East Coast en bloc sale fetches 25% price premium

East Coast en bloc sale fetches 25% price premium
St Patrick’s View sold to TG Development for $79 million
By ARTHUR SIM

ST PATRICK’S View, off Telok Kurau Road, has been sold en bloc to TG Development Pte Ltd (TGD) for $79 million, 25 per cent higher than the indicated price when the collective sale was launched three months ago.
 
Reflecting developer confidence: The sale price for St Patrick’s View works out to $682 psf ppr, including a development charge of about $302,318 
On its bullish bid, TGD managing director Ong Boon Chuan said: ‘The prices for Districts 9, 10 and 11 are quite high but there is room for more upside in the outskirts.’

Giving a contrarian view, Mr Ong also said that while higher asking prices for en bloc sites may lead to resistance from developers, it also means there will be ‘less supply in the market’.

Marketed by Colliers International, executive director (Investment Sales) Ho Eng Joo added: ‘The benchmark price of St Patrick’s View reflects developers’ continued confidence and optimism in the East Coast area, as demand for new residential projects still remains strong.’

At $79 million, the price works out to $682 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), including an estimated development charge of $302,318 for the 83,013 sq ft site.

Mr Ong said that TGD plans to build a five-storey development of about 100 units with unit sizes of between 1,000 sq ft and 1,400 sq ft. The launch is targeted for mid-2008.

The breakeven cost is estimated at around $1,000 psf, which means new units have to be sold in excess of this.

Over in Kembangan, Savills Singapore is marketing the launch of the 32-unit D’Oasia by Monfort Land at about $910 psf.

To date, more than 50 per cent of the apartments have been sold during a recent private preview. The development is expected to be completed by Dec 30, 2010.

Savills is also marketing the collective sale of Trendale Tower on Cairnhill Road.

The indicative price of $180 million is 12.5 per cent higher than it was three months ago when it was put up for sale through an expression-of-interest exercise.

The latest price works out to about $2,477 psf ppr with the breakeven estimated at between $3,100 and $3,200 psf. Savills director of investment sales Steven Ming said: ‘It is reasonable to project a selling price of a new project on this site at between $3,500 and $3,600 psf.’

The 21,709 sq ft site has a plot ratio of 2.8 and can yield about 36 units of 2,000 sq ft condominium apartments.

In the Clementi area, GRE Realty is marketing the sale of Park West Condominium through the expression-of-interest mode. So far, 75 per cent of owners have agreed to the sale.

The indicative price for the 633,638 sq ft site is $620 million to $660 million, inclusive of development charge of about $115 million. GRE Realty estimated that the breakeven price would be around $750-$780 psf.
Source : Business Times - 26 Jul 2007

Beach Road site draws 7 bids from big-name developers

Beach Road site draws 7 bids from big-name developers 
Some even put in two bids to boost chances of winning historic 3.5ha plot
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent 
 
PROPERTY heavyweights have come out in force to vie for a plum commercial site in Beach Road - seen by some as the last iconic site in town.
Competition is so keen in the current red-hot market that some developers submitted two bids in the hope of increasing their chances. The historic 3.5ha site is just up the road from Raffles Hotel and could fetch $1.5 billion.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday released the names of the seven tender submissions it had received by the time the tender closed. It will award the tender after evaluating design concepts and then considering the prices submitted by those bids with acceptable designs.

‘This is a high-quantum site. The fact that it attracted seven submissions shows Singapore is still a very attractive investment destination,’ said Mr Ku Swee Yong, director of marketing and business development at Savills Singapore.

Among the big names, Indonesia’s Lippo Group - which already has extensive interests in Singapore - and Keppel Land (KepLand) put in two proposals each.

Lippo submitted its proposals under Beach Development and Nicoll Development.
KepLand tied up with a partner, Billion Rise - believed to be a vehicle for Hong Kong giant Cheung Kong Holdings, another foreign group with interests in Singapore - for both of its bids. It tendered under Ocean & Capital Properties and Mansfield Developments.

CapitaLand submitted its proposal under various parties, all featuring the name ‘Brilliant’.

The sixth proposal was from Colonnade Properties and Beacon Strategic Investments. This is led by Pontiac Land’s Pontiac Investments.

The seventh bid came from City Developments’ Scottsdale Properties, Dubai World’s Istithmar Beach Road FZE and Elad Group Singapore.

The site can be built up to a gross floor area of 146,827 sq m and allows for a high-quality mixed-use development featuring mostly prime office space and hotel rooms.

Property experts say it is a large site affording the opportunity for an eye-catching development. Some believe it is the last iconic site in town - so some of the bids could be high, at $1.5 billion or more, they said.

When the tender was launched in March, consultants had said the site could fetch $1 billion to $1.4 billion. URA had said the hotel and office space will add to the critical mass of such space in the area.

Singapore faces a shortage of prime Grade A office space. Yesterday, Savills put out a report saying vacancy rates for prime Grade A office buildings have fallen to 1 per cent in the second quarter - the lowest level in a decade - from 2.8 per cent in the first quarter.

Indeed, at least until 2010, the vacancy rate for Grade A office space is expected to remain below 3 per cent, it said.

‘The shortage is in Grade A space. There’s still some space in Grade B buildings and outside the prime areas,’ said Savills director of corporate real estate Simon Hill.

Landlords will continue to dominate the market, pushing rents up by another 20 to 30 per cent by year-end.

Source : Straits Times - 26 Jul 2007