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A UNIT at Setia Residences - a freehold development by the Cheng family of the Prima group - was sold for $1,600 per sq ft over the weekend, setting a new record for the Newton area.

The 3,348 sq ft unit, on the 23rd floor, was sold for $5.4 million last Saturday, William Wong, business development director of Century 21, the exclusive marketing agent for the project in Singapore and overseas, told BT.

The buyer is a Singapore permanent resident who bought the unit for his own use.

Ten more units of the exclusive 24-unit condominium project at Evelyn Road - designed by Architect 61 - will be offered for sale. ‘We’re going for $1,650 for the next unit, on the 18th floor,’ said Mr Wong. Century 21 has also started marketing the units in Hong Kong and has already received indications of interest, he added.

The highest price fetched for the Newton area before this was around $1,400 psf to $1,500 psf. Two nearby projects in the Newton area - City Developments’ Residences @ Evelyn and Lippo Group’s Newton One - have sold at average prices of $1,200 psf to $1,300 psf.

The Setia Residences were developed on a 38,000 sq ft plot of land that has been long held by the Cheng family. A 10-storey building was demolished to make way for the project.

Family members hold the remaining units of the project, but they could release more units for sale if there is strong demand, said Bernard Cheng, executive director of Prima Portfolio and an unit owner.

The Newton area is benefiting from the spillover effect from the rising prices of Orchard Road homes.

Just a short hop away at Scotts Road, CapitaLand has achieved prices of over $2,000 psf for its high-end Scotts HighPark located next to the Newton MRT Station. Private property prices have been rising steadily this year.

After three quarters of the year, private property prices have gone up by more than the 5 per cent projected earlier by market players for the whole year.

Housing prices are now 5.8 per cent higher than at the end of 2005, according to estimates by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Source : Business Times - 10 Oct 2006

ENG Tai Mansion, a freehold residential site near Somerset MRT station, is up for collective sale at $90.4 million.

The 38,300 sq ft site - at St Thomas Walk in prime District 9 beside Orchard Road - could fetch about $80 million, market watchers say.

An estimated development charge of $10.4 million is payable.

The maximum building height is 36 storeys and the plot ratio is 2.8, allowing for a maximum floor area of 107,300 sq ft.

At $90.4 million, the cost translates to $840 per sq ft per plot ratio (ppr).

The site can be redeveloped into a high-rise condominium of up to 80 apartments averaging 1,200 sq ft each, says marketing agent Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

Eng Tai Mansion now comprises two blocks with a total of 50 apartments, owned by more than now 40 owners. Close to 90 per cent of unit-owners have already agreed to sell, says JLL.

Owners get an average of $1.6 million per unit if the $80 million asking price is achieved. This translates to an en bloc premium of about 100 per cent, says JLL’s regional director and head of investments Lui Seng Fatt.

‘The take-up of prime residential development sites in the Orchard area has been very strong,’ says Mr Lui, who expects the Eng Tai Mansion project to garner strong interest from local and overseas high net worth individuals.

The tender closes at 2pm on Nov 9.

Elsewhere, a freehold property in Upper East Coast Road, East Coast Ville, is also up for collective sale. The site is 96,600 sq ft and the plot ratio is 1.4 plot ratio, allowing a gross floor area of 135,300 sq ft. The owners of the 60 existing units are asking for $60 million - including an estimated development charge of $4.6 million - which works out to $440 psf ppr.

Dennis Wee Realty, which is handling the sale, said a buyer can redevelop the property into an estimated 120 residential units of various sizes.

Source : Business Times - 10 Oct 2006

Registered land title made virtually indefeasible

LAWYERS say a recent Court of Appeal decision upholding the indefeasibility of a registered land title will improve certainty and security in property transactions.

The court overturned the decision of late trial judge Lai Kew Chai, ruling that only in very limited circumstances will it let a title registered under the Land Titles Act (LTA) be defeated by another claim.

The case involved UOB and the occupant of the house on which a $1 million loan was obtained, and which UOB attempted to seize when the occupant’s daughter defaulted on payment.

Before 2000, the occupant’s daughter took the original title deed to the house but the occupant discovered its absence and obtained a replacement deed in July 2000.

However, the occupant’s daughter still managed to use the cancelled original deed to get a $1 million mortgage from UOB, defaulting on payments and absconding.

The occupant affixed her thumbprint to the mortgage, but the court found that she was of an unsound mind when she executed the mortgage.

Justice Lai found that her condition did not affect the validity of the mortgage. However, he set the mortgage aside, and did not allow UOB to seize the house, saying that there was ‘wilful blindness akin to fraud’ on the part of UOB’s solicitors because their conveyancing clerk registered the mortgage using a cancelled certificate of title.

However, the Court of Appeal disagreed as there was no evidence that the conveyancing clerk knew of the cancellation.

The court also said that the LTA, in introducing the Torrens system, a system of land title where a register of land holdings maintained by the state guarantees indefeasible title to those in the register, was designed to simplify land dealings and give finality to the title of the registered proprietor.

It did not think that a ’strict approach’ to the acceptance of personal equities under the LTA will be inequitable to people with unregistered interests in land. This is because the LTA provides a framework to enable such owners to protect their interests by lodging caveats against the registered title.

