RESIDENTIAL MARKET
Draycott site sets new unit land price
A new benchmark unit land price - higher by a whisker - is believed to have been set for residential land here.
Based on caveats evidence, Hong Kong's Swire Properties is thought to have bought all 12 units in the four-storey Hampton Court for $155 million. This is understood to work out to $2,526 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), which is inclusive of an estimated development charge of $22.3 million.
This unit land price would pip the standing record by just $1 psf ppr set in November 2007, when Westwood Apartments in Orchard Boulevard was bought by YTL for $2,525 psf ppr.
Like Hampton Court, which stands at the corner of Draycott Park and Draycott Drive, Westwood Apartments is freehold. YTL is expected to launch a 77-unit project on that site this year.
Swire Properties Pte Ltd director Charles Bremridge, in an email response to BT's queries yesterday, said: "We are very pleased to confirm the purchase for investment of eight units at Hampton Court for an agreed purchase price of $99.5 million."
He declined comment on anything other than the eight units.
However, market watchers believe that because the caveats for all 12 units were lodged on the same day in December by a unit of Swire Properties Pte Ltd, the group is probably buying the other four as well.
The price for the 12 units, going by caveats information, is $155 million.
Swire Properties Pte Ltd is a recently formed, wholly owned subsidiary of Swire Properties Ltd in Hong Kong. This is its first property acquisition, said Mr Bremridge.
Asked about Swire's future plans in Singapore's real estate sector, he replied: "We are committed to looking for suitable opportunities in the Singapore property market, on which we can appropriately use our property development skills. These include commercial as well as residential property."
Although immediate redevelopment of the Hampton Court site may not be on the cards, industry observers are still paying close attention to the transaction's unit land price - at least that based on caveats evidence - which indicates a new high in the Singapore market.
Swire was in the headlines last year for setting a benchmark price in Hong Kong. It sold a 6,683 sq ft apartment last October in Opus Hong Kong, designed by Frank Gehry, for HK$455 million (S$72 million) or HK$68,083 per square foot (psf). The price for that Peak District apartment bust the previous psf record of HK$63,999 set for a duplex at 39 Conduit Road, it was reported.
Hampton Court was launched for sale via tender in late 2011. The tender closed on Dec 8, 2011, a day after the additional buyer's stamp duty was introduced, and the exercise was inconclusive.
The property consultancy group is thought to have brokered the recent sale through a private treaty deal, but it declined comment when contacted by BT.
A bungalow owned by Quek Bak Song, a former chairman and co-founder of Overseas Union Bank, used to sit on the site. He died in 1980 at age 78.
In the mid-1980s, his family developed the site into Hampton Court, with various family members continuing to own the units, which they are now selling.
Analysts reckon the existing development has probably tapped a 1.4 plot ratio (ratio of maximum gross floor area to land area).
Under the current Master Plan 2008, the 33,425 sq ft site is given a much higher plot ratio of 2.1 and can be built up to 24 storeys. Hence there is significant redevelopment potential for the site.
Going by some estimates, the site can accommodate a new development comprising 33 apartments with an average size of 2,000 sq ft.
The plum site is next to Tanglin Club and opposite The Claymore.
Source: Business Times –9 January 2013
Wheelock unit puts in highest bid for Ang Mo Kio site
A wheelock Properties (Singapore) unit, Pinehill Investments, has put in the highest bid of $789.89 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) for a private residential site at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 2.
Demand was strong for the 99-year leasehold site with 12 bids put in, which included some big name developers.
"We see great potential in this choice site being next to St Nicholas Girls' School and the future Mayflower MRT station," said Tan Bee Kim, senior executive director at Wheelock Properties (Singapore).
Should Wheelock be awarded the Ang Mo Kio site, it will be just the developer's third development in the suburbs, after Parc Oasis and the Sea View. It will also just be Wheelock's second non-freehold property after Parc Oasis.
Wheelock's bid translated to an absolute sum of just over $550 million, compared with the second highest offer of $536.2 million, or $770.08 psf ppr, from CapitaLand unit Athens Residential Development.
Other top bidders included Bayfront Land (a tie-up between Aspial Corporation and Fragrance Group); Keppel Land unit Acresvale Investment; and a tie-up involving units of City Developments Limited and Hong Leong Group: Intrepid Investments, Verwood Holdings and Hong Realty.
The number of bidders was within the range of seven to 15 bids predicted by analysts earlier.
However, the price was notably higher than the range of $560 to $650 psf ppr they put forth then.
Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Realty, said the Ang Mo Kio Avenue 2 development will influence the prices of properties in the area.
