Next Property Hot Spot : Bukit Timah

Source : The Straits Times
23 June, 2007

Bukit Timah - one of the leading lights in the last property boom - is fast making a comeback as property developers gear up for a slew of new launches there.

At least six residential projects will be launched there in the coming months, with prices reaching $1,900 per sq ft (psf) - a level not seen for the past 10 years.

Duchess Residences in Duchess Road, for instance, will have 120 units priced at between $1,600 and $1,900 psf when it is released for sale next month, said developer United Overseas Land.

At unit sizes ranging from 1,464 sq ft for three-bedroom homes to 4,101 sq ft for a penthouse, this means prices are likely to start from $2.4 million for a unit.

This launch is the clearest sign that the Bukit Timah area, which has stayed under the radar for the past few years, is on track for a strong recovery, say consultants.

The District 11 corridor, an established residential area dotted with prestigious schools, has long been a favourite with expatriates and families. But it has been outshone in the current boom by ultra-prime areas such as Orchard Road and Sentosa.

At the peak of the property upturn in 1996, two units at Shelford Apartments fetched a Bukit Timah high of about $2,100 psf.

But prices have since plummeted to below $1,000 psf. They started to pick up only in December, with the launch of Sixth Avenue Residences, which saw 90 per cent of its units snapped up over just one weekend.

‘We feel that prices of homes in the Bukit Timah area remain undervalued at an average of just under $1,000 psf,’ said Mr Ku Swee Yong, director of marketing and business development at Savills Singapore. ‘In line with the increasing rental yield due to the recent rents hike, we see prices appreciating in the coming months.’

Developers are betting big on a recovery. Far East Organization, for one, has many eggs in the Bukit Timah basket that are due to hatch over the next year.

First up will be Jardin, located at Dunearn Road. It will have 90 lofts and 50 apartments, which market watchers expect to be priced at an average of $1,400 psf.

Far East also has a tie-up with Wing Tai to launch Floridian, a 336-unit condominium near Methodist Girls’ Primary School, tentatively by the end of the year.

It still has units available in completed projects such as Gardenvista, Hillview Regency and Meadowlodge.

‘We see a growing demand for completed projects in the Bukit Timah area,’ said Mr Chia Boon Kuah, Far East’s chief operating officer of property sales.

This is especially as Bukit Timah starts to attract home buyers flush with cash from collective sales, he added.

These buyers are not likely to lack options. Other projects include Allgreen Properties’ The Cascadia, due for release next month.

Market sources say the development’s 536 units will sell for about $1,200 to $1,300 psf on average - slightly above the recent high of $1,100 psf achieved by The Nexus next door.

Down the road, City Developments is planning to launch a project in Shelford Road in the third quarter. The project will have 77 units, ranging from two-bedroom units to penthouses.

At nearby Hillcrest Road, MCL Land has begun construction work on the former SingTel Academy site. About 160 cluster terrace houses are slated to come up on the 99-year leasehold plot, which is likely to be marketed in the second half.

Ardmore deal sets new land price benchmark

Source : The Business Times
June 18, 2007

SC Global clinches coveted site for $262m or $2,337 psf ppr

(SINGAPORE) A new record unit land price has been set for residential land in Singapore, toppling the benchmark established just last week. SC Global Developments has bought The Ardmore, with a 42,565-square-foot land area, for $262 million or $2,337 per sq foot (psf) of potential gross floor area including development charges.

This overtakes the $1,788 psf per plot ratio set for Char Yong Gardens in the Cairnhill location last week.

Both sites are freehold.

SC Global said yesterday that following the acquisition of The Ardmore, it will have a land bank of nearly one million sq ft of developable area on prime freehold land in the Orchard Road area. 'We have to date spent about $1 billion to acquire our prime land bank which carries an average land cost of just over $1,000 psf per plot ratio,' the group said yesterday.

Market watchers reckon that SC Global's breakeven cost for a new condo development on The Ardmore site could be around $3,000 psf. 'I guess they could be looking at selling the project at around $3,500 psf on an average basis, although with their brand name in the luxury sector, SC Global should be able to achieve even higher prices,' according to an analyst.

Simon Cheong, who is SC Global's chairman and CEO, said of The Ardmore: 'This freehold site is not only the last available site at Ardmore Park, it also has the distinctive characteristics we have been looking for to create our next premium signature development.'

Knight Frank, which brokered the sale of The Ardmore, said the tender for the collective sale drew six established property developers listed on the Singapore Exchange when it closed on June 12. 'The bids received were very close and were within a narrow price range,' it added.

The property is possibly the last plot with an Ardmore Park address available for redevelopment, it said. However, market watchers note that at least one major collective sale is brewing in the prestigious location - that of The Claymore.

The Ardmore's collective sale is subject to approval from the Strata Titles Board.

On average, owners of The Ardmore's existing 24 units will pocket nearly $11 million each, although BT understands the actual sum that owners will receive will vary widely, depending on the size of their units. There are three sizes of apartments in the development.

More than 31,000 private homes to be completed in 2009 and 2010

Source : The Straits Times
June 15, 2007

More than 31,000 private homes to be completed in 2009 and 2010. This is more than 6 times the expected number this year; over 70% in central region

A FLOOD of more than 31,000 completed private homes will hit the market between 2009 and 2010 - more than six times the number expected to be completed this year. The dramatic increase in the amount of new property is likely to ease an escalating supply squeeze - and curb runaway rent increases -but relief is still a couple of years away.

Until 2009, the supply of new completed homes will be only comparatively modest, according to new government figures released yesterday. Just under 11,000 homes are expected to be finished between now and the end of 2008 - slightly less than the 11,147 new homes developers sold last year. This means the supply of completed properties will continue to lag behind demand until 2009, said property consultants.

They added that rents, already rising because of an influx of expatriates and the demolition of collective sale properties, will surge further. Rising private home rents - which have doubled over the past year in some cases - are already driving tenants to the more affordable public housing market and are starting to push up Housing Board rents. This has led property experts to dismiss concerns about an oversupply in 2009, even with the profusion of new completed homes then.

'The supply that is coming up is not alarming; it is reassuring,' said Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank. 'There's going to be a tight supply until 2008, so the new supply in 2009 will help restore a certain balance, a new equilibrium.' The new supply of completed homes should also help alleviate the spate of complaints from expatriates about recent rent increases, he added.

More than 70 per cent of these new homes will be in the central region, which includes Orchard, Marina, Bukit Timah, Queenstown, Bishan and Marine Parade. 'This could help restore some of the confidence in Singapore's competitiveness after all the talk about rising costs,' added Mr Mak.

Dr Chua also said the active collective sales market will mean that displaced home owners will soak up most of any excess home supply in the market anyway. But he admitted that the unusually large number of completed homes expected in 2009 may cause 'adjustments in the market'. 'The rate of increase in rents and prices may stabilise a bit before continuing to rise,' he said, adding that they are unlikely to drop at all because 'we are still in a growth cycle'. 'We shouldn't expect rents and prices to go down. It's just a matter of a slower rate of increase,' he said.

Another consultant, Mr Li Hiaw Ho of CB Richard Ellis Research,estimates that more than half of the new homes to be completed by 2010 could have already been sold. 'With the government's projection of a future population of 6.5 million, demand for new homes is expected to be taken up by newly-formed families, expatriates and foreign investors,' he said.

The deluge of new completions expected in 2009 and 2010 will largely be a result of the massive wave of collective sales that have occurred over the past two years. The large estate of Gillman Heights, for example, was sold en bloc recently with CapitaLand planning a development that will have double the number of existing units.