‘If they fail to do so as a result of which their interests are overriden by that of the registered proprietor, they have only themselves to blame,’ the court said.

UOB was represented by Wong Partnership while the occupant was represented by Pereira & Tan.

Lawyers say that the case is significant. It states clearly that personal equities will not be allowed to defeat registered land titles.

‘This decision will definitely help commercial certainty because once your interest is registered on the title, you won’t have to worry about the equities or interests of other people which do not appear on the register,’ said Sim Bock Eng, a partner at Wong Partnership.

‘It is not just a major consolation to banks, but anyone dealing with land such as developers and the man on the street.’

Lawyer David De Souza added: ‘This decision is very significant in that it reinforces that once an interest is registered under the LTA, it is indefeasible except in very limited circumstances.’

Source : Business Times - 10 Oct 2006

Group will pocket gains of $79m from the sale

AGAINST the backdrop of a buoyant office property market in Singapore, UOL Group yesterday announced that a wholly owned subsidiary is selling Central Plaza at 298 Tiong Bahru Road for $175 million.

UOL said the sale will result in a gain of about $79 million or 9.96 cents per share for the group. It said completion of the transaction is scheduled for January 2007 and the gain will thus be reflected in the results for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2007.

The subsidiary, UOL Tiong Bahru Plaza Pte Ltd, yesterday inked a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Bakersfield Pte Ltd, a unit of Asian Retail Mall, to sell all its interest in Central Plaza, which comprises a 20-storey office block with a net lettable area of 190,792 square feet.

In early 2002, Asian Retail Mall bought the adjacent Tiong Bahru Plaza, which is a retail mall, from UOL for $195 million. Market watchers say there is asset enhancement potential from converting the common areas between the Tiong Bahru Plaza and Central Plaza to shops or kiosks or using the common areas in other ways to generate revenue.

UOL had built both the the mall and the office tower above Tiong Bahru MRT Station as a single development. Asian Retail Mall is a property fund managed by Pramercia Real Estate Investors (Asia), formerly known as GRA Singapore.

UOL said the sale will enable the group to ‘reduce its borrowings and position itself to take advantage of investment opportunities as and when they arise’.

For illustrative purposes, if the transaction had been effected at the end of 2005, UOL’s net tangible assets per share as at Dec 31, 2005, would have increased from $2.96 to $3.01.

UOL said the consideration for the sale was arrived at based on negotiations on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis, and it believes the gain from the sale will likely not be subject to tax as the said property has been held as a long-term investment.

Last week, UOL’s listed subsidiary Hotel Plaza announced the sale of the company which owns Parkroyal on Coleman Street, a 10-storey hotel building with 330 rooms and an adjacent shopping arcade, for a total net cash consideration, excluding shareholder’s loan to be assigned, of about $141.2 million.

UOL’s share price closed at $3.70 yesterday, which is up 47 per cent in the year to date. The group’s market capitalisation is around $2.9 billion.

Source : Business Times - 10 Oct 2006

Alternative use for agriculture; land to be sold on 20-year leasehold tenure

THE Singapore Land Authority (SLA) is offering three sites in Lim Chu Kang for agricultural use as well as a mix of agriculture, recreation and entertainment uses, including farm stays and outdoor sports like fishing and rock-climbing.

And SLA is prepared to release more such sites in the area next year, depending on demand.

The maiden three sites, released yesterday, are being offered through a tender that closes on Dec 5. The sites will be sold on 20-year leasehold tenure.

One plot is near Bollywood Veggies, another is next to an existing bird farm, and the third is adjacent to a frog farm.

SLA’s director of land operations division Simon Ong said: ‘The government’s vision is to transform the Lim Chu Kang area into a recreational countryside - a destination within easy reach of urban dwellers where we can enjoy rustic scenery, see livestock up close and take part in exciting adventure and outdoor activities.

‘We hope that entrepreneurs will seize this opportunity to bring about a wide range of interesting agri-tainment facilities in different settings to cater to the diverse and sophisticated tastes of our people.’

The three sites add up to 78,329 sq metres and are zoned for agricultural and/or agri-tainment uses. Entrepreneurs and farmers will be invited to tender for the land for agri-tainment use, agricultural use or both within the same tender. If there are no bids for agri-tainment use, the tender can be awarded for agricultural use - without any need for a fresh tender.

‘Entrepreneurs and farmers can also suggest alternative and innovative land use ideas,’ SLA said. ‘Such ideas will be evaluated by the various government agencies before the tender is awarded. This will save tenderers considerable time and effort. If the proposed ideas are not accepted, they can opt out of the tender. In this way, uncertainty and risks are minimised.’ Assuming the proposed use is acceptable to the authorities, the award will be based on price.

If a site is awarded for agri-tainment development, the successful bidder can build up to 1,000 sq metres of commercial gross floor area (GFA), including of a maximum 200 sq m for food and beverage/retail and 300 sq m for guest accommodation and spa facilities. If a site is awarded for solely agricultural development, the successful bidder can have up to 500 sq m commercial GFA - comprising 200 sq m for F&B/retail and 300 sq m for guest accommodation and spa facilities. These conditions are similar to current planning guidelines for existing farm sites.

SLA said it has received more than 30 enquiries about the sites.

Source : Business Times - 10 Oct 2006