Ho Bee plans to launch 450 homes this year
Developer raises prices of its Coral Island bungalows by 3-5 per cent
HO BEE Investment, which sold 180 private homes in 2005, expects to launch about 450 units this year in projects on Sentosa Cove, Katong, Holland Road and the Orange Grove area.
The property developer has also raised the prices of its bungalows on Coral Island at Sentosa Cove by about 3-5 per cent since previews began in November. The bungalows are now going for $5.3 million-$13.9 million.
‘Our residential sales this year will definitely be higher than last year,’ Ho Bee chairman Chua Thian Poh said in a media interview yesterday to showcase the Coral Island project.
It is resuming marketing after the year-end holidays for the remaining 11 bungalows in the development. Ho Bee has sold the other 10 bungalows in the 99-year leasehold project since November. The current price range for the Coral Island bungalows works out to about $700-$930 psf of land area. The 10 bungalows sold earlier to a mix of Singaporeans, Indonesians, Hong Kongers and mainland Chinese went for between $5.3 million and $7 million each.
The two-storey bungalows come with attics and have land areas ranging from about 6,200 to 15,000 sq ft and built up areas of 7,300 to 16,400 sq ft. Ho Bee’s break-even cost on the bungalows is said to average about $4 million.
Ho Bee bought Coral Island en bloc in late 2004 for $206 psf of land area. ‘Our land cost is now almost historical,’ quipped Mr Chua, referring to the steep appreciation in values at the upscale waterfront housing district. The group has appointed respected local architectural firm MAPS Design Studio and internationally acclaimed landscape consultant Bill Bensley for the project.
Ho Bee also bought the neighbouring Paradise Island last year and plans to build 29 bungalows there, which could be marketed by the end of this year’s third quarter. By then, these bungalows may be able to achieve a double-digit price increase over the present Coral Island levels, Mr Chua said.
Another project by the group on Sentosa Cove, which should be launch-ready by the year-end, is a condo on a site dubbed The Baywater Collection which Ho Bee is expected to be awarded. This condo, which will have about 250 units, should be able to fetch an average price in the $1,200-$1,300 psf range by the year-end, he added.
The last condo launch at Sentosa Cove, Centrepoint Properties’ The Azure, saw the average price rise from about $930 to $1,100 psf within a few weeks in September/early October.
The maiden condo on Sentosa Cove, Ho Bee’s 200-unit The Berth By The Cove, is now over 90 per cent sold. The average price in the project had risen from $785 psf when previews began in late 2004 to about $850 psf by April last year - when Ho Bee decided to stop selling the remaining units. ‘We’ll probably keep the balance units until the project is ready, around Q3 2006, by which time the price will have gone up tremendously,’ said Ho Bee Investment’s executive director Ong Chong Hua. ‘Condos and bungalows on Sentosa Cove will benchmark capital values not only in Singapore but also in Asia,’
Ho Bee has been the biggest buyer of housing sites on Sentosa Cove since the island’s master planner/developer Sentosa Cove Pte Ltd began selling land parcels in the upscale housing district in late 2003.
Mr Ong observed there had been an exponential increase in land values in other waterfront housing districts elsewhere, such as Hope Island and Sanctuary Cove on Australia’s Gold Coast as their development progressed. This is being repeated at Sentosa Cove.
CB Richard Ellis chairman (Asia) Willy Shee, whose firm has been marketing all of Ho Bee’s projects on Sentosa Cove, said: ‘Sentosa is a big brand name. Most foreigners, when you ask them about Singapore, will mention Orchard Road or Sentosa.’
Ho Bee also expects to launch this year three other projects on mainland Singapore - a 42-unit freehold project at Amber Gardens, a 60-unit low-rise freehold condo on the Fernhill Grove site which will have an Orange Grove Road entrance and address, and a 55-unit condo on a 99-year leasehold site along Holland Road. The group is also on the prowl for more residential sites, especially in the medium and high parts of the market.
Mr Chua predicts that luxury home prices in Singapore will rise 8-10 per cent this year while those in the mass market will go up at least 3-5 per cent.
Source : Business Times - 5 Jan 2006
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