Ask any shrewd real estate investor and they’ll tell you – location is the first and most important rule of property. It governs almost every aspect of a condo development, from its asking price, to its rentability, to its eventual resale or en-bloc value. And for the homeowner, location is the make-or-break factor; it can impact everything from how much sleep you get, to your children’s odds of getting into a desired school. In this part of the guide, we’ll look at some of the obvious – and less obvious – factors to consider on a condo’s location:

• The URA Master Plan
• Accessibility issues
• Nearby education institutes
• Suitability of surrounding amenities
• Low versus high density housing
• Stigmatised locations
• Personal lifestyle factors

1. The URA Master Plan The URA Master Plan is a publicly available urban planning outlook. It charts the course of Singapore’s urban planning over the next 10 to 15 years, and it’s the basic blueprint of any property investor (or savvy home buyer!)...