Analysts expect breakeven prices of between $1,180 and $1,300 per square foot (psf), and selling prices of between $1,350 and $1,600 psf.
Source: Business Times –9 January 2013
SC Global to pay $5.5m for sales extension
Luxury developer SC Global Developments has to pay $5.5 million for a six-month extension on the stipulated period for selling The Marq on Paterson Hill.
The company, which is in the midst of a privatisation bid, disclosed the impost on Monday in a statement on the status of the bid.
SC Global is the first developer to announce that it has to pay such a charge to obtain an extension on the usual seven years for selling all units at a new property.
The firm said it had received a letter from the Singapore Land Authority dated Jan 4 stating that the Controller of Residential Property is prepared, in principle, to grant approval for the limited qualifying certificate extension.
This would be granted if SC Global paid about $5.5 million by Feb 1.
Under the Residential Property Act, developers whose shareholders and directors are not all Singaporeans have to get a qualifying certificate to buy residential property for development.
With the certificate, developers have up to five years to build the project and sell all the units within two years of obtaining the temporary occupation permit.
If developers cannot meet the deadline to sell all units, they may face a pro-rated extension charge, based on the proportion of unsold units.
The Marq has 34 out of 66 units unsold.
SC Global declined to comment further on other qualifying certificate charges it may have to pay.
The company's other current project, Hilltops, has sold only 45 out of 241 units. The developer has until about June to complete the Hilltop sales.
The announcement comes amid the privatisation bid by chairman and chief executive Simon Cheong, who is offering $1.80 per share. He requires another 8.85 per cent of SC Global shares in order to bring the free floating shares to below 10 per cent.
Once that happens, Singapore Exchange rules deem the firm should be taken private.
In a circular to investors by Prime Partners Corporate Finance, the independent financial adviser noted that the relevant qualifying certificate extension charges will apply to each completed property regardless of whether SC Global remains listed.
SC Global shares closed one cent down at $1.815 yesterday, their lowest level in more than three weeks.
Source: The Straits Times –9 January 2013
Developers fear URA will charge for outdoor space
The Government's intention to fix a loophole that allows property developers to sell off free outdoor open spaces for profit has got them worried.
They fear the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will now slap a charge on such spaces if they are sold as private roof terraces or ground-level private enclosed spaces.
Instead, they hope the URA review will - at most - restrict the size of such areas.
After all, they argue, it was overly big roof terraces in subsidised executive condominiums (ECs) that aroused public indignation, and not roof terraces per se, which are popular with buyers and a fixture of penthouse units.
"Developers have been operating like this for so long. To suddenly make us pay a charge on outdoor space would be chaos," Mr Teo Hong Lim, executive chairman of Roxy-Pacific Holdings, said yesterday.
In a blog post on Monday, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan noted unhappiness over huge EC units.
While he did not name developments, a 4,349 sq ft EC penthouse at CityLife@Tampines featuring a 1,600 sq ft roof terrace was recently sold for $2.05 million.
He noted that at present, "outdoors space open to the sky" is not counted as part of a project's gross floor area. This is to encourage developers to build communal open spaces for residents and encourage greenery.
But developers have been packaging this space into units and this has become an easy way for them to increase the saleable area of an apartment at low cost.
Mr Khaw has asked the URA to "review this policy and have it fixed".
The URA declined to say when the results of its policy review would be ready, nor whether the change would involve restricting the size of roof terraces, or charging developers for outdoor space.
Analysts said that if private roof terraces were to be taxed and at the same charges as, say, balcony space currently is, the CityLife@Tampines presidential penthouse would cost about $470,000 more for the developer. But they added that any charge was likely to be less than that levied on balcony space, as that is covered, and lease terms of ECs are 99 years, while these charges apply to freehold private apartments.
Developers said that in the past few months, URA has discouraged them from submitting plans which have large roof terraces or private enclosed spaces.
But they are concerned that the review may result in their having to pay for outdoor space.
"To be fair to most developers, we do not price the roof terrace at the same price per sq ft (psf) as indoor areas," said one developer, who declined to be named. "So, it's not fair to charge us for the outdoor space."
While analysts said that new restrictions in whatever form might mean that a 1,600 sq ft roof terrace becomes a thing of the past, they do not see private roof terraces going the way of planter boxes or bay windows.
In 2009, in response to developers including big planter boxes or bay windows to increase saleable space, the Government included them as part of the project's allowable gross floor area. They are now rarely seen in new developments.
Source: The Straits Times –9 January 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment