Project Spotlight: Esté Villa sold out within one-week of previews!

On Oct 7, developer MCL Land held its VIP preview of Esté Villa for former owners, directors and business associates. This was followed by a public preview on Oct 12. By Oct 15, all the 121 units were sold out – even the showflat, constructed within the shell of an actual unit, was sold.

First to be snapped up was the one and only pair of semi-detached houses with strata area of over 5,400sqft, which went for $3.5 million apiece. The other hot favourites were the corner terraced houses, which had strata areas averaging 3,800sqft, and were snapped up at prices of $2.4 million to $2.6 million. Intermediate terraces with strata areas of 3,326 to 3,423sqft, went for $2.1 million to $2.3 million each. The average price achieved was said to be around $680psf.

The main selling point of Esté Villa, says Doris Ong, senior vice-president of ERA Realty, is its “unique product offering, and well thought-out design”. Koh Teck Chuan, CEO of MCL Land agrees. “A lot of buyers were convinced by the product,” he says.

“The project appeals to three-generation families who want to live together because the units come with a private home lift,” says Koh. “A lot of attention has been put into the design and the layout to make sure the units are spacious and efficient.” The private lift is also customised especially for Esté Villa by Schindler Lifts, with glass doors and glass control panels. Beyond aesthetics, the lift is also large enough to fit a wheelchair.

Esté Villa is located within the heart of Seletar Hills Estate, a quiet and affluent neighbourhood, with mainly large bungalows and some semi-detached houses. It is accessible via Seletar Road and Nim Crescent. Esté Villa is a redevelopment of the former Nim Park on Nim Road, which MCL Land had purchased en-bloc for $84 million in 2007. Construction of the new project has already begun, and is scheduled for completion by 3Q2013.

Many new cluster housing and even conventional landed housing developments do not come with home lifts, observes Samuel Eyo, associate director of Savills Prestige Homes. “It costs around $100,000 to install a home lift,” he says. As such, some developers give owners the option of installing one at an additional cost, and most do not even have that option.

Another interesting feature of Esté Villa is the basement, which comes with a 5m ceiling height. It gives owners the flexibility of creating additional space for a home office, or private library, says Koh. Based on the floor plans of Esté Villa, most of the basement levels come with a covered garage with two parking spaces, a home entertainment room and en-suite bathroom, as well as open-air courtyard. There’s also a utility area with a yard, and a separate maid’s room with an en-suite bathroom.

The first level of the house contains the living and dining area, as well as the kitchen. The living room opens out to a patio in front, and the kitchen also features a smaller rear patio, which is an ideal breakfast area. The second level contains the master suite, while the third has two bedrooms sharing a common bathroom. The fourth level is an attic, which can be used as a fourth bedroom as there is an en-suite bathroom. Alternatively, it can be converted into a study or family room.

“The pricing was reasonable, and people saw that it offered good value,” says Chua Chor Hoon, DTZ’s head of research for Southeast Asia. “For that absolute price, you can buy an old terraced house in the Seletar estate or in Teacher’s Housing Estate off Yio Chu Kang Road, or even in the east. But if you’re buying an old house, it means having to tear down and rebuild or embark on extensive renovation work.”

According to Chua, a cluster housing project such as Esté Villa also offers homebuyers the best of both worlds – landed housing with condominium facilities, such as swimming pool, water features, gymnasium, landscaped gardens and clubhouse.

Koh agrees: “In the past, there used to be a stigma attached to cluster housing because you own a strata title and not the land that your house is sitting on. But that is slowly changing, and cluster housing projects appeal especially to the younger generation who like the lifestyle aspects.” He sees families with children who like the security and condo facilities choosing cluster housing over conventional landed homes.

Given the restrictions on foreigners owning landed property, the buyers are all Singaporeans.

Those living in the Seletar area made up around 30% of the buyers, notes Koh. The rest of the buyers came from across the island, with quite a number from the East, and some from the West, as well as from the prime Orchard Road districts.

Demand for landed housing remains strong, says ERA’s Ong. The new Seletar Aerospace Park, attracting the likes of international aerospace players such as Fokker, Rolls-Royce, and Pratt and Whitney, has brought a buzz to the area. Hence, while the majority of buyers at Esté Villa are owner-occupiers, there are also a number of investors, she says.

