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Residences@Evelyn also previewed in HK, expected to be marketed in Jakarta

KWEK Leng Beng’s City Developments has sold close to 50 units at its Residences @ Evelyn freehold condominium since it began previewing the Newton area freehold project last weekend.

The average price is $1,225 per square foot.

So far, the listed property group has released only one tower, with 106 units.

The 50 units sold so far include both penthouses measuring about 3,500 square feet each and priced at about $4.5 million per unit.

The project, which is being marketed by CB Richard Ellis and ERA, has 208 units in two 33-storey towers.

Two-bedroom apartments of about 1,200 sq ft cost about $1.35 million on average, while three-bedder units of about 1,600 sq ft are priced at around $1.85 million.

Four-bedroom apartments of 2,250 sq ft cost $2.7 million each.

Residences @ Evelyn was also previewed in Hong Kong last weekend and the project is expected to be marketed in Jakarta this weekend.

Nearby, Lippo has sold 53 units in its freehold Newton One condo since it previewed the development two weeks ago.

The average price is $1,250 psf.

The 29-storey project has 91 units in total and is the Indonesian group’s first residential development in Singapore.

City Developments is developing Residences @ Evelyn on a 116,508 sq ft freehold site.

The listed property company is expected to launch more than 1,000 residential units this year.

Besides Residences @ Evelyn, its other project launches this year include the high-end St Regis Residences with 173 units, which it has begun selling, a 264-unit condo at Sentosa Cove and 100 units of the 175-unit Kings Centre Plot 3 condo.

Source : Business Times - 1 Jun 2006

A STAGGERING $16 million for a condo apartment - that is what one of the super-penthouse units at SC Global Developments’ luxury development The Boulevard Residence fetched.

The buyer, a foreigner, heads an international hedge fund which will be setting up an office in Singapore.

For the 7,000 sq ft penthouse, it works out to $2,286 psf - which is still lower than what other units in the development fetched previously.

But because of the sheer size of the unit, industry watchers said that the $16 million could be the highest ever lump sum paid for a condo apartment.

The Boulevard Residence, branded simply as BLVD, has two super penthouses and two junior penthouses of 4,000 sq ft each in addition to 42 smaller units of about 2,000 sq ft each.

The development is at Cuscaden Walk, near the prime Orchard Road shopping belt.

Negotiations are going on with a potential foreign buyer for the sale of the second super-penthouse, said SC Global which is controlled by Simon Cheong.

Both junior penthouses were sold last year for more than $6 million each. To date, about 10 units in the development remain unsold, BT understands.

Since BLVD was launched in January 2003, prices have averaged $1,500 psf. But since last October, four of the smaller units have been sold for more than $2,000 psf. The last sale in February 2006 was at $2,329 psf, said SC Global.

Joseph Tan, a director at property services company CB Richard Ellis, said that the prices are comparable to what luxury penthouses were fetching during the peak of the property market in the mid-90s.

‘The high-end market is fairly active now and prices here are still more attractive than in other parts of Asia such as Hong Kong,’ he said.

And there have been quite a few buyers of late looking specifically for penthouses, said Knight Frank’s executive director Peter Ow.

‘The buyers are looking for quality and are willing to pay,’ he said.

Source : Business Times - 18 May 2006

TYCOON Kwek Leng Beng’s property firms may have been lying low so far this year, but they will not be out of the market for long.

They are now preparing a string of luxury launches to home in o n the current uptrend in high-end residences.

After City Developments’ (CDL’s) successful launch of the second tower of The Sail @ Marina Bay late last year, the next keenly awaited project is the 999-year St Regis Residences.

The branded property in the Cuscaden/Tomlinson area is not only the first in the line-up, but is also likely to be the priciest.

Market talk is that St Regis - which is jointly owned by CDL, Hong Leong Holdings and TID (a partnership between Hong Leong and Japan’s Mitsui group) - could be launched on June 1 or soon after at record-breaking prices of over $2,000 per sq ft.

