May 2022 BTO: Unit Analysis for Ghim Moh Ascent

Located along the rail corridor and next to a popular wet market and hawker centre in the west of Singapore, Ghim Moh Ascent is one of the five BTOs launched in May 2022. We check out what's around this PLH-modelled development and do a review of the best units to pick for those selecting a flat here.

BTO	Ghim Moh Ascent
Location	Bounded by Ghim Moh Road, Ghim Moh Close, and the Rail Corridor
PLH model?	Yes
Total no. of units	867
Unit types	3- and 4-room
No. of blocks	4
Highest storeys	8 to 31 storeys
Estimated completion date	1Q2028
Pricing	• 3-room: $369k to $481k • 4-room: $511k to $691k
Nearest MRT station	Buona Vista MRT station (~8-min walk)
Primary schools within a 1-km radius* *distance based on approximation, may differ depending on block	Henry Park Primary School (~14-min walk)
Amenities within walking distance	• Ghim Moh Road Market and Food Centre (5-min walk) • The Star Vista (~8-min walk) • Holland Drive Market and Food Centre (9-min walk) • Holland Village (~11-min walk)

 

Site visit

The underpass from Buona Vista MRT station that you can take to reach Ghim Moh Ascent.

Site for Ghim Moh Ascent. Some rail corridor facing stacks are likely to be partially blocked by those high-rise HDB flats.

The overhead bridge within the site that leads to Holland Village.

BTO site, looking towards the neighbourhood centre.

BTO site, looking towards Ulu Pandan CC.

Along Ghim Moh Road, which can get fairly busy.

Ghim Moh Ascent is located right next to the rail corridor.

Walking distance to the popular Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre.

Which 3-room unit at Ghim Moh Ascent to choose?

Before we delve into the 3-room units to pick, I thought it will be interesting to take a look at their floor plan, which deviates a bit from the usual.

As you can see, the bedrooms flank both sides of the living/dining. There’s no wasted corridor space, as with the conventional layouts. Because of the household shelter’s position, it does cause the common bedroom to have a couple of unnecessary nooks though. On the flipside, we think the kitchen’s pretty spacious, with the option to extend out into the service yard for an even larger cooking space.

3-room units facing the rail corridor have relatively unblocked views: Stacks 101, 103, 117 and 119 overlook the rail corridor and a series of landed homes beyond that. According to the URA map, these landed homes aren’t supposed to be taller than two storeys, so if your 3-room unit is facing that way, you may enjoy pretty decent unblocked views for some distance. For 117 and 119, note that there is a chance your views are partially obscured by the high-rise HDB blocks (Buona Vista Court) fronting the other side of the rail corridor though.

The rail corridor does get quite busy, especially during the mornings and evenings as well as weekends, so your privacy and quietude may get affected. However, there is a chance that you can get some form of noise and privacy buffer through a line of trees for example will help to alleviate some of the impact.

Stacks 117 and 119 are further away from the rail corridor compared to stacks 101 and 103, but they are nearer to the pedestrian overhead bridge that gets quite used, so foot traffic is possibly higher around that area.

These four stacks are east-facing, so you may get some morning sun, especially if you aren’t blocked by the trees. Stacks 101 and 117 may also be impacted by the afternoon sun coming in from the north-west direction in certain periods of the year, with the sun hitting a part of their walls and through the service yard.

Note that stack 101 is also located just next to the pavilion, while stack 117 is next to the playground. As these areas are where people tend to gather and congregate, you are likely to be subjected to high noise levels during certain periods. The upside to these two stacks though are that they are corner units, so you are unlikely to get nosy neighbours side-glancing into your unit every time they pass through the common corridor, unless you are located at the level of the link bridge.

Stacks 101 and 103 also have their service yard looking into the car park, so that may affect privacy as well, in addition to being subjected to vehicle fumes and the revving of tyres.

The distance between the service yard at stacks 103 and 119 and an adjacent stack is also located very close, so do take note of that.

3-room units that are inner-facing stacks: The rest of the 3-room stacks are inward-facing, which means their main windows are overlooking another block or building within the site. These stacks are 113, 129, 131, 133 and 147.