Residents at Esté Villa will also enjoy complimentary shuttle service to Ang Mo Kio MRT station for the first two years after completion, according to MCL Land. Residents at Seletar including Esté Villa can also look forward to the upcoming Greenwich V by Far East Organization, which is a short drive away and located at the junction of Seletar Road and Yio Chu Kang Road. The 45,000sqft Greenwich V is already fully leased, and shopping and F&B outlets there include Cold Storage, Guardian, 7-Eleven, Kopitiam, Paradise Inn, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and Toastbox.

MCL Land is not new to cluster housing or strata landed housing developments. Its first major cluster housing development was Hillcrest Villa, a 163-unit strata terraced housing project. The fully-sold project was completed last year. When it was launched in September 2007, all of the units were snapped up within three weeks at an average price of $871psf, with absolute prices ranging from $2.5 million to $3 million each.

Source: THE EDGE SINGAPORE

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Enbloc News: Laguna Park (again) and Henry Park Apartments

Laguna Park at Marine Parade Road is up for collective sale with a reserve price of $1.25 billion.

Together with Henry Park Apartments, which is also up for collective sale at between $170 million and $180 million, the total value of properties that have come up for sale in October has hit close to $5 billion.

With over 10 sites now available for sale, developers appear to be spoilt for choice.

Nicholas Wong, Executive Director (Investment) at Knight Frank, said that developers are looking at collective sales with some caution now and added that any sale will depend on the attributes of the site and the developer's risk appetite as well as market sentiment.

He also noted that the Government Land Sales Programme is offering developers many alternative sites.

Knight Frank is marketing the 677,493sqft Laguna Park site and it believes the proximity to the seafront would a key selling point for any new development. Based on the reserve price, the land price comes to about $954psf ppr.

Laguna Park was put up for sale earlier this year with a reserve price of $1.33 billion. But the tender closed without a successful bid.

While the downward revision of the reserve price suggests that sellers might be more motivated to sell now, Mr Wong said that new requirements for en bloc sales allow a development to be put up for sale for one year only after receiving 80% approval from homeowners. When this lapses, sellers have to seek a new mandate. So some sellers choose to relaunch the site for sale within the year instead, added Mr Wong.

Tan Hong Boon, Deputy Director, Credo Real Estate, pointed out that no collective sale has been transacted at over $200 million yet. "Generally, the key will be the land price and quantum," he said.

Credo is marketing the 99,000sqft Henry Park site. Based on its asking price, the land price works out to be $1,216 - $1,287psf ppr.

Still, Mr Tan does not believe that the slew of collective sale sites will mean land prices will fall. "Some sellers may have lowered their asking prices but their reserve price has stayed the same," he added.

Mr Wong is still positive on the Singapore property market too. "Barring the worsening in the global economic situation, the property market here should remain stable," he said.

The tender for Laguna Park will close on December 6, while the tender for Henry Park closes on December 1.

Source: Channel News Asia

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Property Spotlight: Cuscaden/Tomlinson Road

The neighbourhood of Cuscaden Road and Tomlinson Road, off Tanglin Road, is attracting the interest of high-net-worth individuals again, largely owing to the upcoming 29-unit boutique luxury condominium development, Hana, by Pontiac Land. The units at the 99-year leasehold Kerry Hill-designed project are said to average 3,500sqft each.

Nearby, Hotel Properties Ltd (HPL), one of the biggest stakeholders in the prime neighbourhood, launched the 70-unit Tomlinson Heights (on the site where Beverly Mai used to stand) in Cuscaden Road in August last year. Of the 30 units launched, 29 have been sold to date. The most recent recorded transaction according to URA was for a 4,004sqft, five-bedroom apartment that was sold for $12.53 million ($3,129psf).

Existing high-end condos in the vicinity are also seeing renewed interest from buyers.

For instance, at the 150-unit freehold Cuscaden Residences, there were two transactions over the week of Sept 26 to 30, based on the latest caveats lodged and downloaded from URA Realis as at Oct 19. One was the sale of a three-bedroom, 1,485sqft unit on the 13th level, which changed hands for $3.33 million ($2,242psf). The seller had purchased it for $2.28 million ($1,533psf) in August 1999 when the project was first launched. The seller saw a price appreciation of about 46%.

