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Buyers snapping up homes in suburbs as luxury condo prices continue to climb

The suburban residential market is finally catching up with the verve of the high-end luxury market, according to a report by real estate specialists CB Richard Ellis.

“The strong take-up recorded for suburban projects is in part due to the limited supply of new homes within the price range of $600psf and $800psf,” said Mr Joseph Tan, CB Richard Ellis’ executive director (residential). “Most new launches in the past 12 months have been high-end projects.”

While luxury projects continued to break price records for the second quarter of the year, three major projects in the suburban areas sold out within weeks of their launch.

The first batch of units at the 99-year leasehold, 556-unit Casa Merah near Tanah Merah MRT station averaged $590psf when it was launched in April. But these prices quickly rose to an average of $700psf, reflecting the demand for these units.

The 140 units at Northwood in Jalan Mata Ayer sold for an average price of $620psf while over at Woodleigh Close, Parc Mondrian’s 100 units averaged $680psf amid brisk sales.

Prices of mid-tier projects climbed as well, with The Seafront On Meyer and Wing Tai’s Riverine By The Park being offered to the primary market at prices between $1,400psf and $1,500psf.

Keppel Land’s Reflections at Keppel Bay set a new benchmark price for the Telok Blangah area with its launch price of $1,900psf.

Speculation on the property market has also resulted in a jump in the sub-sale market, with CB Richard Ellis expecting the sub-sale market to hit over 4,000 transactions by the end of the second quarter. This will be a slight increase over the 3,866 sales registered in the first quarter.

This hike, according to the property specialist, is because of the increase in the number of sub-sales of popular projects as well as a jump in collective sale numbers, resulting in an influx of buyers looking for replacement properties.

“Moving on to the third quarter, we expect the current positive sentiment to continue,” Mr Tan said.

“The take-up of new homes is likely to exceed 3,000 units while home prices may continue to head up by another 3 per cent to 5 per cent in the next quarter,” he added.

Awaiting this next batch of homebuyers in the next quarter will be developers with a variety of offerings to cater to these diverse tastes.

CB Richard Ellis expects Hilltops, Scotts Square and the 99-year leasehold condominium at the Marina Collection on Sentosa Cove to be launched for the high-end segment.

For the prime and mid-tier segment, there is the expected launch of the 99-year leasehold condominium project on Sinaran Drive and the developments on the sites of the former Dragon View Park and Eastern Mansion.

The suburban projects are also getting in on the act, with the possibility of the Versilia On Haig and the development on the former site of Westpeak in West Coast Walk being put on the market. 
 
Source : Weekend Today - 30 Jun 2007

There seems to be no end in sight for the spiralling property prices in the high-end luxury market.

SC Global Developments, a specialist in the development of luxury residences, announced that the first phase of The Marq sold out at prices averaging $4,137psf.

The units that were sold ranged between $11 million to $31 million.

This sale of the first phase of the development comprised 21 units from the Premier Tower and Signature Tower.

Eight of these were in the Signature Tower, where every unit came with a private 15-metre lap pool. The tower features 21 five-bedroom apartments averaging 6,195sqft. The unit that sold for $31 million reflected a price of $5,100psf.

The remaining 13 units sold were in the Premier Tower, which has 42 four-bedroom apartments that are around 3,000sqft in size.

The release of the second phase of units of The Marq will be announced at a later date.

Source : Weekend Today - 30 Jun 2007

Unit sold for top price of $5,100 psf; hot demand also for UOL’s project

A New record for home prices in Singapore has been set, once again. A unit in SC Global’s freehold The Marq On Paterson Hill has been sold for $5,100 per square foot (psf), the developer said yesterday.

The Marq

SC Global, a developer of exclusive luxury residences, said it has sold all 21 apartments it released in the first phase of its 66-unit luxury development at an average selling price of $4,137 psf. The project started previewing last week.

The previous record for home prices was held by Parkview Eclat, where developer Chyau Fwu Group said it sold a four-bedroom apartment for ‘almost $4,200 psf’.

At The Marq, absolute prices for apartments ranged from about $11 million to $31 million, SC Global said.

Another luxury property - in the Bukit Timah area this time round rather than Orchard - has similarly seen hot demand. About 70 per cent of the UOL Group’s 120-unit Duchess Residences has been sold with prices crossing the $2,000 psf mark for several apartments, the company said. Sources said that the highest price fetched was in the region of $2,100 psf.

Duchess Residences started previewing on Monday, but most of the units were snapped up over four hours yesterday, BT understands. The project will be officially launched tomorrow, UOL said.

‘This (the high prices) confirms that the Bukit Timah area is seeing a lot of pent-up demand, and people are looking to buy,’ said Ku Swee Yong, director of marketing and business development at Savills Singapore.

Savills is marketing Duchess Residences together with DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.

