Feature Engineering

After browsing articles, property market sites and social media, 5 additional features are found to be potential features to improve our model.

1. Nearest and Nearby MRTs (1 km)
2. Nearest and Nearby Bus stops (300 m)
3. Nearest and Nearby Schools (1 km)
4. Nearest and Nearby Primary Schools (1 km)
    - Within 1km radius gives higher priority during balloting
    ( https://www.moe.gov.sg/primary/p1-registration/distance/ )
5. Nearest and Nearby Malls (1 km)

Assuming a straight line walking route, we can use geocoordinates from Singapore's onemap API to determine the actual land distance.

Preparing MRT dataset

Dataset can be downloaded directly from the Singapore data gov website at https://data.gov.sg/dataset/train-station-chinese-names or it can be accessed via API below.

Preparing Schools Dataset

Dataset can be downloaded directly from the Singapore data gov website at https://data.gov.sg/dataset/school-directory-and-information?view_id=ba7c477d-a077-4303-96a1-ac1d4f25b190&resource_id=ede26d32-01af-4228-b1ed-f05c45a1d8ee or it can be accessed via API below.

Preparing Malls Dataset

The list of malls are found by webscraping the wikipedia page due to no such central dataset in any government source.

Take note that some of the malls are not found using onemap's api. Therefore, lat and long are inputted manually using google map.

Adding Geocoordinates to the Original Dataset

The algorithm will attempt several naming convention of each entry to find the the most exact geocoordinates using onemap's api.

Adding Features into Main Dataset

Dummifying Variables

Conclusion and Future Improvements

Discovery

Using the original dataset and engineered features, we discovered the major factors that affect HDB resales price such as the location, the flat type and the remaining lease of the flat. Features such as proximity to schools, malls and MRTS are heavily marketed in social media and property markets. As these features do not greatly affect the price of HDBs, they remain as a attractive selling point. The next time you buy a HDB resale flat in Singapore, make sure you have these features because it will mean you that you getting the most bang for the buck!

Technique Used:

Possible Future Improvements

Predictive program can be found at https://share.streamlit.io/liankeat/resaleflatsinsg/main.