The view from the 38th storey unit at Block 18C in Holland Drive.

A five-room Housing Board resale flat in Holland Drive was sold for $1.1 million this month, setting a new record for the area even as HDB resale prices fell for the sixth consecutive quarter.

Built under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers), the 38th storey unit at Block 18C in Holland Drive is the second flat to be sold above $1 million in less than a year.

In July last year, a unit between the 34th and 36th storey in neighbouring Block 18D was sold for $1.03 million.

Analysts said the $1.1 million sale is a new record achieved for regular five-room flats after a high level unit at Pinnacle@Duxton in the city centre sold for $1.14 million in November last year.

The 1,259 sq ft unit in Block 18C has a remaining lease of 93 years. The price works out to about $874 per sq ft on the built up area.

Its price is 16 per cent above that of a similar unit on the 37th storey in the same block, which sold for $945,000 last November.

ERA Realty's Joyyce Goh, the seller's agent, said: "Holland is a prime area for both private and public housing. This unit is located between two MRT stations, Buona Vista and Holland Village."

While certain classes of public housing - like executive apartments, those built under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme and flats at the Pinnacle@Duxton - tend to fetch high prices, it is rarer for regular five-room flats to sell above $1 million.

Holland Drive is a part of the Queenstown area. And Queenstown has traditionally been a popular district with buyers, due to its amenities and proximity to the city centre. ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim

ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim added: "Holland Drive is a part of the Queenstown area. And Queenstown has traditionally been a popular district with buyers, due to its amenities and proximity to the city centre. Hence, it is one of the few places in Singapore where flats have breached the million-dollar mark.

"Certainly, this transaction will become the new yardstick for potential buyers and sellers in the same housing estate.

"However, it is just one transaction, and this unit has exceptional characteristics such as a high floor and a Holland Village address. So, it is unlikely to affect the pricing dynamics of Queenstown too much."

The highest price recorded for public housing is $1.18 million, for a five-room DBSS flat in Bishan.

The unit in Block 273B Bishan Street 24, which has 93 years left on its lease, was sold in February last year.

COLLECTIVE SALE FEVER

More of such sales may occur as the collective sale fever intensifies and buyers are on the lookout for replacement flats with good attributes in prime areas, analysts said.

The Straits Times understands the buyers of the Block 18C unit are Singaporeans who had lived in a private property and wanted to downgrade.

"They wanted to buy in Districts 9 or 10, which are premium areas. You can't find anything of this size with this unblocked view, and it was a renovated unit," PropNex agent Stanley Ho said.