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Another new housing project has been entirely sold on the day of its launch. All 85 units of Hoi Hup Realty’s The Ford @ Holland were sold out within a few hours of its launch yesterday, with the most expensive unit - a 4,000 sq ft townhouse with basement and attic - going for just over $4 million.

Ford @ Holland

More than 200 people turned up for the launch that started at 11.30am yesterday, and within hours, the 10 townhouses and 75 apartments had been snapped up.

‘More than 80 per cent of the buyers are locals,’ said Ms Margaret Thean, executive director, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung (SEA). ‘Of course, there were some expats too, who bought the units for investment and for their own stay.’

The smallest studio units - about 420 sq feet - were sold for just over $500,000, which makes the average selling price of The Ford @ Holland about $1,218 per sq ft.

The smallest townhouse, of about 3,300 sq ft, went for about $3.7 million.

Recent new projects in prime areas have been snapped up, fuelled by a recovery in the real estate market.

Katong’s Grand Duchess at St Patrick’s sold out within 36 hours of its launch, even after its price was raised twice over last Friday and Saturday to $740 per sq ft, or about $1 million for a three-bedroom unit.

The first phase of the 99-year leasehold Metropolitan at Redhill - 250 apartments - also sold out in a weekend, with prices going up to $780 per sq ft.

The Ford @ Holland’s appeal was its location, said Wong Sjew Hung, director in charge of residential projects at Hoi Hup. The project is situated at the junction of Ford Avenue and Holland Road, near the future Holland Village MRT station.

The project also has a 25-metre pool.

‘Our studio units also came with kitchen fittings and some furniture, so most buyers bought these to invest in, as it’s easier to get tenants,’ said Ms Wong.

Following this launch, Hoi Hup will have two new projects for sale early next year. One is at River Valley and the other at Cairnhill.

The River Valley project will have 118 units and will be launched in January and the Cairnhill one, with 48 units, is likely to be launched in March, Ms Wong said.

These will be luxury developments, she said, but she cannot say for now how much the projects will fetch. Both, like The Ford @ Holland, are freehold estates.

‘It’s still a few months away so nobody can tell how the market will move,’ she said.

Source : Business Times - 29 Nov 2006

MCL Land is set to increase its presence in the Holland/Farrer roads area after it emerged as the top bidder for the collective sale of Holland Hill Mansions, BT understands.

Its $292 million price works out to about $750 per square foot of potential gross floor area. No development charge is payable. The price is 36 per cent higher than the $550 psf ppr unit land price MCL paid for the nearby Waterfall Gardens and a couple of smaller adjoining sites at Farrer Road in February.

Both Holland Hill Mansions and Waterfall Gardens are on freehold sites zoned for residential use with a 1.6 plot ratio (ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area). Both sites have a 12-storey maximum height. The deals were handled by DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.

The Holland Hill Mansions has a land area of 243,525 sq ft and can be redeveloped into a new condo with about 205 units averaging 2,000 sq ft. Based on MCL’s purchase price, the breakeven cost works out to about $1,100 to $1,200 psf, say analysts. Market watchers suggest that MCL Land may take a partner to develop the project.

The existing Holland Hill Mansions have 116 apartments, a penthouse and a shop unit. Through the collective sale, owners stand to receive sums which could be 65 to 85 per cent more than they might have had by selling their homes individually, according to some estimates.

On the stock market yesterday, MCL ended one cent higher at $1.70.

Source : Business Times - 29 Nov 2006

The CK Tang department store and adjoining Marriott Hotel on the prime Orchard/Scotts Road corner are not for sale.

This is despite interest in buying the properties expressed by a string of suitors, including Real Estate Investment Trusts, according to CK Tang chairman Tang Wee Sung.

There has also been confusion among some of CK Tang’s small shareholders and even analysts who think that the listed retailer owns the entire complex including the hotel, Mr Tang says.

The freehold hotel/retail complex - known as Tang Plaza - is a strata titled property. CK Tang owns its department store space, giving it only about 28 per cent of the total share value in Tang Plaza.

Tang Holdings - a private entity which is majority controlled by Mr Tang’s younger brother Wee Kit - owns the Marriott Hotel, translating to 72 per cent share value in Tang Plaza.

Tang Wee Sung holds a minority interest in Tang Holdings.

A spokesman for Tang Holdings has also confirmed that Tang Plaza is not for sale. ‘We’ll sell our own homes first before we sell this place,’ Mr Tang Wee Sung said in a recent interview with BT.

‘And once and for all, we want to make it clear that CK Tang does not own Marriott Hotel,’ he added.

Mr Tang, however, acknowledges that the site does have redevelopment potential, as widely speculated about - but he adds that redevelopment is currently not an option.

‘It’s not as simple as that. First of all, there’ll be a huge development charge payment involved. And we’ll need to be careful how to do it without jeopardising the business,’ Mr Tang said.

Currently, the Orchard Road department store is the predominant source of income for CK Tang and pulling down the outlet for a redevelopment project will leave a big vacuum in the group’s accounts.

‘There are no plans to redevelop the property right now. It’s a landmark, an icon. I think there are too many glass buildings, personally,’ Mr Tang says.

If, however, in future there is any redevelopment proposal, Tang Holdings will take the lead (as it is Tang Plaza’s majority owner), albeit with CK Tang’s agreement.

‘We’ll not agree to any plans to redevelop that will jeopardise our business,’ Mr Tang said.

In any case, he stressed that CK Tang is a retail, not property, play. So CK Tang will own just the strata retail portion of any possible redevelopment scheme which may come up in the long term, Mr Tang insists. ‘We need the space for the store. We’re becoming quite small compared with the other major players like Takashimaya, Isetan and Robinson.’