Not long after, Hong Leong Holdings, which has been quietly acquiring prime sites over the years, is expected to push out the 85-unit Tate Residences, one of two luxurious condominium projects it is preparing for launch.

Located along Claymore Road and Draycott Drive, the 36-storey project should be launched no later than the third quarter of this year.

It has units ranging from 1,900 sq ft to 3,300 sq ft, as well as two large penthouses, each of which comes with its own lap pool.

Later in the year or early next year, Hong Leong Holdings plans to launch a yet-to-be-named luxury condo at Nassim Road.

It will have about 35 to 38 units ranging from 2,800 to 3,500 sq ft in size.

This site includes the freehold 45,608 sq ft former New Zealand High Commission site, which Hong Leong Holdings reportedly bought in October 1994 at a record bid of $63.88 million or $1,401 per sq ft (psf).

At that price, the break-even cost is estimated at between $1,900 and $2,000 psf, said an industry expert.

But Hong Leong Holdings thinks the units will still sell well.

‘The luxury property market sector is expected to continue to perform strongly this year,’ said its head of sales and marketing, Ms Betsy Chng.

‘Some of the high-end projects have done well recently with transaction prices reaching the $2,000 psf mark. The group is confident that the projects with prestigious addresses will be well-received.’

Hong Leong Holdings is also selling eight good-class bungalows in Jervois Hill at $600 to $640 psf. And CDL has its high-end Sentosa Cove condo among others lined up for launch this year.

Industry watchers noted that the high-end property market has witnessed strong demand from foreign and wealthy local buyers, though the mass market has yet to feel it.

‘Developers are trying to catch the wave while the high-end market is hot,’ said one. ‘The question is when the tide will turn.’

Source : Straits Times - 15 May 2006

Overseas buyer likely a fund, paid $1,600 psf: sources

WING Tai is understood to have found a buyer for a block at its completed 99-year leasehold condo Draycott Eight for about $1,600 psf, sources have told BT.

Based on this figure, industry watchers estimate the lump sum amount for the transaction should be over $200 million, assuming Wing Tai sold all the units in the block, which is understood to have 46 four-bedroom units. Some of the apartments are said to have been leased out by Wing Tai, which should provide the investor with immediate returns.

The buyer is understood to be an overseas party, most likely a fund, sources suggest.

Draycott Eight, completed last year, is on a site with a remaining lease of 90 years. The 136-unit project in the prime Draycott/Ardmore area has three 24 storey blocks. Two blocks have four-bedroom apartments while the third is made up of two-bedders.

So far, Wing Tai seems to have been selling units in two blocks - including one of the towers with the four-bedroom units. This gives it the option of selling the third tower en bloc or holding it for investment, according to market watchers. According to caveats captured by SISV Services’ REALink 21 database, 10 units in the development have been sold so far at prices ranging from $1,561 psf to $1,756 psf. Wing Tai began selling the project late last year. The four bedroom units in the project are 2,896 sq ft each.

Market watchers described the $1,600 psf that Wing Tai is said to have achieved for the entire block’s sale as a good price and noted that the divestment releases resources that Wing Tai can then use to reinvest in the property market. The group has been scouting for residential development sites.

Yesterday, the company said in an announcement to the Singapore Exchange that it it has agreed to buy Newton Meadows for $73 million, confirming BT’s report earlier this week. This works out to about $666 psf of potential gross floor area inclusive of development charges. Jones Lang LaSalle brokered the deal.

Other prime residential development sites the group has bought over the past year include Belle Vue at Oxley Walk, bought for $227.3 million or about $666 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr), and Phoenix Mansion in Cairnhill Road for $57.9 million or $716 psf ppr.

Source : Business Times - 6 May 2006

Project on Beverly Mai site to be pitched as most exclusive in S’pore

CHRISTOPHER Lim, group executive director of Hotel Properties Ltd (HPL), says a new condo on the Beverly Mai site which the group bought last week is located just as well if not even better than the Four Seasons Park condo the group developed in the mid-1990s.

