Three S'pore Residential Plots Up For Sale In Quiet Market

Source : The Straits Times, Apr 30, 2008

One exec condo site and two 99-year leasehold suburban sites open for bids

BUYING interest in private homes may be relatively low now, but the Singapore Government is offering developers three new residential sites to consider buying.

Two are 99-year leasehold suburban sites, and the other is an executive condominium site.

The first - in Woodleigh Close - is seen as an attractive site by property consultants, as it is a short walk from the Potong Pasir MRT station and the yet-to-be-opened Woodleigh MRT station.

Developers can build 260 to 290 apartments on the 1.08ha site, which has a maximum gross floor area of 30,167 sq m.

Property consultants expect the site to attract bids of $300 to $370 per sq ft (psf) of gross floor area. The apartments may then sell for between $800 psf and $880 psf, they said.

CBRE Research executive director Li Hiaw Ho said the site is close to the city and amenities in the Potong Pasir HDB estate and Upper Serangoon Road.

'It is likely to be a popular location, as two freehold projects in the vicinity - Blossoms @ Woodleigh and Parc Mondrian - launched last year were fully sold,' said Mr Li.

Recent caveats lodged for the 240-unit Blossoms @ Woodleigh have hovered between $770 psf and $922 psf.

The 100-unit Parc Mondrian sold for between $650 psf and $720 psf last April.

The tender for the Woodleigh Close site will close on June 24. The site is on the confirmed list, where sites are put up for sale on specific dates.

But the second site in Upper Thomson Road, close to Bishan Park and Lower Peirce Reservoir Park, is on the reserve list.

This means that it will be put up for sale only if a developer commits to a minimum bid acceptable to the authorities.

The site is not near any MRT station, but it is in an established private estate.

A developer could build 380 to 420 apartments on the 2.08ha Upper Thomson Road site, which can have a gross floor area of 43,758 sq m.

To attract buyers, developers may want to consider developing a condo with eco-friendly features, which is in line with the surrounding serene environment, said Mr Nicholas Mak, Knight Frank's director of research and consultancy.

If triggered, this site could attract bids of $200 psf to $240 psf of gross floor area, and the apartments could sell for $650 psf to $700 psf, he said.

The third site, in Sengkang, is a 17,000 sq m executive condo site on the reserve list.

This 99-year leasehold site is the third executive condo site the HDB has made available for sale in the first half of this year.

The other two are in Jurong West and Yishun Avenue 11.

GOOD LOCATION

'It is likely to be a popular location as two freehold projects in the vicinity...launched last year were fully sold.'
MR LI HIAW HO, CBRE Research executive director, who adds that the Woodleigh Close site is close to the city

EXTRA FEATURES

To woo buyers, developers may want to consider a condo with eco-friendly features on the Upper Thomson Road site, said Mr Nicholas Mak, Knight Frank's director of research and consultancy.