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Families, who have relatives living in close range are becoming more Interested about a new breed of adjoining studio apartments popularly known as ‘dual-key’ apartments.
In a dual-key home, the studio unit is equipped with a kitchen and bathroom. Its entrance is separate from that of the main unit, both of which open to a shared foyer.
For families with elderly parents living with them, these adjoining units permits a close watch on them while maintaining privacy. Of course, another reason for the blossoming interest in dual-key apartments is a good chance of getting the green light to rent out the extra unit.
These dual-key units are being offered in some executive condominiums (ECs). EC owners are subject to a minimum occupation period (MOP) of five years, during which they are not allowed to rent out the whole unit. However with dual-key apartments, owners are allowed by law to rent out the studio unit as long as rules are followed to the letter.
Speaking to The Straits Times, the Housing Development Board explained that private developers of dual-key apartments market such homes as a single apartment under one strata title – meaning they consider the studio unit a room instead of a separate unit. The Board said these owners still have to comply with subletting conditions, one of which is living in the unit during the lease period.
At present , Singapore commercial properties consultants say they have received queries from prospective buyers wanting to know if they can sublet the entire studio unit of these dual-key homes. Chief executive of PropNex Mohamed Ismail in an interview announced, “We’ve had an average of five inquiries per week over the last two to three months from people who attended our investment seminars or who directly approached our agency.”
Commenting on the surge in the interest shown by prospective buyers, director of research and advisory at Colliers International Chia Siew Chuin said, “Certainly they will befamous . Not only will the landlord be able to rent his extra space, he’ll be able to monitor what his tenant is up to while maintaining privacy for himself and his tenant.” Ismail also said that the flexibility that such units bring will make it especially appealing to younger couples. “Aside from renting it out, they can either break down the walls and renovate it when their families expand,or retain the walls and move their parents in.”
As dual-key homes are a recent addition to the EC market they make up but a small percentage of a project’s total apartment mix, and consultants say numbers are limited. For instance, out of a total of 573 units that make up Esparina Residences (launched last year by Frasers Centrepoint), only 71 of them were dual-key units of various sizes. Similarly, Hoi Hup Realty’s recently launched Tampines project Arc has 574 homes consisting of 64 dual-key apartments. In the meantime, home buyers will only be able to get a taste of life in this new type of public housing when the first dual-key EC units reach completion in three years’ time.
Head of South-east Asia research at Jones Lang LaSalle Chua Yang Liang expects that rental of such homes will be much higher than that of individually-rented rooms, but lower or comparable to that of stand-alone studio apartments.
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November 27th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
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