NEW LAUNCH REVIEWS

FLORENCE RESIDENCES

Considering Florence Residences as your next home or investment property?

Check out our unbiased analysis of this new launch condominium!

OUR VIDEO
REVIEW

Scroll down for our full review of Florence Residences!

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Location & ACCessibility

When we discuss the location factor, we look closely at the region, accessibility and area transformation.

Region

Located along Hougang Avenue 2, Florence Residences sits on an en bloc site of 389,236 square feet and houses 1,410 residential units. It is right opposite Hougang Stadium, which is perfect if fitness is an integral part of your daily lifestyle. Majority of the units are facing towards the North-South Orientation with a selection of views. Most of them would enjoy unblocked views overlooking the sports stadium, the condominium’s 80-metre lap pool or the low-rise landed residential enclave in the neighbourhood.

Accessibility

The closest MRT stations from Florence Residences would be Hougang MRT station and Kovan MRT station. As the location of the development is kind of in between these two MRT stations, it is quite a walking distance from each station. To Hougang station, it is estimated to be about 14 minutes’ walk, while to Kovan station, it is estimated to be 16 minutes’ walk. If you would like a faster transit to the MRT stations, you can take a public bus which will take you to the stations in 2 or 3 bus stops.

For private transport owners, Florence Residences is well-connected to major expressways such as CTE, KPE and TPE.

As for amenities in the area, the closest mall to it would be Hougang Mall, which is 2 to 3 bus stops away since it is located at Hougang MRT station. In terms of food establishments within walking distance, there are coffeeshops among the HDB clusters beside Florence Residences. However, for daily convenience needs such as grocery shopping, your closest supermarket would be FairPrice at Hougang Mall or Cold Storage at Heartland Mall. There are not many malls in the immediate vicinity, otherwise, the next closest mall would be NEX mall, which is a 10 minutes’ drive away.

In terms of school choices, there are quite a few around Florence Residences, including Xinmin Primary School, Montfort Junior School, Holy Innocents’ Primary School, Xinmin Secondary School and Bowen Secondary School.

Area transformation

In terms of area transformation, there seems to not be much upcoming developments in the Hougang locality that can be considered significant transformation. An upcoming change to Hougang in the near future will be the addition of the Cross Island Line (CRL) at Hougang MRT station in 2029. Hougang MRT will be an interchange station that connects the existing North East Line and the upcoming Cross Island Line.

While other marketing sources may state that the upcoming CRL will enhance the accessibility between The Florence Residences and commercial nodes such as Lorong Halus Industrial Park and Defu Industrial Estate and Tai Seng Industrial Estate, do note that Florence Residences is still a 15 minutes’ walking distance away from Hougang MRT station.

Thus, due to the average accessibility and lack of major area transformation, we gave it a passing mark for the aspect of location and accessibility.

development quality & facilities

Florence Residences is developed by Logan Property, a new entrant into the real estate scene in Singapore. Logan Property has a strong track record in building numerous properties in China, and has also achieved a number of awards for their architectural design. They have only one other residential project in Singapore, Stirling Residences, which has not achieved its TOP yet, making it difficult to use as a reference. Thus, it is still a little too early to judge on the development’s quality based on the developer’s track record (or lack thereof) in Singapore.

However, what we can rate on at this point of time, would be the kind of thought that the developer has put into the project’s facilities and landscaping design. We will be highlighting some of the features where we find worth noting.

Firstly, the landscaping of the project is designed to be biophilic. Biophilic design is a concept used within the building industry to increase occupant connectivity to the natural environment through the use of direct nature, indirect nature, and space and place conditions.

Florence Residences features a total of 128 facilities and boasts a Club-Condominium concept, giving it a unique edge over other new launches. The concept would mean that some of the lifestyle facilities in the Florence Residences would be similar to the offerings of a country club, without residents having to pay a premium to enjoy them. For example, residents can expect certain complimentary* classes such as a workout class or baking class held within the condominium itself (*terms and conditions may apply).

Some of the facilities include an 80-m lap pool, amphitheatre with outdoor movie screening, hydrotherapy club, a sparring ring pavilion, punch back corner, pool table and more.

To enhance the convenience of residents, Florence Residences will also be providing a concierge service. As for the units at Florence Residences, each unit will come installed with Smart Home System, with features such as Adjustable Wardrobe Shelving System and Smart Home Gateway for the main entrance.

Therefore, we think that the developer has definitely placed great emphasis and efforts on the landscaping design and facilities. However, due to their lack of experience in Singapore, we will be more conservative in our rating for this section.

COMPETITIVE

PRICING

Florence Residences has been marketed as a development in Kovan, but in our opinion, it feels more like a Hougang development due to its closer proximity to Hougang (as compared to Kovan). For our pricing analysis, we will be looking at competitors from both Hougang and Kovan.

Since its launch, more than 60% of units at Florence Residences has been sold*. When they first started selling, the price was at about $1300 - $1400 psf. Since then, they have already increased prices to about $1600 - $1700 psf, which is easily a $200 - $300 psf increase in prices. Thus, if you were to buy now, you would be purchasing at a much higher price than the initial buyers, and in a way, you would be absorbing the kind of price increase that these initial buyers have already earned and benefitted from.

If we were to compare the current price points to that of the surrounding competitors, the current pricing of Florence Residences is not very attractive. The closest competitor in Hougang would be Riverfront Residences (expected TOP in 2024), located at Hougang Avenue 7 next to Sungei Serangoon river. Riverfront Residences was initially selling at $1200 - $1300 psf, but since then, it has increased its prices to up $1400 -$1500 psf. Even after this increase, it is still slightly cheaper than the prices of Florence Residences. They are of similar distance to Hougang MRT station, about 12-14 minutes’ walk away, so it is a decent comparison between these two projects.

Another project for comparison would be Stars of Kovan, which recently achieved TOP in 2020. Thus, in terms of age as compared to Florence Residences (expected TOP in 2023), there is actually not that big of a difference. Stars of Kovan is just next to Kovan MRT station — only about 3 minutes’ walk away in fact. Prices of Stars of Kovan are currently at $1500 - $1600 psf, some even reaching $1700 psf, which is the same price as Florence Residences. Therefore, at the same price, it would be likely for buyers to gravitate towards Stars of Kovan since it is much closer to Kovan MRT station and town area.

Thus, when compared to both competitors in Hougang and Kovan, the current pricing of Florence Residences is a bit on the high side in our opinion.

*Do note that price references mentioned were made at the time of filming this video and writing this review.

POTENTIAL

RENTAL YIELD

Potential rental yield is an important factor that you should not overlook, especially if you are getting the property for investment purposes. Even if the property is for own stay, you should not eliminate the possibility of renting your unit out in the future. We have analysed projects in the area and estimated the rental yield to be at a conservative figure of 2.4 - 2.6%.

For potential rental yield, we have to compare the project to the newer condominiums that already achieved TOP and have already rented out units. The best comparison would be Stars of Kovan, as mentioned in earlier points, and also Kingsford Waterbay which is in the Hougang area. These two projects will be our centre of analysing and estimating how much rental Florence Residences can potentially get.

Kingsford Waterbay is closer to the Hougang area, facing the river and about a 20-minutes walk to Hougang MRT station. The rental of their 1-bedder is around $1700 - $1900/month.

Comparatively, Stars of Kovan, which is very close to Kovan MRT station, the rental of their 1-bedder is around $2100 - $2500/month. As Florence Residences is situated right in between Stars of Kovan and Kingsford Waterbay, if we were to give a conservative estimate of the rental for Florence Residences, it would have to be between $1900 - $2200/month. Factoring in the prices of the 1-bedder at Florence Residences, we are looking at a 2.4 - 2.6% rental yield.

How about the tenant pool in the area?

Part of the tenant pool would come from the upgraders in the area. For example, HDB owners who are looking to buy a new launch condominium usually have to wait a 3-year period for the place to be ready, so they are likely to find somewhere nearby to rent first. Other than upgraders, there are also potentially tenants coming from the industrial areas such as Lorong Halus Industrial Park and Defu Industrial Park.

*Do note that rental transaction references mentioned were made at the time of filming this video and writing this review.

stack

selection

(Click image to magnify)

When it comes to selecting your unit, you have to first choose the stack you want. Do not confuse stack with block. Stack is part of a block, and different stacks have different facing. For example, if your unit is at Stack 8 on level 7, it means your unit number is #07-08. The unit right below you is #06-08 because it belongs to the same stack. Generally, there are some key factors that you need to take note of:

View from the stack
North-South-East-West facing / Cardinal direction. For example, you might want to avoid West Sun.
Noise level. If you are concerned about any potential noise, avoid facing the expressway, carpark, tennis court, bin centres etc. Even if the stack faces any potential source of noise, consider the distance between the block and the source.
Block-to-block distance
Layout efficiency. This is more of the unit itself. Ensure there is no wasted space, no irregular layout or corners, good wall-to-wall distance etc.

Overall

We studied the provided site plan of Florence Residences and found that majority of the units are unlikely to experience West Sun, with only about 30% of the units slightly angled towards the West direction. Also, there is a big portion of the units that is direct North-South facing, so that’s a good point. Most of the units seem quite unblocked if they are outward-facing. If your unit faces outward, you will be either facing the stadium view or landed area view, which is quite unblocked if you are staying at a high enough level.

However, some stacks may experience potential noise pollution. Florence Residences is situated right next to Hougang Avenue 2 (road side), so for units directly facing the road, for example, units at Blocks 81, 95 and 97, you may experience some kind of noise pollution. For own stay buyers, you may want to take note of this.

Ideal or not ideal?

After reviewing the stacks based on the aforementioned factors, we have divided the number of stacks into 3 different categories — the not-so-ideal stacks, average stacks and most ideal stacks*. Please refer to the gif below.

*Do note that this is our opinion based on our experience and not an official classification by Florence Residences.

Some of our considerations regarding the not-ideal-stacks are cons such as bad facing (for example, facing the bin, electrical substation or road), blocked views and short block-to-block distance (for example, being too close to opposite blocks may affect your privacy).

Out of the entire development, we found 27 stacks to be not-so-ideal out of 81 stacks, which makes up only a third of the total. Two third of the total stacks are either average or ideal. Thus, we have assigned a pretty high rating for this part as the majority of their stacks met our criteria.

So, which stacks do we think are best for each unit type in Florence Residences based on the site plan?

2-Bedroom Classic:

We find the best stacks to be Stacks 28 and 52. These two stacks seem to provide an unblocked view of the landed enclave in front of them, as long as you are staying at higher floors. However, if you mind West Sun, Stack 28 may be a better choice as Stack 52 may experience slight West Sun at a small angle.

2-Bedroom Deluxe:

We find the best stack to be Stack 34 if you prefer an unblocked view (higher floors) and no West Sun. If you want to enjoy a clear view but do not mind a bit of West Sun, we find the next best stacks to be Stacks 37, 43 and 54.

If facility view is your thing, we find Stack 40 to be the best. It has a full 80m pool view in front of it, and at the same time, it is unlikely to experience West Sun.

3-Bedroom Classic:

We find the best stack to be Stack 29 if you prefer an unblocked view (higher floors) and no West Sun. If you do not mind a bit of West Sun, you may consider Stack 42 and 55.

3-Bedroom Deluxe:

We find the best stacks to be Stacks 38 and 46. Both stacks seem to provide an unblocked view (higher floors) of the landed enclave, but do note that they may experience slight West Sun. Other than that, you may consider Stack 30 which is unlikely to experience West Sun and faces the pool.

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