The other transaction at Cuscaden Residences was for a 4,951sqft, four-bedroom penthouse, which was sold for $11.2 million ($2,262psf). The previous owner paid just $5.6 million ($1,131psf) for the penthouse in September 2000, seeing prices double in just over a decade. Cuscaden Residences is a twin-tower, 20-storey condo tower developed by HPL and was completed in 2002.

Apartments at Cuscaden Residences have traditionally attracted investors, given the prime Orchard Road location as units there tend to be popular with high-level expatriate executives. The asking prices today are considered “attractive” to buyers, says Ron Phua, a property agent from DWG. However, Phua feels that buying activity is low at the moment “as most investors are putting their property investments on hold owing to uncertainty of the global economy in recent months”. The low transaction level could also have contributed to the “sluggish prices”, he adds.

Adjacent to Cuscaden Residences is the 29-unit and freehold The Tomlinson by Wing Tai Holdings, which was also completed in 2003. A four-bedroom, 2,368sqft unit on the seventh level was sold last month for $4.8 million ($2,010psf). This was the third time the unit has changed hands on the resale market over the last five years. The unit last changed hands in 2007, at $5.2 million ($2,200psf). Prior to that, it was sold for $4.8 million ($2,027psf) in December 2006.

Across the road is the newest condo in the neighbourhood, the 173-unit luxury St Regis Residences by Singapore tycoon Kwek Leng Beng’s City Developments Ltd (CDL), Hong Leong Holdings and TID Pte Ltd (a joint venture between Hong Leong and Mitsui Fudosan). Kwek is one of the biggest stakeholders in the neighbourhood, and also owns the site of the former Boulevard Hotel, which will be redeveloped into another luxury project.

St Regis Residences is considered the first branded residence in Singapore when it was launched in mid-2006. It was completed in 2008 and is linked to the 299-room upscale St Regis Singapore hotel.

Two units on the 19th floor of St Regis Residences were recently sold for a total of $11.86 million ($2,776psf). The last time the units changed hands was in early 2009, at the start of the global financial crisis, when the units fetched $9.2 million ($2,153psf). The original owner who bought the units at the launch in 2006 paid $5.5 million ($2,576psf) for one unit and $6.1 million ($2,845psf) for the other.

Owners’ asking prices at St Regis Residences these days are said to be in the $2,500 to $2,800psf range, says Samuel Eyo, associate director of Savills Prestige Homes.

Even though the current economic climate has affected transaction volume in the high-end segment as investors stay on the sidelines, “interest for luxurious and exclusive condos in Singapore remain unaffected”, says David Neubronner, head of residential project sales at Jones Lang LaSalle.

Source: THEEDGE SINGAPORE

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Private housing prices continue to moderate

Prices of private residential properties increased by 1.3% in the third quarter of 2011, lower than the 2% rise in the previous quarter.

This was the eighth consecutive quarter in which the rate of increase in overall private housing prices had moderated, according to real estate statistics released on Friday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

Prices of non-landed properties in Core Central Region (CCR) - which includes postal districts 9, 10 and 11 -  increased at a slower pace of 0.7% in the third quarter, compared to the 1.6% rise in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, prices for Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) increased by 1.2% and 2.1% respectively in the third quarter.

This is slightly higher than the 1.1% and 1.7% increase in the previous quarter.

Rentals of private residential properties rose by 0.8% in the third quarter, less than the 1.3% increase in the previous quarter.

URA said there was a total supply of 76,255 uncompleted private residential units from projects in the pipeline, as at the end of the third quarter this year.

This supply is higher than the 71,111 units in the previous quarter, and also the highest ever recorded since
such data was first available in 1999.

Meanwhile, the total stock of completed Executive Condominium (EC) units remained unchanged at 10,430 units as at the end of the third quarter.

In addition,there were 5,332 EC units in the pipeline.

URA added that another 1,115 EC units could come from the EC sites that have been released for sale via the 2nd Half 2011 government land sales (GLS) Programme.

Source: Channel News Asia

The wife and I are rather amazed by how the slower pace of price rise in the prime districts of 9, 10 & 11 more than offset the higher price increase for the rest of Singapore. This is dispite the fact that the bulk of the sales continue to be mass-market homes in the suburban areas. It just goes to show the huge price disparity between private properties in the prime districts versus the rest.

