Two More Projects Coming Onstream

Source : The Business Times, April 9, 2009

High-end Illuminaire launches this week; HDB's The Peak hits the market April 15

EL Development will launch its high-end condominium Illuminaire along Devonshire Road this weekend.

Apartments in the 72-unit project will be priced at an average of $1,700 per sq ft.

The Peak: The project is expected to be about two to two-and -a- half times subscribed by the time applications close

But because they are small - the entire development consists of one-bedroom and two-bedroom units - the overall quantum buyers will have to fork out will be kept low, said the company's managing director Lim Yew Soon.

One-bedroom units, which will be 441 sq ft or 463 sq ft, will all cost less than $800,000, Mr Lim said.

And all two-bedroom apartments, which will be 635 sq ft or 721 sq ft, will sell for under $1.25 million.

EL Development decided to go ahead with the launch as 'we cannot wait indefinitely', Mr Lim said. 'We feel the market is slowly moving now.'

Analysts say an estimated 2,100-plus new homes were sold in Q1 - the highest number since the market was hit by the US mortgage crisis in the last quarter of 2007 and more than four times the number of new units sold in Q4 2008.

Despite a pick-up in transactions, luxury apartments are not selling well. Mr Lim said the reason is that most are quite big, which means the amount needed to buy one is quite high. The small units in Illuminaire are 'more affordable', he said.

Also on the market soon will be HDB's design, build and sell project The Peak @ Toa Payoh. A consortium led by Hoi Hup Realty will launch the 1,203-unit project on April 15.

Homes in The Peak will sell for $500-$510 psf on average, said a spokesman for the consortium, which includes Sunway Developments and Hoi Hup JV Development, whose shareholders include Straits Construction and Hoi Hup Realty.

The consortium bought the site from the state for $198.82 million, or $160 per sq ft per plot ratio, in August 2008.

Most flats in The Peak - 802 of them - will be five-room units. There will also be 306 four-room flats and 95 three-room flats. Prices will be 'affordable', the spokesman said.

Three-room units will cost from $355,000 to $398,000, four-room units from $468,000 to $582,000 and five-room units from $539,000 to $698,000. There will also be about 24 'exclusive' five-room units costing from $700,000 to $722,000.

The spokesman said the project is expected to be about two to two-and-a-half times subscribed by the time applications close on April 28.