Back Lane In Balestier Up For Sale

Source : The Business Times, January 3, 2008

Other properties up for auction include Changi bungalow, studio apartment

THE Official Receiver is auctioning off a back lane at Jalan Bunga Raya in the Balestier Road/Irrawaddy Road area.

10 Swiss Club Lane: Indicative price of $18m for the 17,557 sq ft property up for auction

The freehold strip of land, with a land area of 3,331 sq ft, is behind a row of seven terrace houses which are part of a set of 15 terrace homes at Jalan Bunga Raya which have been bought by a consortium involving a Chinese developer and some local partners.























Observers reckon the consortium that bought the 15 homes at Jalan Bunga Raya will be the most natural contender for the back lane

Knight Frank is auctioning the back lane on Jan 10 on behalf of the Official Receiver. The plot is understood to have been owned by a now-defunct company, Bag Transpack Investment Co Pte Ltd.

Market watchers reckon the consortium that bought the 15 homes at Jalan Bunga Raya will be the most natural contender for the back lane, although BT understands that a party who owns a pair of semi-detached houses on the other side of the backlane is also a potential buyer.

Knight Frank has indicated a price of about $750,000 to $800,000 for the back lane, which works out to $80 to $86 per square foot of potential gross floor area.

The 15 neighbouring terrace houses were sold recently for $61 million or an all-in unit land price of $739 psf per plot ratio.

Knight Frank's auction, which will be held at Amara Hotel, will also see several other properties going under the hammer.

These include two bungalows - one a Good Class Bungalow at 10 Swiss Club Lane with an indicative price of $18 million or $1,025 psf based on its 17,557 sq ft land area, while the other, at 18 Toh Close in the Changi area, has a $2.8 million to $3 million indicative price range, which works out to $420-450 psf.

The Toh Close bungalow has a 6,669 sq ft land area. Both bungalows are freehold and are being sold by their respective Singaporean owners.

Other properties in the auction include a 23rd level studio apartment at The Metz at Devonshire Road, a semi-detached house at Jalan Ishak in the Eunos area, a three-storey shophouse at Craig Road in the Tanjong Pagar area and a two-bedroom apartment on the 26th level of High Street Centre.