Keppel, Other Developers Rev Up For Sales

Source : The Business Times, August 21, 2009

KEPPEL Corporation and Keppel Land are releasing a new batch of 30 units at their Reflections at Keppel Bay condo today at an average price of $1,950 per square foot (psf), assuming buyers will take the deferred payment scheme (DPS).

Buyers who opt for the normal progressive payment scheme pay 3 per cent less. Sizes of units range from 900 sq ft to 1,600 sq ft. The 99-year development is still under construction.

Reflections at Keppel Bay comprises a total of 1,129 units, of which 638 were sold as at end-July, according to Urban Redevelopment Authority data released this week. In July alone, five units were sold at prices ranging from $1,641 psf to $2,195 psf.

Keppel is also riding on the current uptick in home buying to release for sale units at the completed Caribbean Residences nearby at an average price of $1,300-1,400 psf.

Caribbean Residences comprises a total of 168 apartments at the completed 99-year-leasehold Caribbean at Keppel Bay condo that the group had leased out as corporate residences earlier. The majority of the apartments are leased with tenancies ranging from six months to two years, and these units will be sold with the existing tenancies.

Most of the apartments at Caribbean Residences are located in two blocks which are eight and nine storeys high. So far, about 30 of the 168 units are said to have been sold in the past few weeks and the group is riding on the buyer interest to release more apartments.

'However, not all the remaining units at Caribbean Residences are being put on the market at the same time,' a Keppel spokeswoman said. The 30 units sold recently were mostly two-bedders.

Keppel is developing the two projects on the former Keppel Harbour site.

Property consultants say developers are working hard to release more projects, to take advantage of the pick-up in home-buying sentiment.

Next week, NTUC Choice Homes will preview its 39-storey Trevista condo in Toa Payoh. The 99-year-leasehold project will have a total of 590 units.

Singapore Land is also expected to begin selling next week Trizon, a freehold condo on the former Himiko Court site in the Mount Sinai area.

The 24-storey development comprises a total of 289 units.

SingLand bought Himiko Court in May 2007 for $336 million, or $821 psf of potential gross floor area, inclusive of an estimated $1.07 million development charge. Market watchers reckon Trizon may be priced about $1,400 psf on average.