TLDR:

Ghim Moh Link (Older):

Decent choice - flats are relatively new and good walking distance from Buona Vista MRT

Bus & MRT 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Amenities 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Scenery 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
Investment 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑
Cost 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

Ghim Moh Edge (New)

Not worth the price given the (lack of) accessibility

Bus & MRT 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
Amenities 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Scenery 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
Investment 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
Cost 🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑

Watch our tiktok video on this if you are lazy to read.

Hola! It is another of our HDB reviews, and today we’ll review two estates at Buona Vista, which are side-by-side.

And you’ll be surprised with our overall recommendation!

Overview

Here you can see both estates. The flats on the left with the purple hue recently MOP-ed, while the other one on the right has 89 years of lease left.

In the map,

Green = Buona Vista MRT

Red = Ghim Moh Link (Older)

Blue = Ghim Moh Edge (New)

So you can clearly see that the two estates are literally side-by-side.

Link - recently MOPed, 94 yrs of lease left, 7th floor 4 rm flat costs ~$950k

Edge - 89 years lease left, similar house costs $800k

Bus & MRT
Link (Older) 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Edge (New) 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑

This is the most impactful difference between both estates. While Link (Older) is 8 mins walk from MRT, which is manageable, Edge (New) took us around 12 minutes.

4 minutes don’t seem that significant on paper, but it actually is.

In fact, anything more than a 10 mins walk should not be considered near anymore.

Imagine having to walk 12 mins to & fro the MRT, even though it seems deceptively near.

Buses are pretty decent.

In fact, if you are headed to town, taking 106 might be your best bet, as you can get there within 20 minutes!

Amenities
Link (Older) 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Edge (New) 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Good amenities all-round.

Maybe because there are two estates side-by-side, there are also two foodcourt and two supermarkets nearby! It is rare to see an estate having two supermarkets, so you can pick and choose the one you like.

And that’s not all.

Holland Village, to relive your young and drunkard days, is borderline walkable.

And of course, Star Vista is en-route to the MRT, making it extremely conveneint

Scenery
Link (Older) 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
Edge (New) 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑

If we consider purely the scenery, it is actually okay.

The issues stem from two main things.

1) It is 100% unsheltered from the MRT

2) This forest land, is gonna disappear soon, and be replaced by construction (more on this below)

Dover Forest, which is just beside Ghim Moh Edge (New) will now be partially used to build 3,000 residential flats, with the BTO launching in November 2022.

As such, in the next few years, we can slowly expect there to be increasing amount of construction, which is likely to last for a few years as well.

For homeowners, especially those living near Edge (New), this might be an unnecessary disruption to your everyday lives.

Investment
Link (Older) 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑
Edge (New) 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑

The additional 🌕 is purely based on the flat tenure, where Edge (New) just MOP-ed, but Link (Older) has been around for 11 years now (still relatively new though!).

We do not expect there to be significant changes in prices due to the “deforestation” of Dover Forest. In fact, with new amenities, there might even be upward pressure, but it is too early to tell.

Furthermore, Buona Vista which is close to One-North & Pasir Panjang, has direct links to these “future CBDs”, while maintaining its close proximity to the current CBD in Raffles Place. Not many places in Buona Vista can offer such new flats.

Cost
Link (Older) 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑
Edge (New) 🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑

At an average of $950k for a 4 room flat in Edge (New), this is a price that not many of us can afford. But a stone’s throw away lies Link (Older) which is more affordable at $800k.

Conclusion
We don’t believe that Edge (New) is an estate that you should consider, primarily because of the deceptively far distance from the MRT, and the upcoming noise from the restructuring of Dover Forest.

Buona Vista is an extremely attractive location to live in, and if this is something that appeals to you, perhaps the nearer Link (Older) is something that is more wallet-friendly, sanity-friendly and legs-friend!

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