Published January 6, 2011


For sale: two housing plots, industrial site
Kaki Bukit tender in 2 weeks; Whitley Heights, Residence 81 go en bloc


By EMILYN YAP

THE new year has brought with it a slew of residential and industrial sites for developers to invest in.


Two private home developments are up for collective sale. One is the freehold Whitley Heights, located off Whitley Road, which occupies a land area of 130,165 square feet.

The owners are asking for $185-210 million, which works out to around $1,421-1,613 per square foot (psf) of land area.

Whitley Heights is more than 20 years old and has 45 walk-up apartments in three three-storey blocks. Under the 2008 Master Plan, the site is designated for two-storey mixed landed houses upon redevelopment.

This means that the buyer can choose to build a combination of conventional terraces, semi-detached and detached houses, strata terraces, strata semi-detached houses and strata bungalows.

Credo Real Estate is handling the tender for Whitley Heights, which closes on Jan 26. It notes that the project could be the first site with an area of more than 100,000 sq ft to be sold en bloc for landed development in more than three years.

According to Credo, the buyer could build as many as 80 strata terrace houses or around 60 strata semi-detached houses on the site.

'Supply for landed sites has been few and far between,' said Credo managing director Karamjit Singh. 'The dearth of supply can only result in price escalation for landed homes.'

Credo found that from 2000 to 2010, barely 4,000 units were added to the stock of landed homes, leading to an increase of less than 6 per cent.

As a result, the stock of landed housing as a proportion of all private residential homes has dropped to 27 per cent last year from 35 per cent in 2000.

Over at Telok Kurau, the freehold Residence 81 is up for auction with an indicative price of around $25.1 million, which translates to $950 psf of strata floor area.

The five-year-old property has a single owner and will be sold with vacant possession. BT understands that the owner is part of the Hotel 81 group, and the sale is the result of a property portfolio reorganisation.

Residence 81 sits on a site measuring 15,455 sq ft and has a total strata floor area of 26,446 sq ft. There are 21 strata-titled units, of which two on the ground floor have been reconfigured into a communal area.

Colliers International is handling the auction, scheduled for Jan 19. According to its deputy managing director Grace Ng, the buyer can apply for naming rights for the development and put the individual units up for sale.

The buyer can also rent the units out. 'Leasing demand is expected to stay robust in 2011, partly supported by the projected increase in hiring, especially by financial institutions,' she said. 'Rents for private residential homes can be expected to climb further by 8 to 12 per cent on average in 2011.'

While the sale process is just beginning for some home owners, residents of Maison Royale have bagged $46 million for their freehold estate in Newton. The buyer, Giant Land, may have to pay another $2.55 million in development charge, leading to an overall price of around $1,230 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr).

In the industrial sector, an unnamed developer has committed to pay at least $18 million or $68 psf ppr for a 30-year leasehold state land parcel at Kaki Bukit Road 4.

The 2.45-hectare site on the reserve list, zoned for Business 2 development, will be launched for tender in two weeks' time

Source: www.businesstimes.com.sg

Another auction raises $4.61m for two offices in The Central


By KALPANA RASHIWALA


A FEW relatively big-ticket items were sold at property auctions last week. These include a freehold bungalow in the Chestnut Avenue Good Class Bungalow Area which went for $5.24 million, and a couple of adjoining office units at The Central which fetched $4.61 million.

Bidding for the bungalow at 5 Chestnut Close started at $4.5 million and the property received 16 bids in total. It was sold to a Singaporean buyer. The sale price works out to about $874 per square foot based on a land area of 5,998 square feet. The new owner of the part one/part two storey bungalow is expected to tear down the existing property and redevelop it.

It was sold at a Colliers International auction on Oct 20 by the trustee of an estate. The same party had earlier divested two other freehold bungalows at a Colliers auction last month. No 4 Margoliouth Road (off Stevens Road) fetched $13.6 million or $1,304 psf based on its land area of 10,433 sq ft, while 53 Sixth Avenue was sold for $12 million or $1,145 psf based on a land area of 10,476 sq ft.

A DTZ auction on Oct 19 saw two adjoining office units on the 19th floor of The Central, above Clarke Quay MRT Station, being sold for $4.61 million or $1,815 psf based on their total strata area of about 2,540 sq ft.

The Central is built on a site with 99-year leasehold tenure starting Jan 2, 2001.

The buyer is a Singaporean company that is expected to occupy the premises. The office units were sold by a liquidator. The company being liquidated is understood to have been the mortgagor of five other office units on the same floor of The Central that were the subject of a mortgagee sale at a DTZ auction in July. That transaction was for $9.98 million, translating to a higher unit price of $1,991 psf. Those five units enjoy a superior view, facing Marina Bay Sands, whereas the latest two units have views of Swissotel Merchant Court and a partial view of the Singapore River.

The five units are understood to have been bought by a Singaporean investor. Bidding for both sets of properties at their respective auctions was very competitive, reflecting the strong interest in the strata office market on the back of rising office rents, DTZ said.

The Central, developed by Far East Organization, comprises a retail podium, two small office-home office towers, a 25-storey office tower, a sky garden and recreational facilities. The project has clinched the international Fiabci Prix d'Excellence Award 2010 (office category) as well as Singapore's Building and Construction Authority's Construction Excellence Award 2010.

Published October 26, 2010

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg