Couple Bought Apartment in Singapore’s Iconic Public-Housing Complex

• Tiffany Lim and Bryan Lee bought a four-room public housing apartment in Singapore in 2021.
• They paid $975,000 Singapore dollars for the unit, which was also the first one she viewed.
• It’s in the city’s most iconic public housing project, Pinnacle@Duxton — which resembles a luxury development.

When Tiffany Lim began househunting, she didn’t expect to buy the very first apartment that she viewed.

It was mid-2021, and her husband, Bryan Lee, was working abroad. They initially wanted to wait until he was officially back in Singapore before looking at apartments. But with the uncertainty of the pandemic, the couple decided to push their plans forward.

Lim had scheduled five different viewings in the same estate on that day. But when she stepped into the first unit, she knew it was the one.

“The whole time, I was taking videos of the house for him to see. But everything happened so fast that by the time he got to his phone, I had already decided I wanted the house,” Lim, 30, who works in HR at a trading startup, told Business Insider.

It was a four-room flat in the Pinnacle@Duxton estate, an award-winning public housing project located in central Singapore, right next to the city’s business district.

They were initially considering other neighborhoods, Lee, 32, who leads a commercial team in an HR startup, told BI.

However, when they realized that the apartment prices in those city-fringe neighborhoods were comparable to Pinnacle@Duxton, they changed their minds.

“Curiosity became temptation, then temptation brought us to walk around the neighborhood, and then we were sold on the area,” he said.

The location was a big draw for the couple, and they liked having lots of food options nearby — trendy restaurants were opening up, and Maxwell Food Centre was a short walk away.

The sweeping views of the city’s skyline were a sweet bonus.

Public housing in Singapore

About 80% of Singapore’s resident population lives in public housing, also known as HDB flats. In recent years, the success of the city’s public housing program has seen prices of HDB flats soaring above 1 million Singapore dollars, or about $751,000,

According to data from real-estate platform 99. co, 121 HDB flats sold for over a million Singapore dollars in February — the highest number ever recorded in a single month.

Pinnacle@Duxton stands out among traditional HDB flats in Singapore due to its architecture. With seven 50-story towers connected by two sky bridges, its design resembles that of a luxury condominium. It was named the world’s best housing development at the World Architecture Festival in 2010.

It comes as no surprise that transaction data from recent years shows that many of these million-dollar HDB flats are located in the complex.

This is the couple’s first home together. Prior to this, Lim was renting an apartment with two friends while Lee lived with his parents.

Lim says she was immediately drawn to the unit because it was well-maintained. The previous owners — an older couple — had also knocked down the walls of one bedroom to create a larger common living area, and she loved the layout.

“Even the tiles, everything just looked like it was a move-in condition,” she said. “The moment I stepped in, it was just so open. And since it’s on a relatively high floor, it was very windy.”

The apartment felt like a blank canvas that they could have fun with in terms of interior design.

The couple paid S$975,000 for their apartment.

Ever-evolving interiors

The entryway of their 1,001-square-foot apartment opens up to the main common areas. The living space, the dining area, and the kitchen are all open-plan. Apart from their bedroom and two bathrooms, there’s also a room they use to lounge in with their cats.

The space is bathed in soft, warm beige tones that create a serene and inviting atmosphere. Carefully curated art pieces and funky furniture add pops of color against this neutral base, and let the couple’s personalities shine through.

They worked with a local interior design firm to renovate their apartment, which took about three months to complete. However, they were quite involved in the entire design process, especially Lim.

“I drew the wardrobe configuration that I wanted and asked them to build it accordingly,” Lim said.

The couple estimates that they spent about S$65,000 on the renovation.

Lim says the interior design of their apartment has evolved over the years.

“We travel quite a bit, so I’ll always be very interested in going to those home decor shops and just looking at a lot of stuff,” Lim said.

The couple’s favorite parts of the house are the kitchen and dining area.

“We enjoy hosting. We have a lot of gatherings here, a lot of meals, and a lot of memories,” Lee said.

Sweeping views of the city-state’s skyline

One of the perks of living in Pinnacle@Duxton is that it comes with access to the two sky bridges.

The one on the 26th floor is reserved for residents only and includes facilities like a fitness corner and a playground. There’s also a jogging track, although the couple says they don’t use it nearly as often as they should.

The one on the 50th floor is open to both residents and the public, although members of the public need to pay S$6 per person per entry.

Looking back on their journey, the couple says they would do several things differently when renovating their house.

Design-wise, they think they’ll be more experimental, Lee said.

In their next house, they’ll also try to be more intentional with space planning, Lim said.

Lim said that when it came to the renovation, they were most excited about the kitchen and didn’t pay as much attention to other parts of the home, like their bedroom.

But with the proliferation of Instagram home design influencers and inspiration from sites like Pinterest, they’ve started to realize that there are plenty of ways to decorate and use a space, no matter how small.

“There are so many things that I can do at home, with just one wall,” Lim said.

They have some tips for first-time homeowners, and investing in quality is one of them.

Lee said this is especially true for things like the built-in carpentry work. Once they are installed, it’s expensive and a hassle to change or redo them again.

“That’s one way people can look at it, or maybe the other way I’d say is if there’s something you really want, spend that extra hundred dollars on it, especially for the renovation,” he said.

Furniture, however, is a different story since it can be changed with relative ease.

Their home feels like a dream come true. Lee remembers how they were still contemplating whether to look for an apartment in the area since it was pricier than most other HDB flats.

“I remember going through that thought process, like, ‘Is it wise? Is it being over-indulgent?'” he said. “But honestly, after staying here, when you really enjoy something that you wanted to get all along, I would say I’m glad I pulled the trigger.”

Do you have a story to share about living in an apartment in a city? Contact this reporter at agoh@businessinsider.com.