Stacks 129, 131 and 133, which are located relatively close to the playgrounds and fitness stations, will also be subjected to high noise levels.

The higher floor units at stack 133 will be able to enjoy relatively decent unblocked views as long as the unit is taller than the 8-storey car park or the adjoining community centre.

While stack 147’s main windows are furthest away from a neighbouring stack, its service yard is located very close to another’s, which may impact privacy quite a bit.

All the inner-facing stacks are corner units, save for 129. These will afford a bit more privacy, from the prying eyes of your nosy neighbours.

All these stacks are likely to be impacted by the afternoon sun, coming in from either the north-west or south-west directions. Stack 147 may be partially blocked by the adjacent stack in front of it, but you may still get the afternoon sun coming in through the main windows.

Which 4-room unit at Ghim Moh Ascent to choose?

4-room units facing the rail corridor: These stacks are 105, 107, 109, 111, 121 and 123. Save for 121 and 123, which are partially blocked by high-rise public housing on the other side of the rail corridor, the rest of the stacks are likely to enjoy relatively unblocked views for some distance as the area beyond the rail corridor comprises 2-storey landed housing. They aren’t the best option if you are looking for peace and quiet though, as the rail corridor gets quite busy during certain times of the day. Still, the foliage will bring about some noise and privacy buffer.

Stacks 107, 109 and 111 may also see higher noise levels as they are located close to the hard court and playground on site. You may also wish to avoid lower floor units on stacks 121 and 123, which overlook the pedestrian bridge as foot traffic is higher in that area.

With these rail corridor-facing stacks, only stack 123 is a corner unit, so you may be able to achieve a bit more privacy, away from the prying eyes of your neighbours when they pass through the common corridors.

All these stacks are east-facing, so you may get some morning sun, since it’s mostly unblocked.

4-room units facing the road: Stacks that are facing the main Ghim Moh Road are 139, 141, 153 and 155, while stacks facing the future Ghim Moh Close are 125, 127, 149 and 151. Ghim Moh Road is obviously the busier road, although we found traffic to be fairly, but not overly busy and at moderate levels during our site visit. There aren’t a lot of buses that pass through this road as well.

These stacks overlook existing and future high-rises, so you are unlikely to get much unblocked views. Stacks 139 and 141 do get partially unblocked views however, since they are mostly facing a 4-storey commercial/residential development.

Since stacks 125, 127, 149 and 151 are facing a future residential site, we are not sure what it will be overlooking exactly, so that’s something to take note of if you are selecting a flat there. Plus, there’s a chance you may be facing a construction site after moving in.

Stacks 139 and 155 may also be affected by the noise levels from the adjacent pavilion.

All the road-facing stacks are going to be impacted by the afternoon sun coming in from the south-west direction, although stacks 141 and 155 are also going to have the afternoon sun coming in from the north-west direction. Stack 127 may get partial relief, as it’s partly blocked by an adjacent stack.

4-room units that are inner-facing: The inner-facing 4-room stacks are 115, 135, 137, 143, 145, 157 and 159, and these aren’t the best 4-room stacks unfortunately.

All the stacks are close to or facing areas where people tend to congregate i.e. playgrounds and fitness corners, so noise levels will definitely be an issue.

We would try to avoid the lower floor units at stacks 115, 143 and 145. These stacks are not only facing the playground, they also have the car park right in front of it. So besides high noise levels, privacy and traffic fumes can be a problem for these three stacks. The higher floor units on these stacks though (~above 8 to 9th floor) may be able to enjoy decent unblocked views overlooking the car park and the adjacent community centre.

For the stacks that are looking at other stacks, the best options would be to go for stacks 157 and 159 since they are quite some distance away from the other stacks and they are also facing fewer stacks directly.

Stacks 115, 143, 145, 157 and 159 are likely going to be impacted by the afternoon sun from the north-west direction, while stacks 135 and 137 will be impacted by the afternoon sun from the south-west direction.

Corner units for these inner-facing stacks include stacks 145 and 157.