Bukit Timah, which made waves during the last property boom, is expected to make a comeback this year. Other than Duchess Residences, at least five other developments will be launched there in the coming months, with prices expected to cross the $2,000 psf mark - a level not seen for the past 10 years.

SC Global shares traded unchanged at $6.40 yesterday before a late afternoon trading halt ahead of the announcement. UOL’s stock closed 15 cents higher at $5.80.

Source : Business Times - 29 Jun 2007

Jurong and Paya Lebar have been designated as new business hubs so as to provide space for Singapore’s continued growth as a global business centre, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said yesterday.

In the interview with Channel NewsAsia, Mr Tan also commented on speculation about the possibility of sharp increases in plot ratios for land to cope with an anticipated rise in population. He said there is no need for such a move at this point as the figure of a 6.5 million population is a very long-term guide spanning up to 50 years.

On the new business hubs, he said the move would offer an alternative to the crowded Central Business District area.

To grow those areas into new hubs for businesses, the government plans to release sites for new offices, shops, homes and entertainment outlets in those areas.

Mr Tan was giving a preview of the upcoming Master Plan 2008 in his interview with CNA. The plan will go out for public feedback by mid-2008.

Source : Business Times - 29 Jun 2007

CapitaLand-led deal chalks up highest sum paid for an en bloc sale

A whopping $1.3388 billion.

That’s the price that a consortium - comprising CapitaLand, Hotel Properties, US-based Wachovia Development Corporation and possibly a foreign fund - is paying to buy Farrer Court.

According to Credo Real Estate, which brokered the sale, the sum is the highest ever fetched for a collective sale to date, and is possibly also the biggest ever residential land transaction in Singapore.

The unit land cost to the developers for the leasehold District 10 site works out to $762 to $783 psf of potential gross floor area. This is inclusive of two payments the buyers will have to make to the state - an estimated $275 million differential premium for enhancing the intensity of the site’s use to a 2.8 plot ratio, and a further sum of about $175 million to $225 million for topping up the site’s lease from a remaining term of about 69 years to 99 years.

The privatised HUDC estate has 618 existing apartments of two sizes - 1,615 sq ft and 1,453 sq ft. Their owners will get respective sums of $2.238 million and $2.122 million per unit. Based on the apartments’ existing strata areas, the proceeds to owners work out to $1,386 psf and $1,460 psf respectively. Before work on a collective sale at Farrer Court began in Q2 last year, the apartments were changing hands at about $500,000 to $600,000 each. The sums that the owners will receive are about 11.5 per cent higher than the sums they would have received based on the $1.2 billion reserve price in the collective sale agreement (CSA).

The deal is subject to approval from the Strata Titles Board. Owners with about 81 per cent of share values have signed the CSA so far. Rodyk & Davidson is representing the majority owners.

Industry players reckoned the construction costs, fees, interest and holdings costs for the developers could amount to a further $1 billion to $1.1 billion - resulting in an all-in investment of about $2.8 billion to $2.9 billion for the buyers.

Market watchers said the breakeven cost for a new condo on the site may be about $1,200 to $1,300 psf. At 838,488 sq ft, Farrer Court also has the biggest land area for a collective sale site transacted.

CapitaLand will lead the consortium buying Farrer Court, with a 35 to 40 per cent stake. HPL said its stake is expected to be 20 to 30 per cent.

CapitaLand said the plan is to redevelop the site into a new 36-storey condo with about 1,500 generously-sized apartments. The project will be ready for launch in first-half 2009. CapitaLand is the lead development manager.

‘Existing owners will be given the first right of refusal to purchase units in the new development, similar to what was extended to former owners of Char Yong Gardens and the site for The Seafront on Meyer,’ CapitaLand Group president and CEO Liew Mun Leong said yesterday. ‘The Farrer Court site is a large-sized property that will give us the opportunity to work with world renowned architects who have an international portfolio, to create a unique landmark project.’

The transaction is expected to be completed by Q2 2008.

CapitaLand said its latest acquisition of Farrer Court will increase the size of the residential landbank the group is managing in Singapore to about 5.5 million sq ft of potential gross floor area.

The tender for Farrer Court, which closed on Wednesday afternoon, attracted one other bidder - believed to be GuocoLand, which earlier this year bought the nearby freehold Leedon Heights site for $835 million or $1,062 psf per plot ratio.

Farrer Court is the only private residential site in the Farrer Road and Holland Road area accorded a high plot ratio of 2.8 and a maximum height of 36 storeys. Most of the surrounding sites are designated for either landed housing or low or medium-rise developments.

When signing of the collective sale agreement began in late September last year, the initial proposed reserve price was $700 million. By January this year, this had been revised upwards to $840 million, with a final revision to $1.2 billion in March.

Source : Business Times - 29 Jun 2007