Under Master Plan 2003, the freehold site can be redeveloped into a new project with a total maximum gross floor area (GFA) of about 874,000 sq ft, of which at least 60 per cent must be for hotel use and the rest can be for commercial and residential uses, say property consultants. The potential GFA is about 37 per cent more than Tang Plaza’s existing GFA.

Market watchers reckon that based on the site’s redevelopment potential, the total value of the site (inclusive of development charges payable to the state) is easily worth over $1 billion.

Rather than a total redevelopment, which will involve tearing down the existing property and incurring drastic loss of income for CK Tang at least, what’s more likely in the near future is exploring ways to increase the store’s selling area, for instance, by relocating backroom functions.

What could make a redevelopment project more feasible for CK Tang is if it succeeds in expanding its store count significantly to the point where the group’s bottom line could withstand closure of the Orchard Road store for a few years while it is redeveloped.

Source : Business Times - 28 Nov 2006

Sales boosted by firms launching prime sites they have held for years 

The number of homes sold above the ‘ultra-luxury’ benchmark price of $2,000 per sq ft (psf) this year has already surpassed the combined total for the past 10 years.

There were 183 transactions of these pricey homes in just the first 10 months of this year, according to a check of caveats lodged.

This is 25 per cent higher than the 147 deals done between 1995 and last year.

The trend is led by super-posh projects in which all units are priced above $2,000 psf, a new phenomenon that appeared only this year.

This price level, somewhat of a psychological barrier over the past 10 years, was previously breached only by choice units in selected condominiums rather than whole projects.

One major reason for this new trend could be that developers, sniffing a strong market recovery in the making, are seizing the chance to develop prime sites they have been sitting on for years.

‘The classic example of this is St Regis Residences, which is being built on land that has been around for some time,’ said Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank.

‘City Developments (CDL) knows this is a prime site and has been waiting for the right concept.’

The 999-year leasehold St Regis plot, located along Cuscaden Road near the junction of Tomlinson and Tanglin roads, has been held by CDL for more than 20 years.

The record-breaking development, which breached $3,000 psf in June, accounted for almost 40 per cent of this year’s transactions above $2,000 psf.

In some cases, developers have held back their prime launches because the land was acquired at high prices during the last property boom in the mid-1990s. For the last decade, the weak market has been unable to support the kind of home prices necessary to make these sites profitable, said consultants.

Such plots include the Draycott 8 site, a 99-year leasehold plot picked up by Wing Tai for a record $1,103 psf per plot ratio in June 1997 on the eve of the Asian financial crisis.

The developer started selling units in Draycott 8 only in November last year. Despite having only about 90 years left on the lease, however, three Draycott 8 apartments crossed the $2,000 psf mark this year.

Similarly, CDL’s parent Hong Leong Holdings bought its freehold Tate Residences site along Claymore Road during a mini property recovery in 2000. Market prices dropped soon after that and stayed low until last year.

When Hong Leong finally started selling Tate units in August, demand was so strong during the preview that the project - which made up nearly a fifth of all sales above $2,000 psf this year - was close to being sold out.

‘Projects like Draycott 8 and Tate Residences have not been able to find price support from the market for a long time,’ said Mr Mak.

‘The fact that more homes above $2,000 psf have been sold this year alone than in the last 10 years indicates that this is a once-in-10-years kind of bull run that has come back.’

Mr Ku Swee Yong, director of marketing and business development at Savills Singapore, added that more luxury homes are now being fitted with premium finishes that increase the value of these units.

‘All else being equal, luxury prices might rise 10 per cent to 15 per cent, but in a rising market you throw in branded fittings and that allows you to charge 20 per cent more,’ he said.

Another project that made it to the all-star price bracket this year was the 99-year leasehold The Sail @ Marina Bay. It hit the magical price of $2,009 psf in a sub-sale transaction last month, after already changing hands the previous month for $1,355 psf.

It was first sold for $1,097 psf a year ago, around the time the project was launched at $1,080 psf.

Source : Straits Times - 27 Nov 2006

It hopes to feature 7 flagship luxury stores as retail space is bumped up 

CROWN Hotel At Orchard is to undergo an $80 million revamp that will replace its facade with a modern glass frontage.

It will also feature a gallery of flagship luxury stores in the league of Louis Vuitton, as it more than doubles the amount of retail space on offer at the hotel.

These stores, which span the basement level to the third floor of the property, will have their own individual ground-floor, street-front access.

All 311 hotel rooms, located on levels five to 11, will also undergo an overhaul.

‘We’re going to revamp it into a more trendy and upmarket hotel,’ said Mr Allen Law, director of the hotel’s owner and operator Park Hotel Group.

The revamp will start in January 2009 and is due to be completed in the third quarter of that year.

The timing will roughly coincide with the completion of the Orchard Turn mall and the integrated resort at Marina Bay.

After the revamp, the lobby of the four-star hotel will move from the ground floor to level four of the 11-storey building. And the hotel’s basement two will have 100 carpark lots.

The lettable area at the current retail podium will increase from 4,000 sq m to 9,000 sq m.

The group hopes to attract, at the most, seven luxury fashion brands to set up their flagship property at the revamped arcade.

The brands will each have an entrance that spans a height of two floors and their own internal staircases or lifts, said Mr Law.

‘We’re already in discussions with numerous potential tenants,’ he said.

Feedback is that these retailers have been looking for just such a space in Orchard Road, but so far, no developer has been willing to build such large units, he said.

‘In our case…we want to fully utilise the prominent frontage that our location can offer.’

Mr Law expects the new retail podium to contribute half of Crown Hotel’s earnings, up from the 35 per cent to 40 per cent that is contributed by the existing retail space.

Source : Straits Times - 27 Nov 2006