AN UNRENOVATED 32-year-old five-room flat in Marine Parade, on a high level with a full sea view, has been sold for $730,000 - a new record for an HDB flat.

This trumps the previous record of $720,000, set in June by a fairly new five-roomer in Kim Tian Place.

The buyer, who declined to be interviewed, did not bother to wait for the flat's valuation when he negotiated the price down from $750,000, said the seller's property agent, Ms Joyce Lau, of agency ERA.

She said the deal was inked in half a day on Oct 13. The buyer viewed the 18th-floor flat in the daytime and confirmed the buy that night.

Mr Ken Ng, the 48-year-old son of the flat's seller, said the flat has been vacant since his parents moved out to live with him some four years ago. His father agreed to sell recently.

'I actually like the flat. I jacked up the price so high, thinking it is a crazy price. If nobody wants, I can withdraw it,' he told The Straits Times.

'But the first person who saw it liked the full sea view and wanted to buy it.'

The flat is in a prized point block with four flats per level.

The record sale comes as HDB resale prices have registered significant increases in a buoyant property market.

The HDB market has also benefited from spill-over demand. The dramatic spate of collective sales in the past year has created a pool of eager buyers, some of whom are downgrading to HDB flats.

The buyer of the run-down Marine Parade flat is believed to be in his 50s and an owner of more than one property.

It is understood that he may use the flat as his retirement home. He will have to pay $130,000 in cash for his flat, which is valued at $600,000.

This is well above the median cash-over-valuation sum of $85,000 for Marine Parade in the third quarter.

In the third quarter, the median resale price of five-room flats in the same town was at $560,000 - the second highest median price for the flat type after Queenstown.

But deals have been done at prices of up to $710,000.

Last month, a 30-year-old high-floor five-room Marine Drive flat sold for $710,000, while another five-roomer in the same block sold for $695,000 in September.

PropNex's chief executive Mohamed Ismail said the difference lies in the lifestyle a home in the area offers. 'It's not too congested, near town and East Coast Park.'

But paying record prices or large cash amounts for it will not become a norm.

'Those who pay such large cash amounts are private property downgraders or people who have profited from en bloc sales,' said Mr Ismail.

'Typical HDB buyers cannot afford such prices.'

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