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Property Spotlight: West Coast area

There has been buying interest in the West Coast area. At the 276-unit Regent Park, which was completed in 1997, two units changed hands over the week of Sept 20 to 27, based on the latest caveats lodged and downloaded from URA Realis as at Oct 12.

One was a two-bedroom, 807sqft unit on the eighth level, which changed hands for $845,000 ($1,047psf). That was the third time the unit has changed hands so far. The first buyer had purchased it at launch in February 1997 for $685,000 ($849psf) and sold it two years later, in November, for $540,000 ($669psf), which was 21.2% below the original purchase price. The buyer enjoyed a 56.5% price appreciation, however, when he sold it recently for $1,047psf. This is an all-time-high price psf achieved in the 99-year leasehold condo.

On the first level of the same block, a 1,227sqft, three-bedroom apartment changed hands for the fourth time for $1.16 million ($945psf), or a 55.1% gain. The first owner had purchased the unit in March 1996 for $760,000 ($619psf) and sold it in January 2000 for $786,000 ($641psf). The buyer subsequently held it for eight years, and sold it for $748,000 ($610psf) in mid-September 2008, right after Lehman Brothers investment bank collapsed, heralding the start of the last global financial crisis.

Regent Park, located on Jalan Lempeng, is just a short distance from the new Clementi Mall, which is integrated with the bus interchange and the Clementi MRT station. It is also accessible via the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) and Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE), say property agents. West Coast Park and West Coast Recreation Club are in the vicinity, and there is also the popular Nan Hua Primary School nearby.

Apartments at Regent Park are said to appeal to not just local owner-occupiers but also expatriates, especially those from China and India. Three-bedroom units at the condo can command rental rates of $2,500 to $3,500 a month.

Adjacent to Regent Park is the 432-unit Park West Condo, a 99-year leasehold condo completed in 1986. Park West Condo was put up for en bloc sale by tender in late September with a price tag of $803 million. The differential premium and topping-up of the lease work out to an additional $230 million, which means an overall price tag of $1.03 billion.

The most recent transactions at Park West were in July, at transaction prices from $808psf, for a 1,894sqft unit, to $913psf, for a 915sqft unit.

New developments in West Coast area have been seeing quite a lot of activity in the last two years. An example is the 659-unit freehold The Parc Condominium by Chip Eng Seng, which was completed in 2010.

There were two transactions at The Parc Condo over the week of Sept 20 to 27. One was the sale of a three-bedroom, 1,442sqft unit on the 19th floor that went for $1.7 million ($1,179psf). The seller had purchased it in 2007, when the project was first launched, at $1.255 million ($870psf). He thus made a 35.5% gain.

In another block, a 1,421sqft, three-bedroom apartment on the 14th floor was sold for $1.59million ($1,119psf). The previous owner had purchased the unit, also at launch in 2007, for $1.252 million ($881psf) and made a 27% gain.

Other condos in the vicinity that saw units changed hands include the 530-unit, 99-year leasehold Varsity Park Condominium by CapitaLand Ltd and completed in 2008. A 1,453sqft unit was sold last month at $1.65 million ($1,135psf). Another was Blue Horizon, a 616-unit by Far East Organization completed in 2005, where a unit was recently sold for $1,029psf.

Last month, Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre in West Coast Way was sold en bloc for $171 million to a consortium of boutique developers including Oxley Holdings, Heeton Holdings and KSH Holdings. This is by far the biggest en bloc sale successfully completed this year.

Whether Park West Condo’s collective sale will be successful or whether even Regent Park itself will be put up for en bloc sale is anyone’s guess.

“While it is good for investors and owners to remain hopeful, it is quite impossible to tell whether there is en bloc potential for Regent Park,” says Joseph Ong, a property agent at DWG. “Even so, there may not be many developers keen to [purchase a large en bloc site], given that the market is already slowing down.”

Source: THEEDGE SINGAPORE

It does not seem that long ago (was it really 2007?) at The Parc Condo that the wife and I first experienced what can only be described as "carpark sale" for a new condo project - marketing agents were setting up tables and chairs at the open-air carpark outside Clementi Sports Stadium (i.e. just next to the sales gallery of The Parc Condo, which was not opened for viewing yet), making their sale pitches to potential buyers or "blur sotongs" like yours truly who made the trip down to see the showflat not knowing that the sales gallery was still not ready,  and collecting cheque in advance for the VVIP preview. The project has now been completed for almost a year. How time flies!

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