Why I bought Pasir Ris 8 - Five Big reasons!

Pasir Ris is so ulu. Are you sure you want to stay so far east?

That's a common exclamation from one who does not know Pasir ris well enough. I would not blame anyone for thinking like this because I had similar thoughts years ago.

However, when Pasir Ris 8 condo was launched with great fanfare, I took a long hard look at its attributes, and I totally changed my mind!

Five BIG reasons why Pasir Ris 8 is a hidden gem 

1. Super convenient  

Pasir ris 8 is an integrated condo development with 2 MRT lines, a bus interchange and two shopping malls all within a 5 mins walk.

At the time of writing, there are less than 20 integrated developments in Singapore. Only a few of them have 2 or more MRT lines plus a bus interchange with many transport options (many have only one MRT line).

The selling point of such integrated condos is the convenience where residents can get to our transport stations quickly in minutes, or visit shops to buy daily necessities all within shelter from the rain and sun. 

The 2 MRTs lines give residents great accessibility to many destinations. The East west line brings you downtown or far west; The cross island line brings you northwards and across the island with connections to many other MRT lines. Not to mention should one train line break down, you will have alternative train lines to get you home.

The 2 shopping malls - Pasir Ris Mall (below the condo) and White sands mall (just beside) together, offer over 500,000 square feet of retail space, over 300 shops, eateries, amenities within an elevator ride or 5 mins walk.

Not all integrated condo developments are equal! Pasir Ris 8 is a super convenient place to live.

2. Lower density housing in a town centre - almost unheard of?

One of the worries of living near a town centre, malls and transport hub is the crowds and noise. 

What about noise? I am pleasantly surprised that noise is not an issue for me. My unit is on the inner side (nearer to the pool and train line). I cannot really hear the trains. Perhaps because the train station is located below the condo level (around level 2). The condo units only start from level 4 upwards, so noises below are not so obvious. I suspect units closer to the road side, may get some road noise. If you are keen on buying a unit, best go walk around and listen for yourself. You might be pleasantly surprised. 

What about crowds? Pasir ris has a relatively smaller population compared to other towns. Building heights here are limited to 10-13 floors due to its proximity to the airport. There are many other towns with residential flats over 30-40 storeys high, meaning we get 3-4x lesser number of people living in the same land area.  No doubt, Pasir ris town centre can still be busy during weekends, but if you compare to visiting Tampines or Bedok central, you can feel the definite difference!

Unit Density comparison.

This is a rough calculation (not exact science) to gauge density of housing. Unit Density = Total Land area / Number of units. A higher number means more breathing space for each unit residents. 

I have compared Pasir ris 8 against four other integrated developments below.

Let me try to explain the math. Pasir ris 8 unit density score of 838 means: each unit in the condo enjoys about 838 square feet of common area space vs Parktown where each unit enjoys only 457 sqft of common area space.

Pasir ris 8 appears to have an amazingly low housing density! Space is a luxury!

3. Access to Nature & amenities

Access to nature is a blessing! I enjoy strolling, jogging, cycling in Pasir ris park with my family. Pasir ris park covers an area of 700,000 square meters, over 3 km long! (Wikipedia)

Pasir ris 8 residents can walk across a bridge (still under construction) on level 2 which will bring you to Pasir ris park and beach within 10 mins. You can also cycle to Coney island, Punggol waterway or to Changi beach easily. 

Image from HDB showing the central greenway bridge connecting pasir ris mall to the park.

Not many condos can boast of close access to a large park and the sea. Many will say homes along our East coast park enjoy similar benefit but their prices are a lot higher and they face a busy highway with noise and dust pollution. 

Other amenities I love in the area, less than 10mins walk:

• 2 storey hawker centre
  
• Sports centre with 2 tennis courts, badminton courts, basketball, futsal court, sports classes
• National Library at White sands mall next door
• Pasir ris town park with a large fishing pond (a lesser known park)

4. New condo with spacious rooms & interior 

Over the years, newer condos tend to shrink in size due to higher development costs. But Pasir ris 8 bucks the trend in good ways. Two major plus points to share:

(a) Good internal unit sizes: The Pasir ris 8 developer designed great internal spaces with good size rooms unlike many new condos these days with increasing small rooms. The 3 and 4 bedder units have very spacious master rooms with walk in wardrobes (20 m2 vs 11-14 m2 in others). NO bay windows, planters, super-high ceilings which you have to pay for in other condos. 

Of course, one downside is that the air-con ledge is still part of the payable area (this project is pre-harmonisation), but even factoring in the aircon ledge space, the overall prices here are still significantly lower than newer post-harmonised developments in the East (eg. Parktown).

(b) Re-configurable internal layout: Pasir ris 8 does not use PPVC or prefabricated construction, meaning many walls are hackable and internal layout can be flexibly reconfigured if needed. If you want to combine 2 rooms into one big spacious room, no problem! This is unlike PPVC or prefab condo units where walls are structural, cannot be hacked and spaces cannot be reconfigured at all.

5. Great Developer team

The developer Allgreen had put in a lot of effort to win the public land tender for Pasir ris 8. They had to spend significant time, resources to develop their proposal which were thoroughly evaluated by public authorities before given the award to build. The public authorities used a "dual envelope" evaluation system which consists of 2 rounds of evaluation.

The main contractor or builder is Woh Hup, one of the oldest and largest construction company in Singapore. I have great admiration for their management and the quality of their projects. They won our BCA (Building & Construction Authority) quality awards every year for many of their projects. In short, build quality should be better than average, if not excellent.

To summarise, Pasir ris 8 has truly amazing qualities for the price we pay. I didn't manage to snag a unit during its crazy launch, but only bought later (subsale) at a higher price. But it was still worth it. Do you agree it's a gem?