Complete Property Market Updates of Singapore

S’pore buyers can preview luxury liner as marketing drive makes stop here By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent

DO YOU feel like you have been living too long in one place and are now longing and pining for life on the high seas? Then try splurging some of that hard-earned money on a plush home onboard a luxury liner.

It is a simple - albeit opulence-laden - concept. Your multimillion-dollar home is part of a lavish vessel that plies the world’s oceans, calling at exotic ports along the way.

As the shipboard homes are mega-pricey, there is no chance of being stuck at sea with any of the great unwashed with their sub-prime mortgages - and you can always count on a great ocean view.

Singaporeans can check out the concept next month, when Savills International unveils The Four Seasons Ocean Residences - 112 private residences on a 219m luxury vessel with staff and high-end services - at the Four Seasons Hotel here.

The homes range in size from 797 sq ft to nearly 8,000 sq ft. Most are two- and three-bedders, with features that include floor-to-ceiling windows, living room areas, master bedroom suites with walk-in dressing rooms and bathrooms en suite, kitchens, and staff entrances.

Prices range from 2.885 million euros (S$5.97 million), or about 3,500 euros per sq ft, for a 797 sq ft one- bedder to 30 million euros for a 7,860 sq ft four-bedroom, three-storey penthouse.

The liner - due for completion in 2010 - will offer plenty of entertainment, including four restaurants, an 11,000 sq ft spa, a style casino, a supermarket, a wine cellar and a driving range.

There will also be concierge service and an excursion coordinator to arrange for those exotic and expensive tours. Yearly service charges start from 72,000 euros.

The liner will average about 250 days in port a year and sail to places like Antarctica and events such as the 2012 Olympics in London and the F1 Grand Prix in Monaco.

Developer BV International Ocean Holdings, a joint venture between Bayview Financial and Ocean Development Group, picked Singapore as one of the centres to promote the floating condo.

‘We are focusing on a very select group of people at the highest socio-economic level,’ said Mr Danny Warman, vice-president of Bayview Financial, a privately held United States-based real estate investment and mortgage finance company.

‘Singapore definitely has a significant amount of wealth. It’s one of the most important financial centres in the world,’ he said.

The marketing campaign started in London in May and then moved to New York and South Africa. Singapore will be the first Asian stop.

However, keen buyers can select units only at four global sales events, starting in Hong Kong on Sept 11 to 12. The other ones will be in a city in Europe, the Bahamas and the US.

‘The beauty of it is that owners of the residences would be able to travel and explore the world without having ever to leave their home,’ said Mr Warman.

Because the developer wants to have ‘global diversity’ on board, it will also be marketed in places such as Tokyo, Moscow and Mumbai.

There is only one other floating condo liner - The World of ResidenSea, which set sail from Oslo in 2002 with about 70 residents on board. There were reports at the time that it had trouble selling its residences.

More than a decade later, the market has changed, and more of these floating residences are likely to come. Mr Warman said they are selling a new product with strong branding. ‘As soon as we sell out this one, we will do another one,’ he said.

Source : Straits Times - 27 Aug 2007

A Joint venture between Chip Eng Seng and Lehman Brothers has sold about 70 per cent of their 659-unit freehold project, The Parc Condominium, at West Coast Walk, over the past week.

The developers began selling the project on Aug 1 at an initial average price in the low-$800 psf range but this had increased to the high-$800 psf range by yesterday evening, according to the project’s sole marketing agent Savills Singapore.

As of 7pm yesterday, about 460 units had been sold and sales were still going on.

The Parc Condo’s pricing is slightly higher than that of the nearby Botannia condo, where units are going for just over $800 psf on average, up from the initial $700 psf when the project was released around March/April. The 493-unit condo, being developed by a City Developments-CapitaLand tie-up, is about 70 per cent sold. It is being built on a 956-year leasehold site.

Chip Eng Seng and Lehman Brothers are developing The Parc on the former Westpeak site. The acquisition cost of the site in April last year was $206.09 million, reflecting a unit land price of $348 psf of potential gross floor area inclusive of an estimated development charge of $21.5 million then.

Savills said that most of those who have bought units in The Parc Condo over the past week are locals, while foreign buyers made up only a small number. ‘The local buyers seem to be buying mostly for their own use; we’re seeing a lot of young families. Some purchasers also picked up units for their children. Those who sold their Westpeak homes through the collective sale last year were given the first bite of selecting units,’ a Savills spokesman added.

The development comprises seven 24-storey blocks. Units range from one bedders (plus study) to five bedders. There are nine five-bedroom apartments of 2,433 sq ft each. Penthouses come with either three or four bedrooms, the majority above 3,000 sq ft, inclusive of roof gardens. A typical three-bedroom apartment costs around $1.1 million.

Source : Business Times - 9 Aug 2007

All 366 units sold at $900 to $1,600 psf in benchmark price for District 5

UNITED Engineers has achieved an average price of $1,300 per square foot (psf) after discounts for The Rochester, a 99-year leasehold condo in the one-north precinct.

The price - a new benchmark for District 5 - easily exceeds the $900 psf average achieved earlier this year for One North Residences just a stone’s throw away.

Sales of The Rochester began on July 16 and all 366 units have been snapped up at prices ranging from $900 to $1,600 psf.

UE staff bought about 13 per cent of the units and foreigners, excluding permanent residents, about 10 per cent.

Foreigners - including Koreans, Japanese and Britons - bought seven of the nine penthouses. The average price per penthouse was about $6 million.

The units were sold through an expression-of-interest exercise.

‘We are extremely pleased to have set a new benchmark of $1,300 psf in average price for private property in District 5,’ said UE Group’s managing director and chief executive, Jackson Yap.

The Rochester, designed by Paul Noritaka Tange of Tange Associates, is being developed by a wholly owned subsidiary of UE.

The last time the group sold a private residential development in Singapore was more than a decade ago - UE Square at River Valley Road.

In two or three months, UE hopes to launch a boutique condo at Balmoral Crescent, in a joint venture with Kajima Overseas Asia.

This freehold development, designed by award-winning SCDA Architects, will comprise about 40 large apartments.

The current target price is $2,500 psf on average but this will be finalised closer to the launch, a UE spokesman said.

The condo will be developed on the former Balmoral View site that Kajima and UE bought in August last year for $52 million or $733 psf of potential gross floor area including an estimated $7.9 million development charge.

The 51,080 sq ft freehold site is zoned for residential use with a 1.6 plot ratio and a 12-storey height limit.

Source : Business Times - 7 Aug 2007

169 units sold at average $3,983 psf; other half to go on sale at end of Sept

LUXURY developer Wheelock Properties has sold half of the 338 units in its upmarket Scotts Square development over the past week to buyers of its previous projects, it said yesterday.

The 169 units were sold at an average price of $3,983 per square foot. The highest price was $4,430 psf for a one-bedroom apartment on the 41st floor, Wheelock said.

About 63 per cent of the units were bought by Singaporeans or permanent residents. As for foreigners, the buyers were predominantly Indonesians, the developer said.

‘We have been receiving numerous enquiries from both locals and foreigners as early as 2005,’ said Tan Bee Kim, Wheelock’s executive director. ‘The private placement was offered to our established clientele who understand the outstanding value of the development since Scotts Square is one of the rare freehold luxury homes located in Orchard Road.’

Scotts Square consists of two super-luxury residential towers of 35 and 43 storeys connected by a sky bridge. An upmarket retail podium with lettable area of about 80,000 sq ft will occupy four floors in the development - from Basement 1 to Level 3.

Apartment sizes in the project range from 624 sq ft for one-bedroom units to 1,249 sq ft for 3-bedroom units. A ‘good mix’ of one, two and three-bedroom apartments were sold, a Wheelock spokesman said.

Ms Tan said: ‘We set out to sell 40 per cent of the development through private placement. However, the take-up rate and speed far exceeded our expectations and we consequently placed out an additional 10 per cent.’

The remaining apartments will be officially launched once the showflat is ready towards end-September, Wheelock said.

Wheelock’s shares closed 2 cents down at $3.04 yesterday. The stock has climbed 35.1 per cent since the start of the year.

Source : Business Times - 3 Aug 2007

A new record for home prices in Singapore has been set, once again. A unit in SC Global’s freehold The Marq On Paterson Hill has been sold for $5,100 per square foot (psf), the developer said yesterday.

SC Global, a developer of exclusive luxury residences, said it has sold all 21 apartments it released in the first phase of its 66-unit luxury development at an average selling price of $4,137 psf. The project started previewing last week.

The previous record for home prices was held by Parkview Eclat, where developer Chyau Fwu Group said it sold a four-bedroom apartment for ‘almost $4,200 psf’.

At The Marq, absolute prices for apartments ranged from about $11 million to $31 million, SC Global said.

Another luxury property - in the Bukit Timah area this time round rather than Orchard - has similarly seen hot demand. About 70 per cent of the UOL Group’s 120-unit Duchess Residences has been sold with prices crossing the $2,000 psf mark for several apartments, the company said. Sources said that the highest price fetched was in the region of $2,100 psf.

Duchess Residences started previewing on Monday, but most of the units were snapped up over four hours yesterday, BT understands. The project will be officially launched tomorrow, UOL said.

‘This (the high prices) confirms that the Bukit Timah area is seeing a lot of pent-up demand, and people are looking to buy,’ said Ku Swee Yong, director of marketing and business development at Savills Singapore.

Savills is marketing Duchess Residences together with DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.

Bukit Timah, which made waves during the last property boom, is expected to make a comeback this year. Other than Duchess Residences, at least five other developments will be launched there in the coming months, with prices expected to cross the $2,000 psf mark - a level not seen for the past 10 years.

SC Global shares traded unchanged at $6.40 yesterday before a late afternoon trading halt ahead of the announcement. UOL’s stock closed 15 cents higher at $5.80.

Source: The Business Times, 29 June 2007