park boasts the only swing among all the neighbouring parks, and also has a trampoline. Who knew?
Henley Gardens: Landed estate with lots of canal paths
For example, I managed to access Jalan Arif directly from Robey Crescent, instead of having to walk the long way around through Poh Huat Road. This cut off about 5 minutes from my journey. Not a huge amount of time, but something I really appreciated when the sun was high up in the sky, as it often is in Singapore.
Walking through the canal paths was also much more peaceful than taking the main roads.
Kovan Landed Estate: A bustling area with pedestrians
The Kovan landed estate area is “bustling”, with a higher-than-normal number of pedestrians, which isn’t as great for leisurely strolls. I preferred my walk next to the drains, uninspiring as that sounds!
It’s not that bad, honestly! I quite enjoyed it, and thought it gave the area a certain charm.
Some houses seem to be a little elevated above the drain, so passersby actually get quite a clear view into their backyards.
Henley Gardens: Nearest Kovan MRT Station
In terms of amenities, the nearest MRT is Kovan, which is about 15 minutes away, regardless of whether you bus or walk over! There are 2 supermarkets in the vicinity: NTUC FairPrice at Hougang Block 682 (8 min bus, 18 min walk), and ColdStorage at Heartland Mall (15-20 min bus or walk)
For shopping, you have Heartland Mall (15-20 min bus or walk), Hougang 1 (11-21 min), and Hougang Mall (14-18 min). Overall, I’d say you are not far from conveniences, but not really within walking distance (on a regular day when the sun is blazing in the sky.)
One feature of this area, besides the drains, is that there are many small stretches of land between two rows of houses, as we can see here.
The land is too small to serve much use, but does provide the neighbouring houses with a longer setback as well as more space to put one’s gardening tools and pots!
Kovan Hougang Landed Estate: Poh Huat Road
The road started to become smaller as we continue our journey down Poh Huat Road - albeit still with sufficient road space for parking for the terrace houses.
However, deeper into the estate, the terrace houses no longer have such generous parking, and the road line changes to a dotted white line.
There were also lots of rubbish bins on the road, as well as cars parking along the road.
Some of the houses didn't appear to have any private parking space at all, so all of the residents had to parallel park on the roadside.
Next is Poh Huat playground, the first playground I’ve seen inside this bit of the landed enclave. It’s pretty small.
One thing potential buyers might want to know is that apparently some of the houses on Poh Huat Road are rented out by the room.
This road, Poh Huat Crescent, leads you into Park Villas.
Kovan Hougang Landed House: Park Villas Rise
More terrace units at Park Villas Rise. Asking prices for landed terrace houses along Park Villas Rise range from $2.5 million to $2.9 million for a corner unit.
Park Villas is a 180-unit landed property development, again by Far East Organization, with a 99-year lease starting in 1994 and built in 1997.
The houses span 3 streets: Park Villas Terrace which leads onto Park Villas Green (2 parallel roads) and Park Villas Rise (the next cul-de-sac after Park Villas Terrace and Green.)
Walking down this cul-de-sac brings you to another small playground which, alas, is right next to Hougang Avenue 2, so not the quietest environment for kids to play. There is also a childcare centre, Mulberry Learning@Kovan.
Note how much lower the land on which it lies is compared to Poh Huat Road. FYI, there’s yet another small empty space between this condo and the property next door. I guess it could serve as a path to allow you to cut through to the road behind (Parry Terrace)?
If you have little ones, there’s a Montessori in the Yio Chu Kang church located within the enclave.
Poh Huat Road leads to Yio Chu Kang Road
How did you find the area? Do you prefer Henley Gardens and Park Villas to other landed estates in Kovan? However, it's been said that the “best” part of Kovan for landed homes is around Charlton Avenue. Do you agree? Let us know!
This article first appeared in StackedHomes.