‘The project will be the most exclusive in Singapore,’ Mr Lim said in an interview with BT.

‘The pricing will definitely be above $2,000 psf on average. It’s a question of how much more than $2,000 psf.’

The 36-storey development is likely to be released for sale early next year. The configuration of unit sizes has yet to be finalised, although market watchers expect most of them to be large units of 2,000 sq ft or so, given that these are in high demand by foreign buyers and well-heeled Singaporean investors looking to buy apartments to lease out, particularly to expatriate families.

Mr Lim said the $1,600 psf breakeven cost for HPL’s proposed new condo on the Beverly Mai site reported in the media is ‘in the lower range’.

HPL bought Beverly Mai on Tomlinson Road through a $238 million collective sale - $1,184 per sq ft of potential gross floor area inclusive of an estimated development charge of $16.8 million.

The site is zoned for residential use with a 2.8 plot ratio(ratio of potential gross floor area to land area).

Mr Lim said the Beverly Mai site is superior in terms of accessibility and height control to the group’s Four Seasons Park condo project which set the benchmark for the high-end condo market in the 1990s.

The new project at the Beverly Mai site will have 36 storeys. Four Seasons Park has 27 storeys.

And whereas the Four Seasons Park condo can be accessed only through Cuscaden Walk, the Beverly Mai site can be accessed through Orchard Boulevard, Grange Road (through One Tree Hill) and Paterson Road, Mr Lim said.

‘The new condo will boast unobstructed views as it will be surrounded by landed properties and greenery, including the Good Class Bungalow areas of Rochalie Drive, Chatsworth and Bishopsgate,’ Mr Lim said.

‘Beverly Mai is in a quiet enclave surrounded by low-rise residential properties and yet it’s just a minute’s walk from Four Seasons Hotel.’

HPL’s Beverly Mai deal - which is still subject to approval by the Strata Titles Board since unanimous approval from owners has yet to be secured - is the group’s first major property acquisition in Singapore in about nine years.

The group is interested in more prime freehold residential sites here but will stick to its current stronghold in the Cuscaden/Orchard belt.

On the status of the group’s long standing plans for a massive redevelopment of the group’s four properties in the Orchard/Cuscaden area - Four Seasons and Hilton hotels, Forum and HPL House adding up to a land area of almost 220,000 sq ft, Mr Lim said: ‘We’re looking at this with great enthusiasm but not ready to make any announcements.’

Expectations that HPL would bring forward its plans have been running high since March last year when the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced a scheme to give incentives to redevelop properties along Orchard Road.

Under this scheme, the URA may grant additional gross floor area (GFA) beyond that allowed under the Master Plan - if redevelopments result in innovative projects that generate tourism and other economic spinoffs.

Asked if HPL will team up with Wheelock Properties (Singapore) - which recently bought a 21 per cent stake in HPL - to undertake this massive redevelopment of its four Cuscaden/Orchard properties or for the Beverly Mai project, Mr Lim said there are no specific discussions for any joint venture proposals.

‘But there is good chemistry between the two companies, and their assets and ours are quite similar. That could lead to cooperation in future.

‘We are very friendly with Wheelock. We have high regard for their management - Peter Woo and David Lawrence - and (HPL managing director) Mr Ong Beng Seng knows them personally. We like what they have done and likewise, they like what we have done.

‘So sure, in future, anything can happen.’

Even without joint ventures, though, HPL can undertake the redevelopment of the four Orchard/Cuscaden Road buildings through internal resources and bank borrowings.

‘Our gearing is relatively low, about 40-plus per cent. And we’re not a property developer which is totally dependent on development profits. We have quality investment income from hotel operations,’ Mr Lim points out.

HPL has more than 10 hotels, in Singapore, Maldives, Bali, Pattaya, Bangkok, Langkawi, Kuala Lumpur, Bhutan, New York and Vanuatu.

Source : Business Times - 4 May 2006